Car hire in the AlgarveFaro airport desks, excess, tolls and child seats (2026)

Prices and rules checked on 4 October 2026. Hire rates move every week, so this page gives none; what it does give — toll-device fees, deposit rules, the child-seat law, licence rules — has a source and a date. Fees quoted for named companies are examples from their own pages, not a market survey. Check the current terms before you book.

Faro airport has six car hire companies with desks inside the terminal — Avis-Budget, Europcar, Goldcar, Guerin, Hertz and Sixt [1]. Other suppliers may collect you by shuttle or meet you in arrivals [2]. The headline price matters less than three things: the excess and the deposit on your credit card, the toll-device fee (the A22 is free, but check the rental terms for toll-service charges; Portuguese hire cars must carry the device) and the fuel policy. If you are staying in Lagos or Faro for a few weeks without big day trips, you may not need a car at all — see the table at the end.

Desk in the terminal or shuttle to a depot

Faro airport’s own car rental page lists six companies “before security”, with opening hours between 06:00 and midnight [1]:

Company (in-terminal, per the airport)	Desk hours listed [1]
Avis-Budget	07:00–23:00
Europcar	07:00–24:00
Goldcar	06:00–24:00
Guerin	07:00–24:00
Hertz	07:00–24:00
Sixt	06:00–24:00

Other suppliers may use shuttle or meet-and-greet collection; check your voucher. A broker’s guide to Faro describes the usual pattern: a company representative meets you in the arrivals hall (or at the information desk or the signed meeting point) and takes you by shuttle bus to the supplier’s depot [2]. That guide was last updated in 2017, so treat the details as indicative; your voucher will say where to go.

What actually differs between the two:

• Time. A desk in the terminal saves the shuttle leg in both directions. On a late-evening arrival, check the desk hours above and the off-airport company’s out-of-hours terms before you book — we could not verify any company’s out-of-hours fee for this page.
• Price. Off-airport companies are often cheaper on comparison sites, but the comparison only holds once you add the excess cover, the deposit rules and the toll device. We did not verify any rates.
• Reputation. We are not naming any company as good or bad: we found no source we would stand behind for that. Read recent reviews of the specific Faro branch, not the brand.

Excess, insurance and the deposit

This is where most of the cost — and most of the arguments — sit.

What is included. Your hire price should include basic insurance for the hire period [5]. That basic cover, usually called a collision damage waiver (CDW), still leaves you liable for the excess: the first slice of any damage bill, which Which? puts at usually between £200 and £2,500 [3].

Two ways to cover the excess.

Compared	Hire company’s cover (SCDW / “zero excess” at the desk)	Standalone excess insurance (Excess Reimbursement Insurance)
Cost	Which? found it on average eight times more expensive than standalone cover [3]	Bought online before the trip; Which?’s top-rated 2026 policy cost £12 for a week in Spain [3]
Deposit on your card	Usually smaller or none — the one real advantage, says Which? [3]	The full deposit is held, typically £500–£1,200 according to MoneySavingExpert [4]
If the car is damaged	The hire company absorbs it within the terms	You pay the hire company first (from the deposit), then claim it back from your insurer [3][4]
What else is covered	Varies; Which? found no hire company covering lock-outs, wrong fuel and curtailment as standard [3]	Better policies cover wheels, windscreens, wrong fuel and more; check the limits [3][4]

Which? and MoneySavingExpert both recommend standalone cover on cost grounds [3][4]. The honest trade-off: with standalone cover you need enough credit limit for the deposit, and if there is a damage dispute, the money is already off your card while you argue.

Credit card, not debit. Guerin’s conditions are typical of what we read: the security deposit must go on a physical credit card in the main driver’s name, valid until 30 days after the return; a debit card can only pay for the booking itself [6]. MoneySavingExpert says most hire firms take the deposit only on a credit card [4]. If you only carry a debit card or a fintech card, check the specific company’s terms before you book, not at the desk. More on cards in paying in Portugal.

