BUDGET PORTUGAL Car Rental Reviews

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by HANNALEENA - 12 July 2025

" It's good to have the reassurance of an agency in case something does happen, I found their communication useful before to make sure I knew what to expect and made sure I had everything I needed ready. I've found communication with them easy. "

" The staff in the Lisbon office were so nice, which made a difference as I'm always worried something will go wrong when renting a car. "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

FARO, PT - Reviewed by ALLEN - 27 May 2025

" See above comments relating to Budget FARO Airport "

" Pick up was smooth and efficient and I was dropping back the car at 4am and that was facilitated and i was shown where to drop the key. However I was not emailed a copy of the contract as I was told I would be by staff when leaving the counter. There was considerable damages scratches to the car and I could not check these against the contract. I took a video before taking the car from the carpark. Since I came home I have been charged €59.08 for Additional Services. At countwer I was told that I was paying €259 euro fuel deposit which would be refunded if i returned the car full. I have contacted Budget since and have been informed that part of that €259 was for 24 hour roadside assistance. I absoultely under no circumstances verbally accepted this at the counter. I declined addtional insurances as I have my own carhire excess insurance policy. As you can see from my account I do a number of carhires through Autoeurope and Ive never had such issues in past. "

Value for Money: 3
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 1
Expediency of Drop-off: 8
Condition of the Vehicle: 3

FARO, PT - Reviewed by AIDAN - 06 February 2025

" When using a broker like AutoEurope I would expect the quoted charge to be the same as actual charge or close to it. On this occasion it was 35% higher? "

" Selecting no additional options at pickup and returned the car full fuel I was charged an extra €54.03 for options, VAT and location fees. Only possible charge could be a single motorway toll charge. Why ?? "

Value for Money: 1
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 8
Expediency of Drop-off: 8
Condition of the Vehicle: 8

PORTO, PT - Reviewed by JAMES - 29 July 2024

" Have no issue with recommending Budget to others and will certainly be back. "

" Busy at the counter before collection but once I got to the desk the process was welcoming, professional and hassle free. "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

FARO, PT - Reviewed by SIMON - 12 July 2022

" The collection and drop off experience was very good. "

" Overall good. The only negative was the price of the local "add-ons" was a higher than i expected and not very well explained. "

Value for Money: 8
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by JOHN - 21 February 2022

" Overall excellent "

" Overall excellent "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by JOHN - 24 October 2019

" Great time had "

" Great to deal with but sometime toll tag dont work even if you put it on your rentel "

Value for Money: 9
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 9
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

FARO, PT - Reviewed by MICHAEL - 15 October 2019

" All good. "

" No delays, good car and pleasant staff "

Value for Money: 8
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 8
Expediency of Drop-off: 8
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by DOMINIC - 27 September 2019

" Great. "

" Return was excellent. Checked the car quickly for fuel and damage, and then signed off via hand held device. Got receipt by email. Excellent. "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 6
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

FARO, PT - Reviewed by KAREN - 24 September 2019

" Very easy company to deal with. Rang them on a couple of occasions to ask questions and they were dealt with very efficiently. "

" There was a queue at the check in desk but otherwise everything was very good. "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

FARO, PT - Reviewed by BRIAN - 31 July 2019

" I use Auto Europe almost every week with work and find the service very good. For this trip I was travelling with family, and required the use of a booster seat for my 4 year old son. I know that these extras can add substantially, and I would change a booking based on this, so I was pleasantly surprised, when the booster seat was included at no extra charge, and it also said in my voucher "1x booster seat" in the comments so I took this that this booster was included in my rental fee. It was not made clear anywhere on the website that this fee needs to be paid locally, and what this would be. It is hidden in the small print of the contract, which I was shown when I got into a heated argument at the budget desk to say that I had only reserved a booster seat, but the privelage of using it was going to set me back an additional €11 or so per day. If I was aware of this at time of booking I would have changed the booking or brought my own. Indeed I saw booster seats in Aldi in Portugal for €15 so me paying €11.56 per day makes for healthy profit margins. At the airport we were then provided with a full car seat, when we only needed a booster seat. When we queried this with the provider, they stated that the booster seat is cheaper than a full seat, but when I referred this to budget, they denied this, and again told me to read my contract. All of this leaves a very sour taste, and caused undue stress at the beginning of our holiday. If I never have to deal with budget again it will be too soon, and I am very disappointed with the way Autoeurope present these extras on the website. Normally they come up as an extra charge so you can see what they are. When you are used to this system, and then you book and it comes up as €0, it is not a jump in conclusions to imagine that this is covered. To add to the frustration the costs outlined in the contract, the costs in the rental agreement, and the final costs charged appear to have nothing in common. I can't link any of them, apart from the fact that I prepaid €211.53 to budget, and they then charged me a further €104.40 in extras for the weeks rental I expected better from 2 reputable companies in budget and autoeurope. "

