Latest news and stories about car rental in Portugal for expats and residents.
'We are effectively feeling the absence of Ryanair. It is noticeable,' says the Azores representative for the car rental association.
The car rental sector in Portugal faces potential closures due to market conditions.
In 2025, 424,427 customers were recorded for self-drive vehicle rental services in Madeira. The majority of contracts were made with delivery at the airport.
Car rental services without a driver in Madeira recorded 431,492 contracts last year, generating 108.9 million euros in revenue, the Regional Directorate of Statistics (DREM) reported on Monday, the 6th. According to provisional results from the quarterly survey of car rental companies in the region, most contracts were fulfilled with vehicle pickup at the airport (58.9%), followed by rental company offices (32.3%) and hotels (8.8%). Throughout the year, the number of contracts peaked in the third quarter (122,568) and hit its lowest point in the fourth (88,325), a period that saw a 27.9% drop compared to the previous quarter. The vehicle fleet grew until the third quarter, reaching 13,271 units, before falling to 12,001 in the final four months of the year. In total, 424,427 clients were recorded in 2025, showing positive quarterly growth in the first three quarters. The third quarter generated the highest total revenue (39.7 million euros), while the fourth quarter generated the least (21.7 million). Car rentals in Madeira generated 17 million in revenue in the first quarter of this year.