Protecting yourself. Check that every existing scratch is on the damage diagram before you drive off [5], photograph the car at pick-up and return [4], and check your statement afterwards that the deposit has been released [4].

Tolls: the A22 is free, the toll device has its own charge

The A22 (Via do Infante), the motorway along the Algarve, has been toll-free since 1 January 2025 under Lei n.º 37/2024 [7]. The official Portugal Tolls site no longer lists it when we checked on 4 October 2026 [8]. Guides written before 2025 that tell you to sort out A22 tolls are out of date.

The device is mandatory; check the billing terms. Since Decreto-Lei n.º 84-C/2022, rental companies in Portugal must fit their cars with an electronic toll device [9][21]; Hertz Portugal says the rule has applied since 8 January 2023 [10]. The company bills the tolls used plus any administrative costs for the toll service; articles 27 and 43 leave those costs to a ministerial order and link them to use of the service. Check the rental terms for the charges quoted by your company. [21] Examples from company terms:

• Hertz Portugal: €2.21 a day, maximum €22.14 per rental, plus the tolls you use; if no toll passages are recorded during the rental, the device fee is refunded 10 days after the contract closes [10].
• Guerin: a “Toll Service” included with the rental, with an activation fee of €1.85 a day [11]; the page we read does not say whether it is refunded when no tolls are used.

Both as of 4 October 2026 — check current terms. Other companies’ fees were not checked.

Where you will still pay tolls. Much of the rest of the network is tolled. The A2 from Lisbon to the Algarve is a Brisa toll road [12]; we did not run a current toll calculation for this page, so check the operator’s toll simulator for your route and vehicle class. In a hire car the device pays these automatically and the company bills you afterwards [10][11]. The official EasyToll, TollCard and Via Verde options on the Portugal Tolls site are for foreign-registered cars, not hire cars [8].

Child seats: the legal rule

Article 55 of the Código da Estrada [13][22]:

• Children under 12 and shorter than 135 cm must use an approved child restraint suited to their size and weight.
• They travel in the back seat, except a child under 3 in a rear-facing seat in the front with the front passenger airbag switched off, or a child of 3 or more when the car has no rear seat or no rear seat belts.
• Fine: €120 to €600 per child.

Portugal’s road-safety charity PRP notes that older R44 seats can still be used if they are in good condition, and that many R129 (i-Size) seats go up to 150 cm, beyond the legal minimum [14].

For families: decide early whether to rent seats or bring your own. MoneySavingExpert warns that extras such as child seats cost more if you add them at the desk [4]. Seat prices at Faro companies were not verified. If you rent, check the seat yourself — label, size, fit — before you leave the car park. More in the Algarve with kids.

Licence, age, fuel and Spain

• UK drivers. With a photocard licence you can drive in Portugal for up to 185 days without an international driving permit; GOV.UK adds that you should check whether the hire company asks for one. A paper licence needs updating or an IDP [15].
• US drivers. The State Department says a US licence is valid in Portugal for up to six months and refers you to AAA for an IDP [16]. Rental companies set their own document rules — ask for them in writing before you book.
• Minimum age. It varies by company. Guerin’s conditions, as an example: 21, or 25 for some car groups; drivers under 21 who have held a licence for more than a year can drive certain groups for a daily supplement [6].
• Fuel policy. Check whether you have to return the car full [5]. We did not compare fuel policies by company.
• Driving into Spain. Companies set their own rules and fees for taking a car across the border. We could not verify current terms for this page, so get any cross-border permission and fee in your contract before you leave the desk.

Parking in Lagos and Sagres

Since 2015, parking in central Lagos has been run for the municipality by Lagos em Forma: the Anel Verde/Praça d’Armas and riverfront car parks plus paid street zones [17]. Current tariffs and paid hours were not on that page, and the only tariff document we found dates from 2021, so we are not quoting prices. For Sagres we found no official parking information worth citing.

