no longer updated - Tolls on the A22

[e-richard]

I think I'll drive to Villa Real and back every day to get my monies worth.

I'm sure Galp or BP will love you for that.

[LICY]

I think I'll drive to Villa Real and back every day to get my monies worth.

I would rather have another bottle of plonk, but I can live with .60 a day. I agree about our road tax. I go about 7000 miles a year in Blighty and just accept the road tax. As for fuel tax I don't know the system in Portugal, obviously we get clobbered for a good deal of tax on our £134 ish per litre which is about equivalent to €145-155 we pay in CVO. On that basis either they charge a fortune or get a lot of tax too.

[Bruce Wallis]

Got back last night, and was advised by the guy who stores our car to ignore the A22, and use the A125, especially after 7, as it was then, because the A125 doesnt take that much longer, (15 minutes actually), you use less petrol as you dont tank along, and it's a shorter physical distance using the A125, AND you dont pay the hated tolls!

We followed his advice....traffic not too bad, saw one 3 car pile up, and a crashed van at the roadside, otherwise just impatient Portuguese sitting in your boot, and it took just under the hour , rather than 45 minutes.
Scenary, albeit semi urban, more interesting.....so I reckon I can live without the A22.

.....well at least until they sort out a sensible and working solution to the current cock-up

[cereza]

I've just come back from South Florida and the electronic tolls there are a huge success with a poll showing that the public regard their toll tag as their favourite piece of electronic equipment above mobile phones and the rest!
Obviously the locals have been paying road tolls for years and have no gripe against paying them - what they like about the electronic system is that it has stopped all of the toll booth jams and given them clear roads. The introduction of the tags has been sweetened by producing credit card size transponders which you stick to the windscreen - these cost $4-99 and this amount is refunded when you make your first toll payment. They are available to buy in many supermarkets,garages and other locations In the case of hire cars they are equipped with transponders and the tolls incurred are charged to the customers credit card and the amount charged is shown on a receipt on return of the car.
It is a very simple system and I can see why the Portuguese authorities have bought into it but they have failed to explain it in simple terms and have not made it easy or cheap to buy the transponders. The idea of waiting 3 days to know your bills is unbelievable. Let's hope they can get things right by the summer and then the system will be better accepted.

[logicbob]

Of course I will keep everyone up to date, we are ALL in on this.

just did that Logicbob trick again (after midnight now) and this is the result - ps thanks Bob great link.

Toll rates in debt * Registration * Final Payment Date * Value of the Debt * Date of Request 78-LZ-14 * 2011-12-21 * 1.95 € * 2011-12-21 12:37:25 AM Attention: THE information provided is equivalent to the total of the values of toll rates in debt up to this date the payment the CTT, and does not include the values which the time limit for payment is already expired; The values in debt plus administrative costs to ascertain at the time of payment.


so the €10.05 has either been cleared by travelrent or this clause has applied,
'does not include the values which the time limit for payment is already expired; '

I have emailed Travelrent but might as well email Santa (or Lagoa camera )

Any news on your tolls, have you been charged by travel rent or received a fine yet.

[tillsworth]

does anyone have any simple straight answer as to how to use the A22 toll and how much it would cost from Faro to Carvoeiro? or a day /week/month rate? and how you pay when using a hire car?

very much appreciated...

[Bruce Wallis]

There isnt a simple answer to this complex, and perplexing conundrum!!

Ask your car hire company, for their version, because at the end of the day, that's how you'll be charged!

[e-richard]

And, of course, the information you get today will change next month or maybe the month after that, and maybe again the following month.

So perhaps wait until you arrive at the airport to actually ask

[Steen Jakobsen]

I have collected some information here: http://www.carvoeiro.com/A22tolls

I am not sure the car rental companies are allowed to collect the toll.

One client paid in the post office just to find a claim from the previous client - and were told that he couldn't make a partial payment, as it was not a huge amount he paid both. For the return he had a friend pay at the post office; the friend was faced with a claim for the following client as well ...

I am told the fines in Northern Portugal are sent out with a 6-8 month delay, so it will probably be the same for the A22.

[e-richard]

Thanks for gathering it all together Steen.

As I understand it:

and were told that he couldn't make a partial payment

So, if I rent a car for a week and never pay, the next client will HAVE to pay all of my tolls as well.
Or else, like me, he pays none, and leaves it for the next client who then does the same thing.

I am told the fines in Northern Portugal are sent out with a 6-8 month delay, so it will probably be the same for the A22.

So, eventually, after 6 months of continuous rentals with no payments (could be 20 or more clients), a fine is issued to the Rental company.

I am not sure the car rental companies are allowed to collect the toll.

So, now the poor Rental company has to send the Names and Addresses of all the rental clients to the authorities, who then have to work out what each client should have paid and then try and collect 20 sets of fines from foreigners.

Solution:
If everybody who rents a car never pays any tolls, we'll swamp the authorities with so much paperwork they will give up. Or is that too simple ?

[Steen Jakobsen]

Solution:
If everybody who rents a car never pays any tolls, we'll swamp the authorities with so much paperwork they will give up. Or is that too simple ?

It is hard to believe they have any legal right making it impossible for foreign visitors to use the A22 (100% funded by the EU) without incurring a fine?

But for those owning property in Portugal it is a huge risk to owe tax; the system works frightfully fast when there are money to be collected for the government.

[laserblazer]

It is hard to believe they have any legal right making it impossible for foreign visitors to use the A22 (100% funded by the EU) without incurring a fine?

Perhaps with all of the expats and all, we could get a petition sent to Brussels?

[e-richard]

Perhaps with all of the expats and all, we could get a petition sent to Brussels?

Good idea LB. Why don't you organise one?

I figure it probably only needs about 10,000 signatures.
A man of your calibre should manage that easily

[wedgepat]

I arrived onThurs via Seville onto the A22 in a uk plated car. I went to pay in the Post Office in Carvoeiro for the toll to be told I could not pay for U.K. plated cars.I asked how to pay she did not know but said I might get a letter to the U.K. in a few months time.I go back the end of March and never use the A22 any suggestions.

[e-richard]

Hi wedgepat and welcome to the "simplicity" of the Portuguese system.

Looking at the details posted by Steen in the link above, it appears that silly you with a foreign registered car should have known in advance of entering Portugal that you would have to register and pre-pay.

Because you did not pre-pay, the only solution now is to wait until you get a letter in the post to the registered keeper of your number plate and a bill for 10 X the toll value incurred so far !!
When you pay that unavoidable fine, (and I have no idea how you will be invited to pay) do remember: "The government have taken notice of concerns and there is now a simpler option for Foreign Vehicles." That is the one you have just encountered !

Then when you have stopped laughing and have picked yourself up from the floor, assuming you use the motorway again:
You can now register your number plate on-line and hand over your credit card details and all future trips will be automatically deducted at the going rate (no penalty). I'd love to know if that works !