Car insurance in Portugal: what it covers, what it costs and what to do after an accident
The compulsory insurance here pays not you but the person you damaged — and that is the first thing that surprises newcomers. The second is that the policy gets more expensive on its own, even without a single accident, and it is cheapest for those who recalculate it every year. This guide covers what is included in third-party cover and what in comprehensive cover, what the price is made up of, how much people actually pay, what to do after an accident and where to go if the insurer has refused to pay or nobody wants to insure you at all.
The compulsory insurance pays the injured party, not you
By law, every car must have civil liability insurance — seguro obrigatório de responsabilidade civil automóvel. In conversation people call it ‘third-party’, ‘terceiros’ (contra terceiros) or, the Russian way, OSAGO. The rules are set by Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007; they were last amended by Decreto-Lei n.º 26/2025 of 20 March 2025, which completed the transposition of European Directive 2021/2118.
What matters to understand straight away: this policy compensates third parties for damage — the people you have harmed. It never repairs your own car, even if you are not at fault. If the other driver is at fault, your repair is paid for by their insurer, not yours. If you are at fault, you repair your own car yourself — or from a comprehensive policy, if you have one.
The minimum amounts of cover are set by law, run into millions of euros and are the same at every company: there is nothing to save on here; the difference between policies lies in the extra cover and in the price.
A car that is simply parked also has to be insured: the obligation is tied to the vehicle, not to journeys. People repeat this in the chats every month — and every month someone is surprised.
“Look. By law you have to have Civil Liability (Responsabilidade Civil.) This insurance only covers third parties if you caused the accident. Only the injured party’s car gets repaired. You fix your own yourself. In this case the other guy has no insurance at all and Mikhail has no comprehensive. If he had comprehensive he could use his own and get it repaired. As it is he has to go to the Fundo Garantia Automóvel himself, since the other guy had no insurance.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt19.08.2025
“About insurance: Responsabilidade Civil Automóvel is our ‘third-party’ (OSAGO) — liability to third parties. This type of insurance is compulsory by law for all vehicles, even if it’s parked in your private space or garage. Not having insurance is a serious offence with a fine of 500 to 2500 euros, and can lead to losing 2 points and a driving ban of up to 12 months. Note: car insurance doesn’t pass to the new owner when you sell the car.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt07.07.2024
Comprehensive cover: when it pays off and when it doesn’t
Comprehensive cover is called danos próprios (own damage) or seguro contra todos os riscos; in the chats people call it ‘kasko’. It is not compulsory — it is an add-on to the compulsory third-party policy, and inside it is a set of separate covers, each of which you can take or leave: collision that is your fault, theft, fire, glass, vandalism, natural events.
The simple rule people arrive at in conversation: comprehensive cover makes sense as long as the car is worth noticeably more than the annual price of the policy. For an old car it is either not offered or offered so expensively that it is cheaper to put that money aside for repairs (November 2025). For a recent car it is the other way round: one careless moment in a car park eats up several years’ premiums.
Worth remembering separately: the compulsory third-party policy covers neither a tree falling on the car, nor hail, nor a flooded garage. For that you need danos próprios or at least separate ‘natural phenomena’ cover — people remember this every time after a storm, when it is too late to fix (January 2026). The same goes for theft: after her old car was stolen, a woman in Lisbon started paying €496 a year for a policy with glass and fire cover (January 2026).
Before taking out comprehensive cover you are often asked to show the car — this is an inspection, vistoria: the company photographs the car so that it does not later pay for old damage. Online insurers have a list of authorised points for this.
“By kasko they mean full (sometimes with a small excess) cover for any risks — Contra todos os riscos. Any company can do it if your car is fairly new. They probably can for an old one too, but it’ll come out very expensive.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt03.11.2025
“+glass and fire = 496 euros a year (ALLIANZ) I had a car stolen here, an oldish one admittedly, but still, not nice. So I started insuring against theft. And there are a lot of fires here, and trees falling and floods.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt21.01.2026
The excess is the key figure in the contract, not the price
The excess (franquia) is the part of the damage you pay yourself on any claim. It comes in two kinds, and people mix them up in the chats all the time: a fixed amount (most often €500) and a percentage. By default, four companies offered one person €500 each (December 2025).
