Motoring Discussion > Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Meldrew Replies: 15
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New Thu 14 Mar 13 16:11 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - Meldrew
I am going to the Algarve in few weeks and using a hire car to get around. The main East-West road along the coast (A22) has been made a toll road but there are no payment booths!
One either has to pay the fee at a Post Office, 48 hours after the charge has been incurred, thus not possible if you are driving the airport and flying home!
The gist of it is that one has to ensure that one's car rental company gives one the electronic card to put in the windscreen. This records the usage, as in France and Italy, where at least they have pay booths for the visitors!
Details here tinyurl.com/cwh4cec
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New Thu 14 Mar 13 16:27 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - No FM2R
You can pay at Post Offices and some Petrol Stations.

IIRC, any place where you can pay, you can also prepay and/or rent a transponder.
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New Thu 14 Mar 13 16:32 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - No FM2R
www.visitportugal.com/NR/exeres/D1F46576-727B-42CA-BA69-C33AFBA3D81C,frameless.htm
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New Thu 14 Mar 13 16:37 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - Meldrew
Thanks - my info was for October 2012. The visit Portugal website now says, re hire cars,

"Car hire
When hiring a car, please ask the hire company how payment is to be made regarding electronic tolls. For their customers convenience, some car hiring companies have already installed devices on their vehicles and the costs of using the tolls are added at the client’s bill.
If the vehicles are not equipped with electronic devices, the payment of electronic tolls is normally done by the customers at Post Offices."

Still not clear what happens about charges incurred en route to the airport but I understand that major car hire companies supply the electronic car with the vehicle.

Duplicating info kindly posted by NoFM2R!!!
Last edited by: Meldrew on Thu 14 Mar 13 at 16:39
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New Fri 15 Mar 13 09:26 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - Chas
Most car hire firms have a system that gives you a toll payment gadget in the car and your card is charged with any tolls at the end of the hire period. Worked well when we were there last September.
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New Fri 15 Mar 13 12:27 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - lancara
If they are anything like the toll roads in Spain, the majority of drivers are now boycotting them and using the parallel N-roads. On my regular journey across Spain there is one 50km stretch of toll road - €12.15 toll - alternative road adds 10 minutes to journey, which values my time at €75 per hour, and I never earned that much when I was working
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New Fri 15 Mar 13 13:04 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - Meldrew
I take your point Lancara. The journey I need to make in May is either 38 minutes on the Motorway/Toll Road or 48 minutes on the parallel N road. The latter goes through villages and has roundabouts and I may be doing it in the dark. On the overall scheme of a £1000 holiday I may well go for the Budget Car Hire electronic card. I am retired and on holiday so my pay rate doesn't come into it! I well appreciate that yours does.
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New Sat 16 Mar 13 23:00 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - Jacks
If there's no card/whatever in your hire car what about :

outward journey from airport on the motorway - gives you time to pay at PO etc

inward journey back to airport on the N road - your can leave in good time and will be more familiar with the car/local road conditions etc by then.

If it was me - for 10 minutes difference - I'd use the N road both ways, it may be dark and go through villages/roundabouts etc but you're a good driver -yes? - and surely used to this ! Get the missis to map read - having prepared decent additional directions from the interweb.

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New Sun 17 Mar 13 09:08 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - Meldrew
Excellent lateral thinking Jacks. Regrettably my partner is not even closely related to Vasco da Gama or any other well known explorer. Sat Nav will do and your routing idea is splendid!
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New Sun 17 Mar 13 10:16 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - Runfer D'Hills
Apologies for the mild hi-jack but a word of caution to lob in.

I've just paid a €130 fine for apparently infringing a bus/taxi lane or somesuch in Italy last June ! I've been travelling to and driving in Italy all my adult life, even lived there briefly and thought I knew Italian roadsigns. I have absolutely no recollection of having committed this heinous crime in my hired Panda but but it would seem that I must have.

To be truthful I did briefly consider ignoring / contesting the fine but as I have to visit and drive in the country regularly I could see that might cause more trouble than it was worth to save the cost.

Still a bit of a bummer though.

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New Sun 17 Mar 13 11:10 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - Meldrew
Which city were you in? Google for "Italian traffic violation Scam" and you will find a lot of links saying that some are and some aren't. This one is typical

www.fodors.com/community/europe/traffic-violation-notification-scam-or-real.cfm
Last edited by: Meldrew on Sun 17 Mar 13 at 11:10
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New Sun 17 Mar 13 16:01 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - Runfer D'Hills
It was real enough I think. I scanned a copy to an Italian friend and he assured me it was, in his opinion anyway, the real deal.
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New Sun 17 Mar 13 17:42 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - Meldrew
Humph - you said you "Paid" Was this direct to the city concerned or did your rental company pay on your behalf and bill you? I understand that the latter is the usual course of action and there is no appeal against that, obviously.
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New Sun 17 Mar 13 18:19 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - Runfer D'Hills
No, the rental company, a major international by the by, wrote to me to advise of the affair before Christmas, (the "offence" took place in June 2012) and they charged me €43 for the privelege bless their cottons. Then last week I got the actual fine from the authorities at a further €130.

Izza notta fair, no? Izza ninjusteese !

:-)
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New Sun 17 Mar 13 18:36 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - Meldrew
So the €43 was the fee they charged you for snitching on you to the Polizei? Charming!
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New Sun 17 Mar 13 18:49 
 Toll Roads in Portugal - Payments. - Runfer D'Hills
I'm actually, in some ways, quite glad that I'm becoming old and had the chance to live in a world which (with perhaps slightly rose tinted retrospection) was sort of nicer than this one...

I suspect that soon it will be necessary to pass an exam before leaving school in the subject of "the rules which must be obeyed" before venturing into the outside world.

:-)
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