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Buying or renting a car before buying land????

Last activity 09 November 2017 by Tevisbuckles

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aartetc

Does anyone have a pearl of wisdom they can share regarding whether I should buy or rent a car to go and look for land in Portugal? Every which way seems expensive and I read it's a pain to buy there. I heard the GNR target UK plates for roadside checks sometimes and I don't want that hassle. So is renting long term a possibility? I need a car to search for land/a place and won't have proof of address until then. I can use friend's addresses but I won't have proof. Please can someone help as I will arrive in a week. Muito obrigada!

Tevisbuckles

IMO it depends how long you plan to spend looking for a property to purchase.  It took us 5 trips to find a place to buy and we rented a call each time. There are big price differences in car rentals so I recommend you spend time on the internet to compare and book your rental on the net, then pick-up your car at the airport. Remove the car rental sticker so that you don't send a signal that you are a foreigner driving a rental car.

aartetc

Thanks for that, yes I did wonder about the sticker...I will remove it tomorrow. I arrived yesterday and thought I had paid for a bargain car rental for 6 weeks but on arriving at the office near the airport I had to pay a lot more...in total maybe 550+ for 6 weeks including a huge deposit...I was pretty unhappy about the deceiving price but what could I do... They will have a bad review from me when I am finished....
Thanks for the advice! I hope I can find somewhere within the 6 weeks but I will be returning after Christmas anyway...maybe my Portuguese friend will 'buy' me a car...he suggested this as an alternative. ; )

Tevisbuckles

WOW, I am sorry to hear about your car rental experience, we never had such a problem.......

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