Weekly or monthly: nomads and workation

For stays of a few weeks or more, the questions change:

• Monthly hire. We could not verify any monthly rates for this page. Ask for a quote for the full period rather than chaining weekly rentals, and check the mileage limit and whether the toll-device fee is capped per rental (Hertz caps it at €22.14 [10]).
• The deposit for a month. It stays blocked on your credit card for the whole hire [4], which matters if you also pay rent on the same card.
• Car only for part of the stay. If you are based in Lagos or Faro and work most days, a car for the arrival week plus a few day trips can cost less than a month of hire. See working remotely in the Algarve for bases.

Do you need a car at all?

Our assessment on paper, based on the rail timetable and bus information. It is not experience.

Base	Without a car	Car worth it?
Lagos	Direct regional trains to Faro, about 90 km away by road [18][20]; Vamus 47 bus west to Sagres [19]	Optional. Useful for west-coast beaches and day trips
Faro	On the Linha do Algarve; trains east and west [18]	Optional for a city stay
Tavira	On the Linha do Algarve [18]	Optional. Useful for inland villages
Sagres	No railway; Vamus 47 to Lagos [19]	Strongly recommended, especially with kids or for a month
Villas and rural stays	Usually no public transport worth planning around	Yes

The full no-car plan, with timetables, is in the Algarve without a car. For the airport leg alone — transfer, train or bus instead of a hire car — see Faro airport to Lagos and Sagres.

Families: with child seats, the beach bag and a stroller, a car simplifies Sagres and the west coast most. Nomads: Lagos and Faro work without a car on weekdays. Workation: consider a car for the arrival week and the weekends you plan day trips, not the whole stay.

Sources

1. Faro Airport: Car rental, accessed 4 October 2026.
2. Zest Car Rental blog: Collecting a hire car at Faro Airport, broker, 2016, updated 2017, accessed 4 October 2026.
3. Which?: Best car hire excess insurance 2026, accessed 4 October 2026.
4. MoneySavingExpert: How to book cheap car hire, accessed 4 October 2026.
5. European Consumer Centre Ireland: Car hire in Europe, accessed 4 October 2026.
6. Guerin: Condições web, accessed 4 October 2026.
7. ANTRAM: Fim das portagens nas ex-SCUT (Lei n.º 37/2024), accessed 1 October 2026.
8. Portugal Tolls: official site, accessed 4 October 2026.
9. Decreto-Lei n.º 84-C/2022 (PGD Lisboa), art. 27.º, accessed 4 October 2026.
10. Hertz Portugal: Via Verde obrigatória para alugar um carro, accessed 4 October 2026.
11. Guerin: Portagens em Portugal, accessed 4 October 2026.
12. Wikipedia: A2 motorway (Portugal), accessed 4 October 2026.
13. Código da Estrada, art. 55.º (PGD Lisboa), accessed 4 October 2026.
14. Prevenção Rodoviária Portuguesa: Sistemas de retenção para crianças, accessed 4 October 2026.
15. GOV.UK: Check if you need an international driving permit, accessed 4 October 2026.
16. U.S. Department of State: Portugal, accessed 4 October 2026.
17. Lagos em Forma: Estacionamento, accessed 4 October 2026.
18. CP: Linha do Algarve regional timetable, valid from 19 July 2026 (PDF), accessed 1 October 2026.
19. algarvebus.info: Lagos–Sagres–Cabo São Vicente timetable (Vamus 47), enthusiast site, accessed 1 October 2026.
20. OSRM demo router: Faro airport to Lagos, OpenStreetMap data, model estimate, accessed 1 October 2026.
21. Diário da República: Decreto-Lei n.º 84-C/2022, art. 27.º, accessed 11 October 2026.
22. Diário da República: Código da Estrada, art. 55.º (consolidated), accessed 11 October 2026.