Portugal car hire – everything you need to know

adminonApril 7, 2022February 11, 2022Leave a Comment

Is it worth rental car on the mainland portugal’s? What must be considered? What are the traffic conditions?
These are just a few of the questions that come up when considering renting a car in portugal. Answers to these and other important questions can be found in this blog post with the topic "portugal car hire"

Is it worth renting a car in portugal??

Depending on the type of trip, a rental car may or may not be. If you would like to city trip If you want to go on a trip, a portugal car rental is not recommended, because the traffic network in the cities is very well developed. If you want a round trip if you have a car in mind and you are more attracted to the interior of the country, a rental car in portugal is useful and recommendable.

Who is allowed to drive the portugal rental car?

To drive a portugal rental car, you must have had your driver’s license for at least one year and be 25 years of age or older. There can be as many additional drivers as there are seats available in the car. However, they must be registered on site.
Some of our portugal car rental categories allow for a reduction of the minimum age. This includes category B, category C and category D.

What types of rental cars are available?

Don’t worry – we have the right car for every number of people suitable portugal rental car. For example, for single travelers there is a small car and for families can we book a minivan. The most common categories of portugal car hire are:

Category A: comparable to an opel adam, suitable for one person
category B: comparable to an opel corsa, suitable for two persons
category C: comparable with a citroen C3, suitable for three persons
and category D: comparable to a fiat 500X SUV, suitable for 4 people

But be careful when choosing a car: the categories of portugal rental cars can easily be chosen wrongly. It must always be remembered that one suitcase is also included per person. This also means that even though an opel corsa can easily seat three people, it is not suitable for three people with luggage.
You can also rent an automatic car through us for your portugal trip. However, not every category of portugal car rental is available in an automatic version and automatic cars are also much more expensive than a stick shift.

How am I insured?

If you rent a car through us for your trip in portugal, you are required to have a fully comprehensive insurance without deductible included. Damage to glass, roof, tires, underbody and clutch will be reimbursed. In the event of an accident, the accident handling fee and towing costs will be reimbursed.
Attention: conclude on the spot no additional insurance. The insurance that is included when you book a portugal rental car with us is completely sufficient and it is not necessary to book an additional insurance with costs.

What are the additional costs when renting a car in portugal??

If you want to add a third driver, it will cost 6€ more per day, with a maximum of 60€. A total of two drivers are included with the booking. If you are between 21 and 24 years old, you will need a young driver fee on you. This means, for each rental car day you will be charged 9€ extra for your portugal rental car – but not more than 90€. On the spot a deposit of 1000€ will be paid on the credit card. For this you only need the credit card of the 1. Registered driver. When you return the car, the deposit will be released again.
If the rental car is booked for less than three days and the pick-up and drop-off are at different locations, the so called one-way charge in the amount of 60€. Furthermore there are extra accessories, which can be added (but only on availability). These include:

baby seat: 10€ per day, maximum 100€
child seat up to 3 years: 10€ per day, maximum 100€
booster seat up to 10 years: 10€ per day
GPS: only available at the airport stations in lisbon, faro and oporto and at the city office lisbon. 15€/day, 75€/week, 150€/month

It is best to let us know when you book your portugal rental car if you would like any additional accessories so that they are actually available. However, we recommend that you bring a navigation system from home, as this is much cheaper.

If you pick up/drop off the car outside opening hours, there will be an extra charge of 30€.

In addition, there are in portugal tolls on the freeways and on the two lisbon bridges ponte 25 de abril and ponte vasco da gama. you get an electronic meter for 1,50€ per day (max. 15€) for your car, which measures how far you have traveled on the highway with your portugal rental car. this fee will be deducted directly from your credit card.

Where to save?

If you book your portugal rental car in advance, you will benefit from an all-inclusive insurance and the best rates. on the spot it can happen that you are offered expensive insurances which you do not need. Since the roads are usually well maintained and do not require four-wheel drive, the usual categories of rental cars are quite sufficient.

What is the parking situation?

in the cities, especially in lisbon and porto, it is quite difficult to find a parking space – similar to the bigger cities here in germany. If you have found a good place, they are also quite expensive. Therefore we recommend you to book your portugal rental car only when leaving the cities. Outside the cities in the more rural areas you can easily find a parking space and the high parking fees do not apply. parking bans can be recognized by yellow lines on the ground or by the inscription "estacionamento proibido". Then there are blue parking zones, where you can park with parking discs, similar to in germany.

What to do in case of a breakdown?

If you have a breakdown or an accident, please inform the local service provider and the local police immediately. Also, in your portugal rental car there are documents with useful phone numbers that you can use in case of emergency. When accepting the rental car you will be informed of this fact again.

