Drivalia Portugal Reviews 

Worst car rental ever. Collected at Porto Airport. Fraudulent unexplained charges and rates ( everything is hidden extras) 2 hour queue to pick up car, car with damaged bodywork, and empty fuel tank. Now they are robbing my credit card with charges I can't get verified. Claiming a 2 " scratch on the sill is OVER £450 damage. Additionally there is £55 of road tolls when the average toll is about 40 pence. Rude staff ( take it or leave it) when I asked for a different undamaged car. Dreadful crooks don't hire with them. And despite their feedback below they still have not provided sufficient evidence of the extortionate charges and consequently i cannot claim on my insurance. AVOID AVOID.

We drove our car for less than an hour before it broke down in a dangerous place in torrential rain. It turned out to be the clutch… now I’m no mechanic, but I am a decent driver who’s very proficient at driving my own manual car in my homeland, Scotland (and they tried to suggest I wasn’t used to driving in hilly terrain!) We had to return the car having only driven 15km- there’s no way I messed up a clutch so quickly. We only took out the mid range insurance and have just been made to pay over 800 euros for a new clutch to be installed in their terrible car. How can this be allowed to be the norm? It’s crazy. If I buy a product or employ a service and it breaks I’d be compensated not ‘fined’. Avoid Drivalia at Madeira airport (Funchal) at all costs. The staff were unapologetic and rude too. Drivalia customer services, I’m still waiting to hear from you!

This is about my rental in April over 5days with my Daughter and Granddaughter.
I have hired many cars over the last 10 years in Portugal and found nearly all to have good honest and considerate staff in busy times but this has been the worse experience yet and is still unresolved by Drivalia!
It started at Porto airport when the pick up vehicle came and left without the pick up driver leaving his vehicle to check who was waiting and promptly drove of without us causing a long delay before he returned.
The car supplied was very good condition and the agent took an age leading me round the car looking at every tiny mark and noting on his clipboard,
at one point I asked about the extremely cheap deal that was on offer and he said yes they made there profits from the insurance claims, that was a worrying statement.
He even went to the rear of the car and inspected it looking down the body on both sides as if for twists to the chassis or something that I’ve never witnessed before.
I videoed a lot of this process … EXCEPT THE WINDSCREEN,
On returning the car a few days later a different agent did a fairly quick check of the condition and then pointed out a stone chip to the windscreen just above the wiper blade, he then informed me this was not on the damage report sheet from the collection date and I would be charged for the repair.
I could not find a picture to dispute this at the time and had to accept his verdict.
Time was going by and I was somewhat in shock, but not completely surprised as I suspected something might occur like this.
A week later I discovered that £800 had been withdrawn from my credit card by Drivalia and to this date no invoice or information from Drivalia has been received.
A week after leaving Drivalia I reviewed the video I took on pick up and to my surprise I had caught a shot of the windscreen and THERE WAS THE STONE CHIP ! It had been present when I collect the car !
I have since emailed Drivalia the evidence and asked for the mistake to be acknowledged and the £800 refunded to my account, several times to no avail.
I booked through the booking agent on line and they have (and still are) trying to resolve this with the video evidence with Drivalia as yet without success.
You can understand this is a very distressing and totally unexceptable way to conduct a relationship with a customer.

Excellent service. No heavy upselling and surprise charges. Natalia for pick up and Francisco for customer service and drop off. Definitely recommend.

Absolutely amazing attendance. I totally recommend this rent a car as they present themselves in a very professional and empathetic way. Mateus and Iara are astonishingly friendly people and to me it's a pleasure to deal with them

Absolutely terrible experience with Drivalia Portugal. We booked this car for an important holiday event and the entire trip was ruined because of their poor service.

We were told somebody would collect us from the airport at 7:30pm, however nobody arrived and we were left waiting for hours until around 10pm with very poor communication. Despite this, they still charged us for a full rental day even though we barely had the vehicle that night.

The problems continued throughout the rental. The child car seat we paid extra for was dirty, mouldy and completely unusable. The vehicle then broke down during our trip, causing us to miss the important event we had travelled to Portugal for in the first place. We lost valuable holiday time dealing with the breakdown, transport issues and stress caused by the situation.

We were told we would be reimbursed for transfer/transport costs after the breakdown, but this never happened. We also paid extra for additional insurance because we were strongly encouraged to do so to avoid future problems or charges.

Shockingly, after all of this, Drivalia later attempted to take nearly £3,000 from our bank accounts without proper explanation or warning. Some charges were attempted while the dispute was still ongoing. We repeatedly contacted management by email and many of our messages were ignored completely.

This was one of the worst rental experiences we have ever had. Poor customer service, unacceptable vehicle issues, hidden stress, financial worry and a completely ruined holiday experience. I would strongly advise others to be extremely careful before booking with Drivalia.

Carlos was wery professional and accommodating. We booked the car a day before and after their working hours, to be picked up early in the morning and even then the service was fast and professional.

Everything was great.
The staff is amazing.
The car is good and the price is exceptional.

We were very lost with finding our car rental service. We couldn’t find the voucher that we needed for the booking. They said we weren’t in their system. They told us we were probably at the wrong place. They helped us anyway and were very helpful. Very grateful for their service and trying to find a solution for us. They eventually brought us back with their shuttle bus and get us at the right place.

Scam- took pictures from 2 meters which didn’t show damage. On day, claimed scratch present which was not visible in repeat photo of door from 12 inches away. Do not go here.

Efficient and easy booking, car was in absolute great condition and easy delivery back to the car company. All in all a smooth and easy experience

The location was convenient. The staff is friendly. Check-in and check-out process is smooth and easy.

Car quality is the worst I have ever seen and I have tears of rental experience Car had mileage over 72 I and apparently was used by extensive smokers before. Neither could they change the car nor could they clean the car professionally and thoroughly . I have had it with this provider and first experience will be lest experience! This business is owned by credit agricole they definitely have no clue how to run a successful car rental business;

Booked a Kia ceed Estate or equivalent via a Jet2 holiday. Got to the office and the car wasn't ready for nearly 3 hours so had to go back to the airport and wait. When we hot back they only had a SEAT Arona (400l luggage space Vs 625 for the Kia. They clearly don't have an estate cars and didn't care.

Also, despite paying for additional insurance with the booking through Jet2 , we get the pressure sale of insurance and "oh you won't have the same cover" and we need €2500 deposit.

The whole thing felt like a scam and I would advise anyone to avoid this company and stick with the large car rental business. Also avoid booking this through Jet2 who did not care when we called them asking how we were supposed to get our family to our villa.

Great experience

Excellent customer service with Vivian. She was super professional, patient, explained everything in a clear and easy to understand manner :)

I was a customer for two consecutive years, and I must say that I always received excellent service.

Good transfer, clean vehicle, friendly staff. Will use again :)

I highly recommend, fast service, stuff very friendly!