CENTAURO PORTUGAL Car Rental Reviews

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by JOANNE - 02 July 2025

" Offering excellent selection but incorrect address was provided for drop off by Auto Europe in the documentation. Google maps thankfully came to the rescue. "

" Car in great condition, shuttle service was prompt and friendly and helpful staff. A little wait to pick up but to e expected due to time of year. "

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

FARO, PT - Reviewed by RAYMOND - 15 April 2025

" Always a great range is suppliers at a price that suits "

" First experience with Centauro and I would definitely use them again. Very efficient service "

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

FARO, PT - Reviewed by RAYMOND - 15 April 2025

" Always a great range is suppliers at a price that suits "

" First experience with Centauro and I would definitely use them again. Very efficient service "

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

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by JACOBUS - 22 November 2024

" There seems to be a industry two stream system around booking directly or through a third party and centred around insurance costs. Car hire itself is competitive, but it is the added insurance that has wide cost discrepancies, i.e. much higher when booking directly with car rental companies. However, if through a third party like yourself, the service becomes 'frosted', a subtle threat of possible damage, freezing a certain amount on credit cards, cars not properly cleaned on the outside, combined with bad lighting makes pre-hire inspection difficult, etc, etc "

" Overall I cannot complain about Centauro itself "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 9
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 8

FARO, PT - Reviewed by JOHN - 08 September 2024

" AutoEurope are consistently good. "

" Very good experience, no messing around trying to get more money off you! "

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

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by JOAO PAULO - 10 June 2024

" no comments "

" no comments "

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

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by THEOCHARIS - 24 April 2024

" Great "

" The only minor problem was the long wait (more than an hour) to get our rental car. But the staff were polite and the car was almost new and very clean, so I rate the whole experience as almost perfect. "

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

FARO, PT - Reviewed by EAMONN - 15 April 2024

" As above "

" Very friendly & helpful staff .lovely clean new car with 2000 km "

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

FARO, PT - Reviewed by CHARLES - 09 April 2024

" I gave an email address when getting car the least I expect is an email outlining refunds on credit cards and a breakdown of money kept. I want to see the actual toll amount from the device in my car not an amount you decided on. It was explained that money was blocked on my card for tolls and I will only pay for tolls used "

" Was charged €110.49 exactly for toll charges on both cars I hired, both from centauro. Tolls should be no more than €3 per journey which in our case should be €12 approx. I paid a lot of money to hire cars and got no breakdown of refunds after returning the car. Poor customer service that allows hidden charges to be kept after hire is over. I expect transparency "

Value for Money: 5
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 7
Expediency of Drop-off: 8
Condition of the Vehicle: 8

FARO, PT - Reviewed by DANIEL - 09 January 2024

" I wasn't happy with the pick up location details and had to phone Centauro direct. This shouldn't be necessary and had I not been to Faro before I'd have been completely lost "

" Good service, not the closest to the airport "

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

FARO, PT - Reviewed by ANNE - 17 November 2023

" There was no booklet in the car so we did no know how everything worked. Centauro are too far away from the Airport it was not clear what we had to do. "

" When we left back the car there were scratches on the right side that we had not seen. They must have occurred when parked overnight. They are charging Euro 461 for them "

Value for Money: 1
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 5
Expediency of Drop-off: 1
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

FARO, PT - Reviewed by JOHN - 09 September 2023

" The only problem was that the voucher noted that the meeting point was in the airport terminal, when it was actually in the P4 car park "

" Great rental company, good staff, clear process. "

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

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by GAVIN - 24 July 2023

" very good "

" very good "

Value for Money: 9
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 8
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by JAMES - 31 May 2023

" Not great "

" It took over an hour to get to the counter as clients who booked on the company own website were prioritised . Car we received was a disgrace and numerous damages were not identified on the sheet provided. Eventually they replaced the car. Overall a very poor service. "

Value for Money: 5
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 5
Expediency of Drop-off: 8
Condition of the Vehicle: 4

FARO, PT - Reviewed by JOHN - 17 December 2022

" Works well "

" Great provider, easy process, friendly staff. "

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

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by MINDAUGAS - 25 October 2022

" I like booking through Autoeurope and had great experience so far until I had to deal with Centauro in Portugal. My honest advice is DON'T EVER book a car from Cuntauro even if it seems cheaper at first glance. You will be ripped-off and and up paying 2x the original booking price on their local charges and on top of that will have to deal with the most unprofessional customer service. Stick with the reputable providers for your car rental. "

