Complaining about a car rental company in Portugal: Electronic Livro de Reclamações
You rented in Portugal and money left your card. The question that drives everything is not the name of the company, it is the country you rented in: that is what decides which authority you can turn to for free. In Portugal, the official route is this one, and it costs nothing: Electronic Livro de Reclamações.
What is the free remedy after renting in Portugal?
The trader is legally required to answer within 15 working days, and the complaint is automatically forwarded to the supervisory authority for the sector. For vehicle rental that is the Autoridade da Mobilidade e dos Transportes (AMT). It is the most binding free remedy in southern Europe, and it works from abroad.
The official remedy in four lines
| Body | Electronic Livro de Reclamações (www.livroreclamacoes.pt) |
|---|---|
| Cost | Free |
| Language | Portuguese or English |
| Mandatory reply deadline | 15 working days |
Step by step
- Go to livroreclamacoes.pt and pick "Make Complaint", not "Information Request". Check that the address contains
/Pedido/Reclamacao. - Consumer profile. The "Tax Identification number" field expects your own personal tax number, not the company's. Document type: "ID Cidadão Estrangeiro" or "Passaporte Estrangeiro".
- Identify the trader through advanced search, VAT Number field, using the number printed on your rental agreement.
- Service: "Aluguer de Veículos de Curta Duração". Reason: "Faturação incorreta" for a billing dispute.
- Write in plain characters: the site rejects the euro symbol, long dashes and curly quotes. Use "EUR", "-" and straight quotes.
- Submit, then confirm through the emailed link (valid 24 h, single use), option "Submeter sem criar conta". You receive a
ROR000…reference: that is your official complaint number.
What comes next, in the same country
- No reply within 15 working days: go straight to the AMT, which already received your complaint automatically.
- Unsatisfactory reply: a Portuguese consumer arbitration centre (RAL), free or nearly so, whose decision binds any trader that has joined it. The official simulator names the competent centre for the region.
Four more remedies, independent of this one
The country remedy is the second of five. The others do not depend on it and run in parallel: you only need one to succeed.
- Written complaint to the rental company, dated facts, exact amount, a 14-day deadline. It is the prerequisite every other procedure demands. Template
- European Consumer Centre of your country of residence, free, which refers the case to its counterpart in the company's country. The network covers the European Union, Norway and Iceland. Text
- Card payment dispute for services not provided and unauthorised charges, within 60 to 120 days of the charge. It is the deadline that expires first. Template
- Legal expenses insurance, often included in a car or household policy: the insurer appoints a lawyer at its own cost. Email
The arguments change with the type of dispute
The remedy above is the same whatever your dispute, but what you write in it changes completely. Pick yours.
Your five letters, already filled in, in ten minutes
The portal writes the complaint to the rental company, the filing with Electronic Livro de Reclamações, the letter to the European Consumer Centre, the card dispute and the email to your broker, all in your name. It picks the right remedy automatically from the rental country you enter. Free, no commission, no power of attorney: you send them yourself.
All countries Rented somewhere else? The remedy changes, and so does the page. Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia, France, Belgium, Cyprus, Malta, Türkiye.