Taking a Spanish hire car across the border

Taking a Spanish hire car across the border

The law allows it; the contract almost never does unless you arrange it in advance. That is the heart of it, and the gap between those two things is where it goes wrong. The risk is not a fine at the border — those borders are open — but that your insurance lapses the moment you drive out of the country without it being in your booking. Below is what the law says, what rental contracts say, and what to do in practice.

The law and the rental contract are two different things

The law. There is no Spanish traffic law forbidding you to take a car across the border. Within the European Union your motor insurance applies in every member state, and the registration plate itself counts as proof of cover. France and Portugal are member states and part of Schengen, so there is no border formality.

The contract. That is where the restriction sits. A hire car is not your car, and the company decides where its car may go. Almost every Spanish hire company requires you to declare a border crossing in advance and to take out an arrangement for it.

What Sunny Cars says about this

Sunny Cars is clear about it: it is not always simply allowed. In many countries you can cross the border without trouble, but sometimes specific permission from the local hire company is needed, and you request that while booking on the website, not on arrival. The local company may charge a surcharge for it. And then the sentence that goes to the heart of it: if you do not request it and make that trip to the neighbouring country anyway, the insurance lapses.

From Spain to Portugal and to France is possible, provided it is arranged in advance. Morocco is not allowed with a Spanish hire car. Sunny Cars says nothing about Andorra and Gibraltar, so neither do we — ask about that with your booking.

What hire companies put in their own terms

To show how much this varies, two examples we checked word for word in the terms. They apply to those companies and not to your booking, but the pattern is the same everywhere.

• Europcar Spain permits driving outside Spain only if you take out a separate service. The permitted countries are named, among them mainland Portugal and France, Andorra and Gibraltar. Do it without that service and a cross-border penalty follows; drive to a country not on the list and it is higher. The amounts are in a separate tariff guide rather than in the terms themselves.
• Hertz lists a long set of permitted countries for its Spanish branches, including France, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar, and charges a flat thirty euros for leaving Spain. If you do not declare the crossing, a fine of six hundred euros may follow and all insurance lapses. For Portugal you have to buy or hire an electronic toll pass. Some models may not go to Italy at all.

What to take from this: prior permission is always needed, there is almost always a flat charge, there is always a country list, and the penalty for not declaring is not the fine but the loss of cover. The amounts differ per company and they change, so check the terms with your own booking.

Andorra and Gibraltar are a separate case

Neither is part of the European Union. Customs and border checks therefore apply, and the automatic EU cover of your insurance does not simply extend there. Whether you need a green card for it we could not establish from an official source, so we make no claim about it. If you want to go, ask explicitly when booking and have it confirmed in writing what is covered.

Portugal and the toll

Portugal uses electronic tolling: on many roads there are no barriers, your plate is read instead. Without an arrangement you get a bill afterwards, and with a hire car that runs through the company, with an administration fee. Companies therefore offer a toll pass for it, to buy or to hire per day with a minimum period. Arrange that when you book, together with the permission to cross the border.

What to do in practice

1. Decide before you book whether you want to leave the country. A day trip to France from the Costa Blanca is a serious drive, but from Catalonia it is nothing.
2. Tick the border crossing in the booking, not at the desk.
3. Have it put on the rental contract and keep it. A verbal assurance at the desk will not help you if there is damage.
4. Ask what exactly is covered abroad, and whether any countries you wanted to visit are missing from the list.

See hire cars at Alicante Airport

More on car hire on the Costa Blanca

What the cover includes and when nothing is reimbursed is at the excess. The full overview is at car hire on the Costa Blanca.

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