CAEL Rent a Car Reviews 

Completely satisfied!
My family and I loved how we were welcomed at CAEL. When I return to Portugal, it will be at CAEL that I will rent a car again.
Fantastic experience.

Definitely going there next time I'm in Lisbon. The price was great, the car was new, clean and well equipped.
We unfortunately had an issue with a nail in one of the front tire. Cael was of good advice and easily reachable by phone and WhatsApp 👌

I rented a car 1.5 years ago. When I returned the car I paid some of the tolls at Cael. They kept saying the remaining would come off my car automatically. I had to chase them for a month via facebook and email and they eventually took 56.80 euros. Fast forward to now and I am now getting debt collectors letters about the tolls even though I have bank statements proving I paid. Terrible company

Place is awful. Unorganized, unprofessional, dirty. I would not recommend whatsoever

Our car broke down 25 minutes after renting it, on the middle of a highway.

We weren't offered an apology or support.

We waited for 3 hours for a tow truck, only to have to pay for an uber back to the car rental out of our own pocket.

The customer service is abysmal, and most of the 5 star reviews are fake.

Do not rent from this company.

They are trying to appeal this review to say that it's fake. You can see from my pictures that our holiday to Portugal started with our rental car on a tow truck, 25 minutes into our trip.

This place is an absolute disgrace..

Good car, easy pick up in Lisbon Braamcamp
BE CAREFUL to have a CREDIT card otherwise you will not get the car and will have to pay for the full charge (but the same in all agencies here)
Personnel attending not very pleasant - quite bad attitude that tells me that I will look for another agency (middle counter person/no empathy/hardly answer your questions/does not care about customer...).
Check the gage of tank when you take the car. Ours was overestimated by 1/8 (mark 6/8 and we only had 5/8) which we saw after a few km. This means that 5 l of gasoline is taken away on your back and obviously not pointed out when you take the car.

I was charged for full insurance and told it was mandatory but I had already paid for it to Discover Cars the agent. I was never even asked, just told it was mandatory after I asked. I ended up paying double what I was quoted and now neither Cael or Discover will refund any portion. Beware these two companies!

I drop off the car, 25 min later than expected I was charged 24,39 EUR extra hour. Don't go for the cheap it ends up more expensive.

Pros
Shuttle from the airport to their location was relatively quick. Handoff at their location was quick. The car was brand new (18km on the odometer).

Cons
AC stopped functioning after about an hour. The car started to overheat (a Portuguese warning indicated that engine coolant levels were low + check engine light appeared). Tire pressure in one tire indicated as going down.
And so, we called the roadside assistance. That part went well in that they came on time to our rented house and towed the car back.
I spoke to 3 different Cael staff to help our family of 4 replace the car. They will not bring you another car. They will not compensate you for the trouble. Cash refunds or car upgrades were not in line with "policy". They will question you and insinuate that you likely caused the problems. I had to take a taxi back to Lisbon (2 hours each way) to pick up a replacement car.
I had filled up the first car and was told that the excess gas I had put would be credited. When I returned the second car, I had to argue for 30 minutes and get the supervisor on the phone to get that credit.

In summary, no compensation for the wasted day, stress of driving with a defective car, wasted gas driving back for 2 hours and overall their faulty car became our problem.

Excellent experience. We were very well received and served.
Very good car (Mercedes A200 AMG line), almost new for a very reasonable cost.
They respond quite quickly by e-mail.
We didn't have to wait on the way back for the shuttle to take us to the airport.

Just to advise that Cael did not accept my debit card that I initially booked this booking and therefore could not rent the vehicle from them which was very frustrating as this booking deposit was paid with the same debit card which has a microchip on it and can be used as a credit card (Australian) however the person in charge at Cael would not accept it.

I had no issue in the past with other rental companies accepting my debit card. One would think in today's world that a debit card is worth more than a credit card - a debit card is that there are available funds and credit card? well go figure that out!

I did not find the Cael personel well-informed and professional enough to handle issues like these. Noticed afterwards on their website they accept PAYPAL which the person in charge never mentioned to me and which I could of paid it there and then.

