Measured, not described
The conditions that decide what car hire costs
An airport page answers "what does hiring cost at Faro". These answer the questions that are not about a destination at all — what the desk will hold on your card, whether your card will even be accepted, what a second driver adds, and whether anyone will still be there when your flight lands.
How-to guides
- Renting a car at Faro Airport: 12 tips from our own searches · data updated 7 October 2026
- Renting a car for a month or more in Portugal: the cheapest way, honestly · data updated 7 October 2026
- What car hire really costs: the second driver and the mileage cap · data updated 7 October 2026
Car hire deposits: what the desk really holds
€775
the typical deposit held, median across 34 airports — from €200 to €2,000
The deposit is the money blocked on the main driver's card while you have the car. It is not a charge and you get it back - but it has to fit, and it is the single biggest surprise at the counter.
Read what we measured →Car hire with a debit card: where it is actually possible
30%
the share of cars accepting a debit card, median across 34 airports — from 0% to 54%
Most suppliers want a credit card in the main driver's name, because that is what a deposit can be pre-authorised on. Some accept a debit card. Which ones, and how many, varies enormously by airport.
Read what we measured →Landing late: which airports still have a desk open
52%
the share of desks shut by 22:00, median across 34 airports — from 3% to 100%
A delayed flight is the difference between collecting your car and paying for a night you did not plan. Desk hours are the one thing almost nobody publishes by airport, so we measured them.
Read what we measured →Additional driver fees: what a second driver costs
€72
the typical second-driver fee, median across 34 airports — from €7 to €240
Almost every supplier charges to put a second person on the contract, and the fee is per rental rather than per day. It is the cost most comparison sites leave off the headline price entirely.
Read what we measured →Where these numbers come from
Every figure is a median across repeated searches of each airport, run by us and kept. No supplier gives us data, nothing is estimated, and a market is not published at all until it has been measured enough times to mean something. How we measure this.