" I have rented a car from Centauro in Lisbon on my week long visit. It was a horrible experience form the very beginning. First of all, the airport shuttle bus pick-up is very difficult to find as it's not signposted anywhere. I found it eventually and got dropped to their rental office along with 6 other people. The were 3 employees doing the contracts and with 6 people in the queue you'd think this wouldn't take long. Think again.. I't took almost an hour. The person who did my contract had a passive aggressive attitude. He was forcing the extra insurance on me at a premium price even though i had a full cover from a third party insurance provider - that's what I do all the time and never had an issue with other rental companies. After I refused it on the grounds that I had a full cover already, he bluntly told me that wasn't going to help me in any way. He said it hasn't happened yet that they wouldn't find damage on the car to charge for and started listing the cost - €500 if they find a mark on alloy wheel, €250 for a small paint scratch and the list went on. He also said they did not have a mechanism to handle damage claims through third party insurance. Bottom line was that I either had to pay their full cover premium insurance now or pay much higher charge for 'damages' later. It was not worth ruining a holiday over this so I paid, made a note to myself never rent from Centauro again and moved on. I had a great holiday in Algarve and forgot about all this until it was time to return the car. The lady who did the return inspection was beyond rude. She pointed her finger to a small bit of sand on the driver's side door mat and said she'll charge me the cleaning fee. I disagreed and refused to pay. She was totally dismissive, went off and charged the cleaning fee from the deposit they held on my credit card. The dispute escalated to the point that the police was involved. Do yourselves a favor and stay away from Centauro in Lisbon. It's the most unprofessional and rude customer service I had to deal with. Can only describe it as a rip-off scheme. "

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

PORTO, PT - Reviewed by ALFREDO - 18 September 2022

" No problem "

" Good service "

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

FARO, PT - Reviewed by THOMAS - 16 August 2022

" Generally positive "

" Generally very positive. Staff friendly. Car was relatively old with over 40k km on the clock. Not spotless but acceptable "

Value for Money: 8
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 9
Condition of the Vehicle: 7

FARO, PT - Reviewed by JOHN - 04 February 2022

" The booking process is very easy and quick to use. "

" Great provider, very efficient, very helpful and friendly staff. The only issue is the distance of the base from the airport resulting in long wait times for the shuttle, however the service trumps that. "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 8
Condition of the Vehicle: 9

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by JAMES - 27 October 2021

" offers good choice "

" Registering for vehicle took 75 minutes as there were not enough staff on duty tp deal with the demand, it was very busy. "

Value for Money: 7
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 6
Expediency of Drop-off: 8
Condition of the Vehicle: 9

FARO, PT - Reviewed by WILLIAM - 14 October 2019

" A wonderful easy collection of the car and return "

" A wonderful easy collection of the car and return "

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

FARO, PT - Reviewed by GEORGE - 22 September 2019

" Centaura need more staff at peak times "

" There was long delay delay in picking car up We were told that it was 90 minutes when the the transport picked us up It was no as long as this but circa 45 minutes "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 3
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

FARO, PT - Reviewed by AIDAN - 16 September 2019

" Autoeurope were efficient with bookings details etc "

" Arrived by shittle at centauro yard at 20.15. Long queues and too few staff, very disorganised. It was 22.00 when we actually departed in our car. Worst hire pickup ever, unacceptable delays. Wont be using centauro again. "

Value for Money: 7
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 7
Expediency of Drop-off: 8
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by CHARLIE - 11 September 2019

" This is not our first time we hired with AutoEurope and we are almost always satisfied with their service "

" It was a positive experience with centauro. Staff at the counter could be more efficient and fast. "

Value for Money: 8
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 6
Expediency of Drop-off: 9
Condition of the Vehicle: 7

FARO, PT - Reviewed by MICHAEL - 18 August 2019

" I will go directly to the car company the next time. Auto Europe is only an agency which cost me more than it should have. That was disappointing. "

" All good except the insurance I took out with Auto Europe was useless as advised by Centauro. So I had to take out more insurance which I didnt expect on the day of pickup for €21 a day. "

