Interrent is Europcar’s budget subsidiary, launched to compete on price with the wave of low-cost operators that arrived at Faro and Lisbon over the past decade. It runs on the same booking infrastructure and often the same fleet as its parent company, but with a leaner, cheaper positioning — and, based on the volume and tone of customer complaints, a noticeably rougher edge at the counter than Europcar’s own brand tends to get.
This review draws on customer reviews across Trustpilot, Auto Europe’s supplier reviews, Wanderlog, and TripAdvisor’s Portugal forums, along with general knowledge of how the Interrent/Europcar structure operates. We haven’t rented from Interrent ourselves for this piece, and while the complaints below are numerous and specific, plenty of reviewers also report straightforward, trouble-free rentals — we’ve tried to give both sides fair weight.
What Interrent actually is
Interrent sits inside the Europcar Mobility Group as a lower-cost brand, similar to how Hertz operates Firefly, Thrifty, and Dollar as budget tiers alongside its main name. In Portugal, Interrent operates primarily out of Faro and Lisbon airports, typically from off-airport depots reached by a shuttle rather than an in-terminal desk — standard practice for budget operators at both locations, not something specific to Interrent. Because it shares infrastructure with Europcar, some of what happens at pickup — the fleet, the staff, even the office — can overlap with the parent brand, which is worth knowing if you’re trying to decide between the two purely on reputation.
The recurring, serious complaint: damage disputes at return
This is the theme that shows up more, and more seriously, in Interrent reviews than in reviews of most other operators covered on this site. Multiple detailed accounts describe being charged for damage — a cracked windscreen, scratches, dents — that reviewers insist wasn’t present, sometimes with the company sending photos as “evidence” that the customer disputes as unconvincing or unrelated to the actual vehicle. Several reviewers specifically recommend photographing every angle of the car, including the roof, undercarriage where visible, and wheels, before driving off, and keeping a copy of the check-out damage report rather than trusting an emailed version — one reviewer noted that the email they received didn’t match the corrected report they’d verbally agreed with staff at pickup.
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This pattern isn’t universal — a meaningful number of reviews describe straightforward pickups and returns with no issues at all — but the volume and specificity of the damage-dispute complaints, including some describing four-figure charges for damage the customer says was never there, makes this the single most important thing to protect yourself against if you book with Interrent.
Other recurring issues
Beyond damage disputes, the next most common complaints cluster around communication and fees. Several reviewers describe unclear directions to the pickup location, particularly during periods of airport construction or renovation, leading to wasted time and confused phone calls. Shuttle and transfer fees also draw frustration — a handful of reviewers specifically object to being charged separately for the airport shuttle rather than having it included in the quoted price, and toll transponder or “road tax” charges are described by more than one reviewer as confusingly explained at the counter. Cross-office communication is another sore point: one reviewer described a Porto office with no information about how to return a car picked up in Faro, telling the customer to look it up online themselves.
On the more positive side, a genuine share of reviews describe efficient, friendly service, cars in good condition, and staff who weren’t pushy about insurance upsells beyond the standard pitch every operator gives. Pricing is consistently described as competitive — often among the cheapest options at Faro specifically — which is the entire point of the brand’s positioning within the Europcar group.
Insurance and how to protect yourself
Interrent’s standard rate, like every operator in Portugal, includes a collision damage waiver with an excess, and counter staff will offer to reduce that excess for an extra daily cost. Given the volume of damage-dispute complaints specifically tied to this brand, the case for either purchasing a reduced-excess option or bringing independent third-party excess insurance is stronger here than it is for operators with cleaner damage-dispute track records. Whichever you choose, the single most useful thing you can do is document the car thoroughly before you drive off — every panel, the wheels, the roof, and the interior — with timestamped photos or video, and get any pre-existing damage acknowledged in writing by staff before you sign anything. Our guide to preventing rental car damage disputes covers this process in more detail, and it’s worth reading in full before an Interrent pickup specifically.
Interrent vs. Europcar and other budget brands
| Interrent | Europcar (parent) | Goldcar / other budget operators | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Often among the cheapest at Faro | Higher, mid-range | Similarly low-cost |
| Damage dispute complaints | Notably frequent and specific in reviews | Fewer severe damage disputes reported | Common across the budget tier generally |
| Pickup location | Off-airport shuttle at Faro/Lisbon | In-terminal or adjacent | Off-airport shuttle, typical for the tier |
| Fleet | Often shares stock with Europcar | Newer, wider selection | Varies by operator |
| Best approach | Document everything, consider extra excess cover | Standard precautions apply | Same documentation approach recommended |
Is Interrent worth booking?
If price is the deciding factor and you’re comfortable doing the legwork to protect yourself — thorough photos, a written pre-existing damage record, and reading the fine print on shuttle and toll fees before you arrive — Interrent can work out as one of the cheaper options at Faro or Lisbon, and a real share of renters report no problems at all. But the specific, recurring nature of the damage-dispute complaints here is different in degree from what turns up for most other budget operators covered on this site, and it’s worth going in with that expectation rather than being caught off guard. If avoiding that risk entirely matters more to you than shaving a few euros off the daily rate, a brand with a cleaner damage-dispute record — including Interrent’s own parent, Europcar — may be worth the difference.
