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Car hire damage charge in Faro or elsewhere in Portugal

Updated
General information, not legal advice. The outcome depends on the facts of your case.

If you hired a car in Faro, Lisbon, Porto or Madeira and were charged for damage after you returned it, Portugal gives you two tools that most countries do not: an official complaint book you can use online, and consumer arbitration that, for most claims, the company cannot refuse. This guide explains both, plus the routes that work from home.

Step 1: write to the company

Whatever route comes next, start with a written dispute to the rental company, and keep a copy. Say that you dispute the charge and ask for it to be put on hold. Ask for:

The company has to show the damage exists, that it was not there at pick-up, that it happened during your rental and is more than wear, and what it costs.

Step 2: the Livro de Reclamações

Portugal's official complaint book, the Livro de Reclamações, exists on paper at every desk and also online at livroreclamacoes.pt. It does not decide your case, but it is an official complaint on record, and companies do answer through it: in a case reported by the consumer group DECO PROteste, Goldcar replied to a complaint made there.

Step 3: consumer arbitration

Since a 2019 change to Portugal's consumer protection law, a consumer dispute worth up to €5,000 must go to arbitration or mediation at an authorised consumer arbitration centre if the consumer asks for it. The company cannot refuse. There are regional centres and a national one (CNIACC). The award binds both sides.

Rental damage cases are decided this way. In one published case from the Madeira centre, the centre held that the burden of proof stayed on the rental company even though the customer was the one asking for a refund. In that case the company did prove its claim, with evidence of misuse of the clutch, and the customer lost. So arbitration is a fair forum, not an automatic win.

Before you file, check with the centre which one covers your rental, which languages it works in, and whether you need to attend a hearing. Rules and practice can differ between centres, and we do not know the details of your case. This is general information, not legal advice.

Step 4: ECRCS, if your company is a member

If you rented from one of the 12 brands in the European Car Rental Conciliation Service (Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Europcar, Firefly, Hertz, Maggiore, National, Sixt, Thrifty), live in the EU or the UK outside Portugal, and booked directly, ECRCS is free and binds the company. You need the company's final answer and must file within 12 months of it. Read how ECRCS works. Goldcar and most local firms are not members.

Choose one forum at a time. ECRCS will not take a case already raised with another dispute body or your bank.

Step 5: help from home

Which route first?

A rough order that keeps your options open:

  1. Written dispute to the company, with a clear deadline.
  2. Livro de Reclamações online, which costs nothing and closes nothing.
  3. Then one of: ECRCS (member brand, booked direct), consumer arbitration in Portugal, or your card issuer if time is short.

Honest limits

If you signed a return report showing the damage, or there was an accident, the case is harder. Arbitration and ECRCS do not award compensation for stress.

If you want the letters written for your rental, our pack does that for a flat fee after a free check.