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

FARO, PT - Reviewed by JERRY - 16 July 2019

" Upon arrival at Centauro, I was informed that an additional charge of €1200 or €189 was payable to cover insurance - I understood that insurance was already included when I booked the car through Auto Europe as below: Your rental includes: * Appropriate local sales taxes at the appropriate rate(s) in force. * Liability Insurance for injuries or damages to persons or things outside the vehicle. * Rental includes Collision Damage coverage and Theft Protection for the vehicle. Rental limits potential vehicle damage or loss liability to an excess of approx EUR 1,050.00. Your rental excludes: * Gasoline or Diesel. Client is advised to return the vehicle with a full fuel tank and to retain copies of gas receipts to avoid a locally determined refueling charge. * Traffic Administration fee of approximately EUR 40 in the event of traffic fines (in addition to the fine). * Local toll, highway fees, or travel stickers required by local authorities. I explained to Centauro counter staff that insurance was already included and she told me to take this up with Auto Europe which I also intend to do. The whole experience including Centauro Staff rudeness was very unsatisfactory. If Centauro are advertising on Auto Europe or other websites, the full particulars of your offers should be clearly explained at the outset and not after the booking has been made. Similarly Autoeurope should make all conditions of Centauro Insurance conditions clear at the time of booking. "

" Upon arrival at Centauro, I was informed that an additional charge of €1200 or €189 was payable to cover insurance - I understood that insurance was already included when I booked the car through Auto Europe as below: Your rental includes: * Appropriate local sales taxes at the appropriate rate(s) in force. * Liability Insurance for injuries or damages to persons or things outside the vehicle. * Rental includes Collision Damage coverage and Theft Protection for the vehicle. Rental limits potential vehicle damage or loss liability to an excess of approx EUR 1,050.00. Your rental excludes: * Gasoline or Diesel. Client is advised to return the vehicle with a full fuel tank and to retain copies of gas receipts to avoid a locally determined refueling charge. * Traffic Administration fee of approximately EUR 40 in the event of traffic fines (in addition to the fine). * Local toll, highway fees, or travel stickers required by local authorities. I explained to Centauro counter staff that insurance was already included and she told me to take this up with Auto Europe which I also intend to do. The whole experience including Centauro Staff rudeness was very unsatisfactory. If Centauro are advertising on Auto Europe or other websites, the full particulars of your offers should be clearly explained at the outset and not after the booking has been made. Similarly Autoeurope should make all conditions of Centauro Insurance conditions clear at the time of booking. "

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

FARO, PT - Reviewed by SEBASTIEN - 14 July 2019

" It would have been nice when we booked the car to know that the agency was actually located 10k away from the airport and that it took us 1h to get to the car rental between looking for the shuttle and waiting on the car park. Also we were unable to use my wife's credit card to secure the deposit and ended up having to pay 300€ extra for the insurance from our debit card. "

" It would have been nice when we booked the car to know that the agency was actually located 10k away from the airport and that it took us 1h to get to the car rental between looking for the shuttle and waiting on the car park. Also we were unable to use my wife's credit card to secure the deposit and ended up having to pay 300€ extra for the insurance from our debit card. "

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

FARO, PT - Reviewed by PETER - 12 July 2019

" None specific "

" Efficient and professional staff with good shuttle service to and from the airport. "

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

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by DAVID - 13 June 2019

" Better cat than those supplied by Interent.Free upgrades are regular occurrences in England but yet to be offered one in Portugal. "

" Usually go with Interent and have a car booked for my visit in September. Does Centrauro offer a loyalty scheme for frequent users. "

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

FARO, PT - Reviewed by SHARON - 24 January 2019

" Very clean car , very reasonable rental price but extra insurance cover lot more expensive than I'd normally pay per day . Company office 7kms from airport and it pays to pay attention on route in mini bus I missed the turn for office on returning vehicle and rang office . They were extremely helpful on phone and guided me to office several times , thank you "

" Helpful efficient staff 7kms from airport is only down side "

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

FARO, PT - Reviewed by PETER - 04 October 2018

" Car needed a service badly, acceleration faulty. "

" Counter staff (young lady) excellent. The same person checked me in and out and was very efficient. "

Value for Money: 8
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 9
Expediency of Drop-off: 9
Condition of the Vehicle: 6

FARO, PT - Reviewed by AIDAN - 24 September 2018

" Experience was good. On return, staff member had no greeting and really just did not want to be there. "

" Overall I was satisfied. They should introduce a loyalty programme I.e. Give additional discount or one free with 3 rentals. "

Value for Money: 8
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 8
Expediency of Drop-off: 8
Condition of the Vehicle: 9

