Last summer, my friend Josselyn and I road tripped across southern Portugal in a nice little rented 1.1 liter Renault Clio that struggled with the hilly terrain but got us from point A to B. We cruised around pretty successfully with an old school foldout map, going from Lisbon to the Algarve and back.
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| Where to next? |
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| Beach on Atlantic |
Upon arrival in Lisbon on Wednesday, the car rental company asked us if we would like to rent a toll transponder or pay for the tolls that we'd pass through in the Algarve at a any post office before leaving. They notified us of our options and this all sounded well and good, so we decided to not rent the €18 toll transponder and pay our tolls in the post office, as we would return from the Algarve to be in Lisbon, Friday- Monday, and able to pay in person on either of those days.
What the rental car agent did not tell us as we were signing the waiver saying the rental company is not responsible for our tolls, is that it takes 2+ days for the tolls to turn up in the system. Hmmm...
You see the Portuguese have built a really nice toll road in the touristy southern tip of Portugal called the Algarve, vastly improving on the local roads to get around the area. however, there is absolutely no way at all to pay for them any other way, other than the 2 options above. Transponder or Post Office. Not with cash at any check points and not online.
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| Algarve Toll Cameras |
I went to the Post Office on Friday, upon arrival in Lisbon and they said they had no record of my tolls. This is when I learned it takes 2 days to show up in their system. Just for good measure for my guilty conscience, I went to the post office in the Lisbon airport on Monday before my flight, and still no tolls in the system.
After returning home, I read about this a bit more (foreign cars) and it sure is an inefficient and ineffective system they have going on.
Basically, the locals are not using the nice new highways the government built because they can't afford to drive on them, so the toll roads are nice and empty. Instead locals are still using the local roads, which take them twice as long to get to their destination and those old roads are deteriorating at a rapid pace. The tourists are not paying the tolls either, unless they have rented the pricey transponder. If they do attempt to pay at the Post Office, they need to stick around and not drive anywhere with a toll for 2 days, in order to pay in person and only Monday-Friday. Sometimes people even end up in arguments at the Post Office because there are unpaid tolls on the rental car's license plate number from the previous renter. Pick your car up on Monday afternoon, and you've got the tolls from the person before you who has been driving around all weekend.
From what I've read online, people in other countries are receiving massive bills with fines from the Portuguese government at their home addresses that are passed on from the rental car companies from that nice waiver you're required to sign. I haven't gotten one yet, and from what I know, they have no way of making you pay. Hopefully they let me back in the country on Thursday.
The whole system here is absolute brilliance. No wonder Portugal is broke?
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