Lat minute car hire - Portugal

I hope this is the correct forum for this.

I am going to Faro this weekend and have been trying all week to book a rental car for three days. This all happened at short notice and the company I normally use (Economy Car Hire) don't seem to be in business any more (at any rate, their website has been down for the last week or so).

On each of the last few days in a row I have found a supplier claiming to have availability and have submitted orders for the required rental and then received an email to say that my booking was being processed (subject to confirmation of availability) and that I would receive a confirmation email. In each case, I received a follow up email the next day saying they had no availability.

I know I've left it very late and I can survive using taxis if need be, but does anyone know of a reasonably priced car hire company where you can find out in real time if they have availability at short notice? A number of sites have stated no availability and some have offered a limited range of cars at crazy prices (€200 to €300 per day).

I appreciate that it's a longshot, but there's no harm in asking.

Thanks
Homer

Homer,

Try www.autoeurope.com or www.carjet.com and they will 'trawl' the available car companies and get you the best available quote for your specified days.

Good luck.

This might not suit, but if you get there and still have nothing, there are lots of car hire companies in Faro airport who work from reps on tables at the cafeteria out front. They don't have signs up , just phone, case & the cars are in the parking lot outside. IF they have spare capacity you might get a good deal. When you come out the arrivals door into the long front section turn left about 50 yards down theres a self-service with tables in the mainhall, they're usually there.

Thanks for the suggestions, folks.

I had already tried a number of sites, but I tried the autoeurope site again and a number of cars were available, priced in dollars. I then noticed my country of origin was entered as the US, so I changed to Ireland and tried again. This time I was told there were no cars available!

Graham, I think I'll try out your suggestion. I know where the reps hang out and I'll see if they have anything available at a reasonable price. I'm travelling on my own (my wife is already over there) so I can just hop in a taxi if I can't find a hire car.

Thanks
Homer

Try economycarrentals.com . I have used them several times now and found them to be the cheapest all round, no insurance excess, and no queues at the airport. No link with them other than good experiences. NB - this is a different site to "economycarhire". I have no idea of their availability.