We were given erroneous instructions on our car. They were to "fill up from green pumps". These are not universal in Portugal as it turns out - and we ended up putting the wrong gas in the tank - despite using a green pump. (There were 3 greens and 1 black). Despite buying the full insurance package for additional $900 and being told "it covers everything", the subsequent repair was NOT covered. Additional charge of $300.
No one answers business phone before 10 or after 7.
Voicemail is in Portuguese so we needed a lot of help conveying the breakdown through after hours messaging.
They will NOT deliver a replacement car. We had to taxi to the airport for a new car - half-day used. There, the only language the attendant could input the new GPS was Dutch. We finally found our native tongue on our own and the GPS was out of date.
You will NOT get a refund if you return the car (10 days) early - even if you alert them beforehand to the change. They are NOT open after regular business hours so you must return the car between 10 and 7.
All in all, a very sad and expensive experience.

When I arrived in Oporto on September 26, 22 after a full night without sleeping, I was given my rental without a problem. I didn't know that it was my responsibility to check for every single scratch. In 2 weeks I put 750 kilometers in the car, less than 460 miles.
When delivering the car, the agent Vania stated that there was a scratch on the front bumper and that it was fresh. I used the car only to visit my mother at a convalescent center and back home where the car was very well protected. Indeed, being a driving instructor myself, I very well know how to take care of a car.
When I arrived, She came out of the office to inspect the car and "boom" - went straight to the front bumper, as if she knew the scratch was there. You could barely see it... actually, you had to bend to see it. The more I insisted that nothing happened to me, the more she insisted that the scratch was fresh... I am sure, if it was there, the other girl probably missed it...
She was rude and unapologetic! Well...they charged me 150 Euros plus the IVA 23%. 183.68 Euros...
Also... I was supposed to deliver the car on Monday morning at 4:00 am but I was told by the first agent that at that time they would be closed, so I had to deliver it the previous day before 7:00 pm, and had to sleep sitting on a very uncomfortable chair at the airport... Not the most convenient situation for a lady that recently had heart surgery. Sorry... but the experience with Cael was not positive.

BE AWARE. I’ve used this company many times before, and it has gone downhill the in the last few years. Hidden fees on every little thing and THEY WILL TRICK YOU into spending HUNDREDS. Do a proper inspection before hand take HI-RES photos before you sign any contracts!! I’ve just got charged over €100+vat on a extremely faded small mark (less than 2mm) on the door that could be easily be mistaken by a rain drop. It would be impossible to be caught on our first inspection as the car was sitting outside without cover, completely exposed to the weather. We’ve barely used the car, was parked on a safe place most of the time, (a private garage) so there’s no way that was done during our rental. The lady was extremely rude and unapologetic, making us feel it was our fault!
This is not the first time. CHECK OTHER BAD REVIEWS. THEY USE THE SAME TRICKS ALL THE TIME, AND THOSE ARE GUARANTEED TO BE 100% REAL! BE CAREFUL!
Rent somewhere else if you want to save some money and stress.

Due to a medical emergency our 4-week holiday in Portugal last year turned into a 4-month stay, which required extending our car rental several times.

When I contacted Cael to explain the situation they were compassionate and helpful. Cael could have charged us over-the-odds for the extensions (we were in a relatively remote part of the country with little choice of other rental companies), but they didn’t. Their rates were very reasonable. (Thank you André for your help.)

Rented a car for 8 days from CAEL on Braamcamp in Lisbon. Greeted warmly, small queue of only 1 other family (July 22), process was really quick, was given a brand new car, process to return was even faster, no hitches, no queue. Amazing company, will definitely use again. Don't know if they were more expensive than others but didn't care, got top service and nothing dodgy. Got a via vendor which was great for driving through tolls. Highly recommended car rental

Used twice already and for first time in 2022. So far very impressed. Had 2 nearly new Seat Ibizas. Pick up at Faro car park 4 straight forward. Returning smooth. Second time had 2 return with half a tank of petrol. Booked for December 22 also.
Would recommend. Not the cheapest or most expensive. Felt confident with Cael.

Don't trust the negative reviews. They're trolls. We've rented a new Peugeot 308 this year in May and it was a car I would want as a rental car. It had just been cleaned. We had to arrange a toll road apparatus which was no problem. The only thing was that we've arrived late on the airport and.it took some time to be picked up. But after that the employee told us about the car and how to use it. When we brought it back another employee looked at the car, filled in the form (no damages) and off we were. Perfect.

one of the worse car rental i have found till now.
they are fraud , i had fill the tank with worth of 48 euro when it was on reserve but when i return car its has almost 75%-80% oil and they charge me 50 euro just to fill tank of 20-25% which i was hoping maximum of 15-22 euro thats way too much to cheat people,
as tourist we don't mind paying little bit extra but that was not acceptable at all

Best ever car hire experience. Will not go with any other car rental company