FARO, PT - Reviewed by PETER - 29 August 2018

" Staff were good but few. Prices very competitive attract large volume of people. "

" Long way from airport. Very crowded. I was waiting ages in the sun queueing "

Value for Money: 8
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 9
Expediency of Drop-off: 9
Condition of the Vehicle: 9

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by MARGARET - 14 August 2018

" Expensive for what we got. A slow colletion. A very fast return. "

" Very slow pick up even though I had booked and fully paid. Alot of people waiting at counter. People at the counter very good and helpful. "

Value for Money: 4
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 4
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

FARO, PT - Reviewed by TERENCE - 12 August 2018

" Straightforward "

" Straightforward "

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

FARO, PT - Reviewed by TOM - 29 July 2018

" Pleasant experience "

" Very good "

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

FARO, PT - Reviewed by DECLAN - 18 July 2018

" Consistently are very competitively priced year after year "

" An overall very good company to deal with. Car given was a three month old model in excellent condition. Only issue was it was a petrol model when I had booked for diesel. This was not an issue for me. Excess insurance was offered but no "Hard sell" used. "

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

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by PETER - 17 August 2017

" Arrived at the airport and told we had to wait a very long time for a transfer to the rental place and we would be better getting a taxi. got a taxi and Then queued for over an hour to collect the car. terrible experiemce "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by DENIS ANTHONY - 19 July 2017

PORTO, PT - Reviewed by EDWARD - 25 June 2017

" Fast, efficient and helpful. "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by TIMOTHY - 24 June 2017

" worked well and was straight forward to use "

" We were very disappointed about the time it took to pick top the car. We had to wait in the queue for about 90 mins I joined a queue with 3 person before me.The only other had 4 people in it By the time I got my car (i.e. 4 customers) the other man had dealt with 7 persons (Almost twice as quick) They should have a more people to speed the process. It is entirely unsatisfactory to have to wait almost 90 minutes to get a car. I meant we had to drive in the dark to a place we did not know instead of arriving the daylight Other than the delay everything worked well. Car was good, at a very fair price. Staff were friendly and good to deal with "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by ROBERT - 06 June 2017

" In error , I forgot to take out excess insurance before going to Portugal and thus had to tke the excess with Centauro .The cost was too high ?15 per day and also the policy of making the hirer return the car with a 75% full tank was obviously designed to maximise the chances of Centauro getting back a car with a good deal of petrol left in it , more than necessary . To sum up , these two aspects of hire left me less than pleased . "

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by ALAN - 04 June 2017

" They charged 25 euro as a cover chargr to refuel car, even if you bring back car full of fuel. They are poor with transport to and from airport also. I would not have booked them if a knew I would have to get a bus/taxi to their location "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by JOHN GERARD - 29 May 2017

" I was very impressed with the Service provided by Centauro Car Hire. The Return of Car was very prompt and i would definitely use them again when flying into Faro. "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by JOHN - 15 May 2017

" Check in service very slow. Otherwise, excellent "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by DEREK - 07 March 2017

" All was good "

" Both car pick up and return were handled quickly and with minimal fuss. "

LISBON, PT - Reviewed by OLEG - 06 December 2016

" i brought the car back with full tank of fuel. and i paid 25 euros for it. why ? absolutely incorrect "

" i brought the car back with full tank of fuel. and i paid 25 euros for it. why ? absolutely incorrect "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by ROBERT - 30 November 2016

FARO, PT - Reviewed by EDWARD - 11 July 2016

" We were very dissatisfied with our experience of dealing with Auto Europe. We had paid for insurance only to be told by Centauro that it was effectively worthless and we had wasted our money. We then had to pay an additional €172.00 to take our insurance with Centauro. It started our holiday on a very bad note and we felt and still feel cheated by Auto Europe. "

" The shuttle service to and from the airport was very efficient. The car we received was new and very good...plenty of room for a family of six. The sales representatives were efficient but not the most friendly. We did not like the hard sell on the car insurance and other extras. "

FARO, PT - Reviewed by AMANDA - 26 June 2016

FARO, PT - Reviewed by CAITRIONA - 03 June 2016

" It would be nice to have a second driver included within your basic price "

" The location of the Centauro depot is a little too far from the airport. Centauro could provide a better map to facilitate return of car. Otherwise, the company provided a very good, efficient service at a very competitive price. "