A22 Toll - Portugal

Fimbo77

Hi,

Has anyone any experience of using the new Toll system on the A22 in the Algarve?

I`m just wondering how to go about paying for my return journey (in a hire car) given the fact that you can pay until at least 48hrs after driving through the toll - by that stage I`ll be home in Scotland again!

AMG762

I would also be interested to hear if anyone has experience of these tolls yet?

I will be there August and already have a rental car booked

SCOYA

I've not, as yet, used the A22 since it has become a toll road, however I do use this road quite regularly throughout the year.

All that I've read is leaning towards each hire car operator getting you to sign a declaration that they will be able to charge your CC with the toll charges within the 48 hours period after you have returned the car.

However, I've also heard of people picking up a car then going to a payment office, within the first two days of rental, only to find that the previous renters return toll charge has not been paid and in fact the new renter (that'll be you) then has to pay the previous renters return charges.........................

The only way to avoid the toll charges for your journey back to the airport is to NOT use the A22. However, you will still have to sign CC details to the rental company.

Take a look at www.britishexpats.com take a look at both the Portuguese and Spanish forums, there's a lot of talk there that is being updated as and when people have new information.

Such a shame that the Portuguese government didn't go the whole hog and have toll booths, the general opinion appears to be that tourists are happy to pay the tolls, they just want the ease of paying for them and the government appear to have gone out of their way to ensure payment of tolls is as difficult and complicated as possible.

Either way, enjoy your holidays.

lagoslife

Currently as things stand.

Either;
There car hire company installs a transponder and charges you for the tolls. There may be an admin charge for rental of transponders. Few companies have installed these but more are doing so. One such company that I know of is Lagorent. Some companies also allow you to leave monies for your charges with them and they will pay the toll fee.

Or
You have to go to a post office or payshop to pay the toll charges. You can only pay these after 48 hours. Addition charges by another hirer who returned your car on the same day can't be separated from yours. Only different dates. So you can't pay for your return journey.

If you don't pay for your return journey to the airport then you may or may not be contacted for payment.

Hopefully this will be resolved before summer.

mystic_trev

http://www.theportugalnews.com/a22_tolls/

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

My advice would be to take the N125 back to Faro. This is causing such chaos and confusion isn't it.

Good luck Tlly

miss_edith

I was there 2 months ago. When I picked the car up I had to sign a form stating that they could claim the tolls plus an admin charge on my credit card for any tolls I didn't pay. The guy also advised me to just not use the motorway as that would be easier for everyone. I too was worried about the return journey to the airport. In the end we decided to just not use the A22 at all to save the worry and hassle. The N125 was fine back then, no real delays anywhere and I drove back to the airport on it from Monchique in less than 1 1/2 hours. Unless you're driving right down to the West the easiest thing to do is avoid the A22 completly.

[Deleted User]

This is what the A22 looks like now after introducing the tools. People avoid it in droves.:cool:



We did however use it from Ayamonte to Loule. Spent a day in Spain and we were a bit tired. Paid around 7 euros if I remember correctly. I paid at the post office in Vilamoura two days later. I gave them our hire car registration number and they entered the details in their computer. Straight forward.
Every now and then there are rows of traffic camaras above the motorway reading your number plate. :cool:

ivorysky

We used it from Faro to Luz and back last week. The hire car company take a note of your credit card number and will charge the card for any toll fees, plus a €5 admin fee. At least that's the theory, I'll find out soon how well it works in practice. As travellingbum says, it was virtually empty once you got past Albufeira.

iheartbristol

Other half and iI have just come across this rather wonderful little phenomenom and now don't know what on earth to do (booked holiday and hire car before we realised that the A22 is a toll road) this we might just take the N125 as we don't trust any hire car company not to mess it up. Shame as it'll double the length of our jounrey

iheartbristol

OK, so I've done some research, read some newspaper articles and read some forums and this is my understanding of the tolling system and hire cars in the Algarve. According to google maps taking the N125 will add a minimum of 45 minutes to my journey so I'd really rather use the A22.

Avis have fitted transponders to their cars which are picked up by the tolling system, and, as far as I'm aware, the hire car company can match the tolls incurred with the vehicle rental date and time info and charge the right toll incurred to the right customer - at least I think so. Any other Hire car company I think this is how it works. PLEASE someone correct me if I'm wrong. I can't vouch for the validity of all of this, it's all my assumption and understanding:

OUTBOUND JOURNEY

Example: Arrive on Saturday night, go to post office to pay toll on Tuesday.

They will likely try and charge you for the entire day's worth of Tolls which would include the tolls generated by the person who used the hire car Saturday morning to drive back to the airport and go home.

Show them the paperwork with the time and date you picked the car up. If they are reasonable they will realise that your tolls are only in the evening and charge you for your journey only (about 7 euros ish if you travelled to Lagos) they will then apply to the hire car company to recoup the charges for the morning and the hire car company will match them up with the previous renters account.

However if they are unreasonable they won't let you just pay your share and tell you that if you don't pay it in full, you can't pay it at all - 5 days later you'll incur a fine that has to be paid. Best thing in this scenario is to swallow pride and pay the whole days worth of toll fees (probably about 13 Euros).

RETURN JOURNEY
Settle up with the hire car company and note down all the toll charges you incur (including the times) and add them up. Get the hire car company to sign these notes and agree that you will pay the difference in 3 days when it's generated by the tolling system (this happens by them leaving your credit account open for 3 more days and then charging the toll amount to your credit card).

If you never actually get charged you can assume that some poor sap has just paid for your toll charges at the local post office in portugal and you'll likely hear nothing more of it.

If the car rental company charges you too much once you get home, you have your signed notes to prove how much toll charge you incurred and you could fight for your money back…. but for the sake of about 7 Euros, is it worth it?

I've seen it suggested that you can pay for your final journey at the Airport post office if it's open (less than 48 hours after the journey which puzzled me). YOu have the first 48 hours for the fees to register on the system and then 5 days to pay the toll or a fine is incurred - this fine is then sent to the hire car company who, in turn will try and charge you.

ALTERNATIVE ROUTE

The N125 has one of the worst safety records of any road in Europe. Need I say more.

I've fount this that suggests between January and June all the tolls are actually paid up by the hire car companies - which would solve all the above problems (for the moment) but I have no idea if it's actually been enforced, by reading other forums I tend to doubt it) http://www.yorcar.com/A22-Toll-Charges.aspx