car hire with bike rack - lisbon airport, portugal

[najman]

hello all
does anyone know of any car hire companies, operating out of lisbon airport, Portugal, who rent cars with a bike rack as an option?
thanks.

[HarryD]

Never hired a car with a bike rack & never seen one offered in either Portugal or Spain. Can often get a roof-rack or roof bars though which have tied bikes to but this is far from ideal.

Usually we carry bikes inside the car with one or both wheels removed. Small hatchbacks can take two bikes & two people. A large car can take three of each with the split seat partially down. However, would suggest avoiding the Citroen Berlingo and its ilk as although its big most of the space is not available for bikes.

HarryD

[iviehoff]

However, would suggest avoiding the Citroen Berlingo and its ilk as although its big most of the space is not available for bikes.

This depends exactly which version and which seat folding arrangements it has. I have put 7 bikes, with only front wheels and pedals removed, in my Berlingo. Even with 3 people in it, I could put 4 bikes in.

[najman]

The Berlingo (actually the Reno Kangoo Maxi... similar to the Berlingo) was exactly what i was planning on hiring! So any advice of which configurations DO work please? I need to get three people in (including driver), three sets of luggage, and one bike. Two of those people are not going to appreciate getting squashed, the other one (me) doesn't mind, as it's my bike causing the "inconvenience".

[iviehoff]

First you need to make sure you are hiring a 5-seater not a 7 seater. Then you need to find out if you can flatten 2 of the 3 rear seats in that version. Since cars tend to come in specific country versions, maybe the best way to find out is to phone up the car hire agency in Lisbon and ask them. I know that one reason I did not buy a Fiat Doblo is that you couldn't do that, at least in the versions available at the time. The loading space in the Kangoo is very similar to a Berlingo, so I think if you can do that then you can, front wheels and perhaps pedals out, maybe turning handle bars, and some careful wiggling, get 3 typical bikes in the back.

[HarryD]

My experience was with a 5 seater Berlingo hired from Goldcar. Couldn't get any of the rear seats to fold flat, the backrests would fold down though. Maybe the seats would fold flat but I could't get them to do so. There were three of us with luggage plus two bikes. I agree removing pedals and wheels would help a lot though. I did however expect a lot more useful space from such a big car. Have happily got 3 bikes and 3 riders in a Seat Toledo hire car but not much room left for luggage but we coped.
On a separate note the first time I booked a 'Berlingo' it turned out to be a Citroen Nemo which was considered equivalent by the hire company. It was fine for two plus bikes but an awful car to drive.

[iviehoff]

My experience was with a 5 seater Berlingo hired from Goldcar. Couldn't get any of the rear seats to fold flat, the backrests would fold down though. Maybe the seats would fold flat but I could't get them to do so. ...
On a separate note the first time I booked a 'Berlingo' it turned out to be a Citroen Nemo which was considered equivalent by the hire company. It was fine for two plus bikes but an awful car to drive.

The seat folding mechanism was broken then. The seat folds in two stages, first the backrest folds flat, and then the whole seat is folded forward into the footwell. The second stage was not working in your case. There is a rotating hook which holds the flat part of the seat to the base of the loading space, and this hook is locked until it is released by a mechanism which is operated by a cord. If this cord gets cut, it is extremely difficult to mend, and you can't release the hooks by any other trick so far as I or the Citroen repair specialist I use know. I know 'cos one of the cords had to be deliberately cut by them to deal with another problem which was preventing the seat unfolding from folded position, and it wasn't economic to try and get it fixed.

You wuz done. A Citroen Nemo is no way equivalent to a Berlingo. Nor is a Skoda Roomster. These are substantially smaller vehicles.