What to consider when driving?

Like in germany, portugal also has right-hand traffic and basically the same traffic rules apply as in our country. Out of town, depending on the signage, there is a speed limit from 90 to 100 km/h and in town 50km/h. All other drivers are allowed to drive up to 120km/h on the highway.
In the cities the traffic is a bit more confusing due to the many cars. Otherwise, driving a portugal rental car is relaxed, as you will be driving mainly on freeways.
If you meet a sheep or a cow while driving: don’t worry! this is a normal everyday scenario in portugal. drive slowly and carefully and enjoy the short moment of amazement.

What to consider when refueling?

That the refueling, if you rent a car in portugal, conjure you by the unknown language first times a few question marks in the face, that is quite understandable. Here is a brief overview of what fuel is available and what it is called in portugal.

diesel: gasoleo
super unleaded: gasolina sem chumbo 95
super unleaded plus: gasolina sem chumbo 98/ super plus or super com aditivo

In addition, we recommend for your portugal rental car the full/full refueling regulation.

Is it worth booking in advance?

Price-wise, it makes a big difference if you book the car on the spot or in advance. by booking in advance you are insured and do not have to buy insurance hand and foot or broken english. In addition, it is possible that your desired category is fully booked on site and you will have to book a different category. if you book your portugal rental car in advance, you are guaranteed your desired category.

What service can I expect?

Unlimited kilometers, as well as an all-inclusive insurance, which also covers the undercarriage, are included with our portugal rental car. You have to pay no hidden costs calculate and enjoy your vacation carefree. In addition, the car rental insurance runs without deductible, so you don’t have to worry even in case of damages. The portugal rental cars are regularly serviced and comply with the local regulations safety standards.

am i allowed to cross the spanish border with the rental car?

We have good news: the crossing of the spanish/portuguese border is free of charge and does not have to be requested in advance. So you can look forward to a day trip to spain with your portugal rental car!

which car rental stations are there in portugal?

The car rental stations we book for you are located in the following locations:

– faro
– lisbon airport
– airport porto
– lisbon city office
– porto city
– albufeira

If you plan your vacation in porto or lisbon as a city trip, for example to explore the sights of porto, you do not need a rental car. However, if you want to explore the surrounding countryside, a rental car will give you a plus of spontaneity that public transport often doesn’t offer.

After alfa romeo, today I will focus on the history of another traditional italian brand: lancia. The company lancia& C. Fabbrica automobili was founded in 1906 in turin by vincenzo lancia and claudio fogolin.

Lancias birth: beginning of the 20. Century

From the beginning, lancia was considered the best italian car brand, because its engineers focused on turning patents into drivable vehicles. And because the development speed at lancia directly was very high, of the individual vehicles (compared to the competition) often smaller series were produced.

Lancia was considered a design innovator in the automotive industry and it was always special to drive a lancia. Therefore, the customers were willing to pay more money for the advanced cars.

The first vehicle the type 12 HP, later also alpha called- was introduced in 1908, but existed as a prototype in 1907.

In 1913 lancia introduced the theta before, the first car in europe, which had an electric system. Also, it was the first car with a starter and a lighted cockpit. Yes, you may not believe it, but until then vehicles had oil lamps or candles for lighting. And also the until then annoying cranking, as we know it from various black and white movies, was snow of yesterday afterwards.

The lancia introduced 10 years later in 1923 lambda with independent front suspension and hydraulic shock absorbers was the first vehicle with self-supporting bodywork. This design could drastically reduce the material cost and weight for automobiles.

Theta and lambda and their new technologies have left their mark on the automobile industry up to the present day and point to the legendary name of lancia.

Naming at lancia

In this context, let’s talk about the somewhat strange names that lancia also gave its car models right from the start.

Besides the name of the one founder (vincenzo lancia) lancia is the italian word for lance. the first lancia logo was designed in 1911 to match this: it shows a flywheel and a lance.

But now to the models:

Until 1919, all vehicles were named after their engine output. Only later did- also retroactively model designations according to the greek alphabet with some versions being prefixed with a di- or tri- and following on from their successful predecessors.

When the alphabet was exhausted, all vehicles were named after places with A-, after appia (after the Roman road appia) followed other names of Roman roads such as flaminia, flavia etc. (so-called A and F models).

From 1972 onwards, the former Greek alphabet designations were partially used again: beta, delta, gamma, but later also other Greek terms such as stratos, thema and dedra.

The delta remained, only the Greek letter was not used, but "delta" was written out. For the second series of the delta, the Greek letter was used again.