" Terrible counter service. Had an issue and it was referred to the manager, and all she said was read the contract and then shrugged her shoulders and muttered sorry. Zero help, and couldn't care less. "

Value for Money: 1
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 1
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

PORTO, PT - Reviewed by GARRETT - 15 July 2019

" Highly recommend Budget and autoeurope but not the Peugeot 2008, a rather annoying car. "

" The rental was great, pick up and drop off in different locations without breaking the bank. Pick up in Porto city was very quiet and pleasant too. The car was new but unfortunately a Peugeot 2008 which is just a terrible car. Please don't provide these in future. "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by MARIANA - 25 January 2019

" Good experience, nothing to complaint. "

" Good experience, nothing to complaint. "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

FARO, PT - Reviewed by SAMANTHA - 05 December 2018

" I always use Autoeurope I'm various countries and never had a problem "

" Staff were very good, very polite "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 9

FARO, PT - Reviewed by NOEL - 15 October 2018

" Ease of car collection and return was second to none "

" Staff very friendly and excellent service "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

FARO, PT - Reviewed by ROBERT - 12 October 2018

" How is this different to question 3? Question 2 and 4 are also the same.... "

" Staff were excellent, car was a bit battered "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 9
Condition of the Vehicle: 7

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by MAIREAD - 08 October 2018

" This is the third time I have had problems booking through Auto Europe and once again I am asked for a feed back but it doesn't seem possible to talk to anyone about the problems we have had with the car hire. "

" The car was returned to airport by us with full fuel and no damage. We were asked to pay a further €124 extra. The young man was unable to explain what this charge was for. There was no one at the desk in the drop off zone. We were referred to desk at the airport arrivals where there was a queue of approximately one hour. We were unable to wait as our flight was due. "

Value for Money: 1
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 1
Expediency of Drop-off: 1
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

FARO, PT - Reviewed by DAVID - 27 July 2013

" Very good "

" Car was provided with 7/8ths of a tank of diesel and I was asked to bring it back with the same. I would prefer if it had been provided full of fuel. As it happened I ended up bringing it back with a full tank as very hard to fill to 7/8ths when at a pump! Dont believe they had pre-allocated a car seat to my order even though we had included it in the booking. It wasn't a problem as there were enough there. "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by JOAN - 13 July 2013

" Very satisfied. All aspects of the car hire worked well. "

" Very helpful customer representative after 22.00pm in Budget office, Faro, on 26/6/13. No issues with the booking or with the car. Very satisfied overall. "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by PETER - 30 May 2013

" Excellent price on our rental with no hidden costs and a very low excess of €3.50 per day which is good value "

" Good service and accommodating with no hassle "

PORTO, PT - Reviewed by ADAM - 02 May 2013

" Used before - AOK "

" Used before - AOK "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by DAVID - 25 October 2012

" I am a regular customer-I am always satisfied "

" Excellent service-keep supplying diesel cars "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by TIMOTHY - 09 October 2012

" New website more user friendly. I like the fact that you can now view the terms & conditions of each car hire comany enabling you to make a more informed decision on selection. "

" Good service when we eventually found their office/desk outside. Great that you get a full tank of fuel and return same. "

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by WILLIAM - 29 August 2012

" Good prices, easy to arrange hire and payment. No problems "

" After completing the paperwork, waited for over one hour to collect the car.The car was a wreck on the outside - damage on every panel includiing roof. Filthy inside with badly stained seats & sticky brown substance on the centre console. Rear seats were wet - kids had to sit on towels. Air conditioning did not work properly - inadequate cooling. Had to accept the car as we were told no other available and we had already waited for so long "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by TIMOTHY - 28 August 2012

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by RENEE - 07 August 2012

" No problems with booking with Auto Europe "

" I arrived without my driving licence. Whilst I acknowledge this was an error on my part they would not accept a faxed copy which I had someone on stand by to fax to me. I had to change the whole details of the booking to my sisters name who has no experience of driving in Portugal. Cannot understand why a faxed copy of my licence was not enough. The same happened to somebody else and a faxed copy was accepted. Not sure what rental company "

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by JENT SYBREN - 01 August 2012

" The excess we were liable for was a lot higher (E1500) than we have been accustomed to in other European countries. We were given an Audi A1 which is a very nice car but I am sure the Ford Focus we were expecting has more space. There were quite a few non-standard rental companies at Lisbon airport as well. Not sure if Auto Europe looked at these when searching for the best deal? "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by MICHAEL - 27 July 2012

" Would have been good if we were told about the Toll prior to driving but overall service very good. Would use again. As a suggestion, a sun screen visor would be a welcome addition when hiring in a hot climate as the seating and steering wheel was intensely hot many times and we needed to turn air-con on before getting into car. "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by EDWARD - 02 July 2012