Transponder fee for hire car in Portugal

[MilesHuntsWig]

Hello, apparently we might need to hire a transponder for the hire car which will enable us to pay tolls on various roads .

Anyone know if this is something we genuinely need to do or a way for hire car companies to get money out of you?

Thanks!

If you planning on doing driving on motorways then I recommend that you hire one. It is a lot less hassle than paying at booths or online, you can just drive straight through the via verde lanes.

Oh thank you! But you can just pay with Euros/contactless at booths if need be (we'll be doing occasional driving it's largely airport transfer/local pootling)?

Really appreciate the response!

You can’t pay at toll booths on the A22, there aren’t any, only by transponder or at a post office/paypoint/online. You can’t pay until 3 days after your journey, so it’s difficult for your return to the airport.

Just hire the transponder

Ok great. Will do, thanks.

we just always pay at a local post office no need to hire a transponder.

You can’t do that for your return journey to the airport though

We fly to Faro about 4 times a year and drive on the A22 into Spain
We always rent from the same company and don’t get a transponder ( they don’t offer it as an option but other companies insist on it)
We have NEVER paid a toll and never had any comeback, in fact it’s impossible to pay for the return journey to the airport in any case as costa says

Thanks everyone. We did pay in the end (only 10euro for the week) just to be on the safe side. We were told (haven't independently verified this as just wanted to get going) that you actually can't pay any other way in the Algarve... but you can once you cross into the next region.

Thanks for all responses, will have more time to investigate next time!

We live in Spain and are in the Algarve on holiday, drove across in our car. We just stopped at the "foreigners" toll as soon as we were over the border and put our credit card in. But maybe that only works coming from Spain?

Yes that’s just at the border, there isn’t an option to do that at any other point on the A22

@MilesHuntsWig there isn’t any other way to pay whilst you’re on the A22, only by waiting 3 days and going to a post office etc as stated above. We have transponders in our cars to save having to remember to go and pay or do it online.

Some people have been notified of unpaid tolls going back years, and with fines and charges added on!

Glad we erred on the side of caution then.

Wow - every day's a school day!