The successor of the thema was the lancia k, where the "k" was the "lancia" represents the greek letter kappa. As successor of the dedra the lybra appeared. More cars followed under the names thesis, musa, ypsilon and phedra.

You see, not really simple and comprehensible.. or?

Cut 2. World war and production after 1945

the second world war did not leave lancia unscathed: like alfa romeo, lancia was forced by the wehrmacht to produce only trucks.

But this was not a new field for lancia, only a shift in the focus of production. The brand was also a recognized player in the commercial vehicle sector, building trucks and buses of all types and sizes, as well as trolleybuses.

After the second world war lancia continued the way of the special car brand with the special design, although other leading brands concentrated on the growth market of the cheap and simple vehicles and developed this further.

Beginning of the end

Lancia did not succeed in gaining a foothold in this sector to grasp. even in formula 1 racing, lancia did not match the successes of alfa romeo or ferrari, but celebrated victories in rally racing. they even gave away their formula 1 division to ferrari in 1955.

In the same year, lancia sold the majority of the company to the italcementi group, thus plugging holes in the budget of the development department. This was followed by illustrious car models such as the lancia florida, lancia aurelia and lancia flaminia.

on this basis expensive lancia-series with numerous variants as coupe were produced, sports car, roadster or cabriolet in the case of external body operations. At that time, the brand’s six-cylinder cars were particularly expensive and were preferred only by a small target group. Lancia had high development costs and could not compensate the losses also over the direct speech of the well-heeled clientele.

It came what belongs to italy like pizza or penne: fiat! 1969 was the year when lancia was bought by fiat. But not a single lira was paid, as the mountain of debt exceeded the value of the company!

Fiat immediately lowered the prices of the models in production, but was unable to undercut its even cheaper competitor alfa romeo. For the models produced thereafter, only components of the fiat group were used for the most part. As development and production costs had to be drastically reduced, lancia engineering skills were no longer needed.

Despite this, and because they did not want to neglect the high-priced segment, from 1971 they built a legendary vehicle, the lancia stratos. This car is the only one I personally like in the lancia model range. A typical car of the late 60s/early 70s in the style of the american model corvette stingray.

And this stylish vehicle also made quite a decent figure in ralleysport:

Fiat, alfa romeo, chrylser – hope Y?

in 1986 fiat also bought the lancia competitor alfa romeo and immediately merged both parts of the company. Until 1993, a mishmash of fiat/alfa romeo/lancia car models was produced, with the specific features of the individual brands unfortunately becoming more and more diluted.

the company’s management recognized this and in 1993 reorganized the company into individual divisions that were to produce independent model ranges again from then on. The technological base however was not abandoned.

in 1998 lancia made another big hit in their model range. With the thesis, lancia succeeded in developing a model that owes its non-success to the fact that it is one of the ugliest vehicles ever built and defends this reputation grandiosely in various rankings on various websites. Somehow they wanted to create a limusine of the upper class after american model. The attempt failed..

in 2009, the chrysler group was acquired by fiat and from then on acted as its u.s. bridgehead. Independent model ranges were still produced and marketed in the respective markets. However, unit sales always remained below expectations. lancia in particular, which never really managed to break into the european small car sector, had to drastically reduce its model range.

The hopeful lancia ypsilon

And then a luxurious small car comes along and prolongs the life of this italian car manufacturer. The lancia Y/ypsilon is currently the only bright spot in the reduced to a minimum model range of lancia. A vehicle with its own face. Like all lancia models, unmistakable and takes some getting used to.

At the moment it is completely unclear whether lancia will still be selling vehicles in 2016 or whether the engineers will not manage another coup after all. Lancia builds for chrysler the voyager for the US market, but with two car models it is again only an exotic, so actually no longer an italian fairy tale.

chemical company high-tech plastics for electromobility: lanxess targets automotive industry with billion-euro acquisition

The global market for high-performance plastics, such as those used in electric vehicles, is still highly fragmented.

Frankfurt, dusseldorf the specialty chemicals group lanxess is working with the financial investor advent on a bid for the plastics business of its Dutch competitor DSM. This is what the handelsblatt has learned from financial and corporate circles. The division is worth around three billion euros.

Lanxess is currently outsourcing similar activities of its own under the name HPM to an independent company. The DSM division is to be combined with this later. The new company should form a core for further acquisitions in the market, several people familiar with the plans said. Investors reacted with little enthusiasm, lanxess shares lost more than five percent at their peak on friday.

DSM engineering plastics and lanxess HPM are both strongly focused on equipment for the automotive industry. They produce high-performance plastics such as those used in lightweight construction for electric cars, connectors or battery housings.

