Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Share experience regarding ownership of property and/or living in Portugal.
Lesley Jean
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Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by Lesley Jean »

Hello, we arrived yesterday and walked to car park 4 to pick up our car as usual only to find it almost deserted!

Only a handful of cars there and no white YOR van, we went into the 'office' and disscovered due to the new regulations about hire cars and the airport tax it means that the car you hire will only be allowed to be in the car park for an hour, we filled out our usual paperwork and then had to have the rep take us to the barrier to get out with his ticket after he had paid the tax!
On return we take a ticket to get into park 4 now and hand this back to the rep with the keys, they also wanted us to be very sure that we will return the car at the time we had stated as they will only be there for you to return the car at that specific time!
Luckily we were the only people looking to collect a hire car from YOR, what we can't imagine is how this is going to work out when the holiday season kicks in and they have maybe 20 people waiting for their cars... this is totally stupid, it will never work!
There must be a better way of doing this, is this going to be the end of collecting cars at the airport? Will we have to start using the companies who shuttle you to and from the airport?
We are now seriously thinking of getting a car here, our only problem is working out how to get to and from the airport if we do.
This is not going to help tourism it is just going to be mayhem!!
S_Monty
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Re: Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by S_Monty »

Agree with everything you say.

I returned 2 weeks ago just after the farce was introduced and the same thought went through my mind - this is never going to work once the season starts to get busy (its only 2 weeks to Easter!).

We've looked a few times at the idea of buying a car but because most of our trips out are of short duration (rarely more than a week at a time) the figures just don't justify it.

There is a "Park and Fly" park only a few km from Faro airport where your car can be left, they shuttle you to/from the airport, and have your car waiting for you next time. Annual charge starts from €600 though. www.parkandflyfaro.com

In the meantime We'll just have to see what way things evolve at P4
joeysoap
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Re: Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by joeysoap »

google earth which clearly shows P4 (I assume its not too far out of date) shows a large deserted area beside the petrol station, roughly the size of P4. Car hire firms might consider transferring business to there for pickup and drop off and locate the cabin to maybe a space in the petrol station. I wouldn't mind the walk.
bruce
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Re: Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by bruce »

Seems like Portugal is trying to deter tourists,
We have just hired a car in Tenerife, the hire car was on the car park just across from arrivals and we return it to the same place. They do not charge for early or late arrivals they have a deposit box where the keys are left for departures before 8am and after 8pm. There are no tolls either, ok it's not Portugal but they seem to encourage tourism not make it awkward for the visitors,
sunman
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Re: Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by sunman »

I hope there's a simple explanation for this, because it sounds like commercial suicide :(
DaveK
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Re: Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by DaveK »

Picked up a car with Redspot a couple of weeks ago using Economy Car Hire at Perth domestic terminal and left it at the International terminal a few days later. All so easy and laid back. After years of using P4 at Faro I now dread to think what happens when we collect the car at Easter. Any further updates on hire car collection and drop off?
ceh
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Re: Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by ceh »

Looking forward to getting my head round this after an early flight out on Good Friday!! Sounds like a nightmare! What happens if the flight is delayed ? We were in January
bugsey
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Re: Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by bugsey »

Should be very interesting tomorrow. My plane leaves at 6.05am and I have to connect with three other planes to get home. I booked the car and told them I was returning it at 3.30am and also repeated this when I picked the car up. I was told that there would be nobody there and I would have to return it after 4.30am. I explained that I have an early flight and could not miss it and that I would park it in P4 and leave it there. Should be interesting if I cannot get in I don't know where to abandon it. Why did I pay 20 euros for and early return?
Lesley Jean
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Re: Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by Lesley Jean »

bugsey, you get a ticket at the in barrier and leave it with the keys on the sun viser.

ceh, this is our worry, what happens if your flight is delayed!!

Hope they come up with a better solution as we have friends coming over to use our house in April and I recommended YOR to them!! We are not getting at YOR as they have always been good to us with cars for the past 12 years it is just the Airport authorities that are the problem.
bugsey
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Re: Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by bugsey »

Thanks Lesley. I will be happy once I am in the terminal
widge
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Re: Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by widge »

I collected my car rental on Tuesday at 1700hrs. Everything went like clockwork. Rep from Rentautoo greeted me as usual in the now nearly empty car park 4. My car was there as expected, having completed the normal formalities the rep opened the car park gate for me and I was on my way.

Apart from the €15 charge nothing has changed except your car is only delivered to P4 on a just in time basis. Not easy for the rental company but not too inconvenient for the hirer - what if delayed - I don't know other than to think your car will be sitting waiting for you somewhere but probably not in P4 !
RichardHenshall
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Re: Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by RichardHenshall »

Most rental bookings involve disclosing the incoming flight number, so the rental operator can postpone delivering cars into P4 until nearly the time they will be needed. They have an hour from entry into P4 before any surcharges would begin, which should be ample to allow for collecting baggage etc.

If it's costing 4,50€ for each entry/exit against 1,00€ per quarter hour after the free hour surely they'll just leave the car in P4 a little longer if there are unexpected delays and pay using some of the 6,00€ margin that they're earning from us all. It's surely cheaper than the wages and petrol for people constantly shuffling the cars around?
shaz1967
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Re: Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by shaz1967 »

joeysoap wrote:google earth which clearly shows P4 (I assume its not too far out of date) shows a large deserted area beside the petrol station, roughly the size of P4. Car hire firms might consider transferring business to there for pickup and drop off and locate the cabin to maybe a space in the petrol station. I wouldn't mind the walk.
Google earth can be up to 3 years old.
joeysoap
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Re: Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by joeysoap »

shaz1967 wrote:
joeysoap wrote:google earth which clearly shows P4 (I assume its not too far out of date) shows a large deserted area beside the petrol station, roughly the size of P4. Car hire firms might consider transferring business to there for pickup and drop off and locate the cabin to maybe a space in the petrol station. I wouldn't mind the walk.
Google earth can be up to 3 years old.
agree, but it clearly shows the 'new' P4 (full of cars :roll: ), so there is a fair chance it's just empty ground. Let's just say Ryanair would have no problem using it for bus transfers if there was a fee for airport bus parking and they were advertising bus transfers.
Satsuma
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Re: Car hire and the new Airport Tax system

Post by Satsuma »

After visiting Portugal 2 - 3 times a year for the last 6 years I'm really struggling top get my head around why ever time we visit there appears to be a new obstacle to what should be a straightforward holiday.

After boring our friends with how great Portugal is for the last few years we are bringing friends out with us at the end of April. It wasn't until I started to explain to them about the toll roads, the transponders, ways or paying (or trying) to pay your tolls, having to give the car hire company 20 euros for a deposit for the transponder even if you're not using the toll roads, & now having to hand over another 15 euros just for the pleasure of hiring a car that I realised that the authorities seem to go out of their way to make things awkward!

We love Portugal & will continue visiting but if we were thinking of being a first time visitor this year I think after investigating all the 'extras' & inconvenience I would have picked another country. Such a shame!
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