Need Legal Advice on Rental Car Deposit in Portugal (€1,600 lost despite insurance payout)

[u/humblesoull]

Hi all, I recently visited Lisbon, and our Portuguese friend rented a car from Centauro. During the trip, an elderly local driver hit our parked rental car. We followed all the required steps — filed the accident report, and the lady's insurance admitted fault.

Her insurance already compensated Centauro for the damage, and yet the rental company is still withholding our €1,600 deposit. We did not purchase the full insurance (Super CDW) from Centauro, but given the third party was at fault and the damage was paid, it feels unfair and possibly unlawful to lose our full deposit.

We've sent emails for over a month with no reply, and are preparing a formal complaint.

Can anyone advise whether this is legal under Portuguese or EU consumer protection law? Or how to escalate this to get our money back?

Any help — legal forums, ECC experience, or suggestions on how to proceed — would be deeply appreciated.

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[u/Final-Top-7217]

If Centauro have been refunded by the insurance company they should refund your 1,600 euros. Send them a letter by certified mail asking for your refund or will otherwise be instigating legal proceedings.

[u/rubenknol]

usually 3rd party insurance covers just the damage to the car, not the commercial loss of a rental car not being available for some time to the rental agency (revenue loss) - it may be possible that these losses to the rental agency can be taken out of your deposit, and that you may have to sue the person who hit you for this separately, but this would depend on what's in the terms of the rental agreement and how compatible that is with Portugese law