The global market for such plastics is currently still highly fragmented. Industry experts expect strong consolidation in the coming years, with the best positions in equipment for electromobility at stake. The merger of the DSM and lanxess divisions is aimed at economies of scale, cost reductions and sufficient financial strength for further acquisitions, the circles say.

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At the same time, both companies also have products in their portfolios that are used in internal combustion engines and could disappear in the long term as a result of the switch to electromobility.

DSM’s plastics business, which is currently up for sale, is significantly larger than the Cologne-based company, with sales expected to reach around two billion euros in 2021. Adjusted profit (ebitda) estimated at around 300 million euros for the coming year. In the event of a deal, the division could be valued at ten to eleven times ebitda, i.e. a good three billion euros. The auction is being organized by JP morgan and centerview. Lanxess, advent, DSM and the banks declined to comment.

For lanxess, it would be the next big deal within a short period of time. Since january 2021, the group has spent more than two billion euros on acquisitions – equivalent to one-third of the sales generated in 2020.

The Group is currently acquiring the antimicrobial protection products business of US flavor manufacturer IFF for 1.3 billion dollars. The Cologne-based company is thus strengthening its young growth business "consumer protection," which combines businesses with chemicals for disinfection, personal care, material protection and water purification. It is part of the new core business.

This may no longer apply to high-performance plastics. Competitors and investors had already paid attention in november when the cologne-based company announced the spin-off of the HPM unit. This is usually the first step toward a separation.

Now the strategy behind it is becoming clear: as an independent unit, HPM is to become a major plastics supplier in its own right. advent injects the necessary capital for external reinforcement. Lanxess, on the other hand, could exit the business in the medium to long term, according to sources in the circles. All options are open.

Consolidation in the industry is in full swing

But these are still only plans, the sales process has not yet started. DSM has announced the separation of its materials unit in september 2021. It consists of two units to be sold separately. First of all, "protective materials" is to be sold, i.e. the business with the extremely strong synthetic fiber dyneema.

Potential buyers could value the business, which has an ebitda of around 120 million euros, at up to 1.7 billion euros, according to people familiar with the matter. In the next few days you should receive detailed information packages.

Auction for the plastics unit engineering plastics will not start until later. In a few weeks, the u.s. chemicals group dupont will begin the ten to twelve billion dollar sale of its polyamide plastics business, which has an adjusted profit of around one billion dollars. Two consortia led by the financial investors apollo and carlyle are among those interested in the company. The DSM business would also be attractive to the buyer because it would offer further economies of scale.

With advent, lanxess has an experienced financial investor in the chemical industry at its side, which has already made nine investments in Germany alone. Most recently, advent acquired the plexiglass business of evonik in 2019 for three billion euros. But both will not be the only bidders in the DSM auction.

According to financial circles, competitors Celanese from the USA, UBE from Japan and investors such as SK Capital and apollo, which also has an affinity for the chemical industry, are interested in the company. The companies declined to comment or could not be reached so far.

The coffers of the financial investors are well filled for acquisitions. Many are looking forward to the further reorganization in the industry, where companies are spinning off larger businesses and putting them up for sale. In the chemical industry, this process has been in full swing for many years: lanxess is itself the product of a spin-off of Bayer’s chemical units in 2005.

Chief executive officer zachert has repositioned lanxess

CEO matthias zachert has completely restructured the Group in recent years. He prefers high-margin specialty businesses in manageable markets and with not too large a capital investment. In view of this, it would not be illogical to separate from the business with high-performance plastics for the automotive and electrical industries in the medium term.

In the HPM unit, around 1900 employees generate sales in the low single-digit billion euro range. It is rather small compared to competitors such as BASF, dupont or suppliers from china. In the field of high-performance plastics, HPM would be dependent on acquisitions or partnerships in the long term. This was also the reason given by zachert for the planned spin-off in the first half of 2022.

the lanxess boss prefers high-margin specialty businesses in manageable markets and with not too much capital investment.

(photo:&#160ulrich baumgarten/getty images)

lanxess has already practiced this exit route once before: the once dominant business with rubber for car tires had plunged the group into a deep crisis in 2013. Financially strong competitors, especially from asia, had taken a heavy toll on the then world market leader. Zachert brought the business into a joint venture with saudi aramco, lanxess later exited completely.

DSM – once big in petrochemicals – is in the final stages of rigorous restructuring. The Dutch group focuses entirely on additives for food supplements, animal feed, cosmetics, health products and pharmaceuticals. In the fall, DSM sold its coatings business to leverkusen-based covestro for 1.6 billion euros.