People argue about the percentage right in the conversations, and that argument costs money. Some explain that a ‘4% excess’ is calculated on the value of the car: a car worth €10,000 means €400 from you on any repair. Others say the percentage is taken from the amount of the claim, in which case on a €1,000 repair your share is €40, not €400. The difference is tenfold, and people cite their own contract for both versions (April 2025). The conclusion is simple: don’t argue in the chat — find the franquia line in your Condições Particulares and see what the percentage is calculated on.
Next: the excess is almost always different for different covers. At one company it applies to all covers at once, at another only to own damage and vandalism (November 2025). One person was offered vandalism cover with a €250 excess and about €60 added to the price of the policy (October 2025), while a €500 excess on an act of vandalism makes claiming pointless for a €600–800 repair — it is easier to fix it yourself (November 2024).
And third: the higher the excess, the cheaper the policy. That is a legitimate way to bring the price down — but only if you actually have that amount for when you need it.
“Let me give an example. Your car is worth 10 000 euros right now. You have a 4% excess. After an accident your repair costs, say, 1000 euros. You pay the 400 euro excess and the insurer pays 600. But in your case it’s not clear — if there’s someone at fault, why are you using your own comprehensive.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt13.04.2025
“There’s a 500 euro excess for vandalism. Go to a garage and find out how much it would cost you to fix it as a private customer. If it’s around 1000 then you can use the insurance. If it’s around 600-800 then I wouldn’t. Either way you must go to the police. Maybe it’s a neighbour or someone who lives in the area and they know him. I had the same thing with a client. The police found the scumbag and showed the video. Threatened that the car owner would take him to court. In the end he paid for the repair.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt21.11.2024
What the price is made of and what your insurance history is
The price is calculated individually, and there is no general price list. In conversation people list the same components: make, model, version and engine size, horsepower, year of manufacture and value of the car; the driver’s age, years with a licence and insurance history; where you live; the covers chosen, the sum insured and the excess (January 2026).
Where you live matters more than it seems. One man changed company and at the same time moved from Odivelas to Torres Vedras — the quote dropped from €160 to €130, and he himself puts it down to the change of ‘index’ for his address (May 2025).
Your insurance history is kept not by a single company but in a shared database: changing insurer does not by itself reset your rating (July 2024). The document in which this history is recorded is called the certificado de tarifação — it is issued by your previous insurer, and it is also required when the supervisory authority ‘places’ a policy for you. Ask for it when you leave a company: without it the new insurer treats you as someone with no history.
Driving experience from abroad is a sore point. Formally it is counted from the date your licence was issued, and on an exchanged licence that date is Portuguese. A man with twenty years behind the wheel was credited with one year (August 2025); after retaking his test, a motorcyclist was quoted €400 by the online calculator instead of the previous hundred, but it was made cheaper on the old calculation (September 2025). The practical takeaway: show your old licence and a certificate of driving experience from your home country, ask which date was used, and get quotes from several companies — on the same documents the spread can be several times over.
“No point arguing about the cost of insurance. The calculation is always individual for each person and the price will be different. Make, model, version, engine size, weight, kerb weight, , petrol, diesel, electric, year of the car, driver’s age, years driving, years insured, where you live...”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt20.01.2026
“Don’t know what the compulsory one is. Comprehensive came out at a bit over a thousand. All the agents well known in certain circles started from 5🤦♂️ At the same Allianz… And the standard story of 1 year’s experience when it’s really over 20 years. Got to identify the client, right… All in all, I didn’t see the point of agents. If you ask me: just an extra layer…”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt06.08.2025
What it really costs
Below are amounts people gave as their own, with month and year; there is a summary in the box under this step. The overall picture from conversations in 2024–2026 is as follows.
Compulsory third-party cover for an ordinary car is roughly €150–300 a year. An online policy with a new company often comes to about €170, while on renewal with the same one it is €210–220 (June 2026). A man who has five to seven cars at a time pays €150–180 per policy (March 2026). A €270 policy was recalculated a year later at €510, and the person moved to another company for €217 (May 2025).
Comprehensive cover runs from roughly €500 to €1,200 a year for an ordinary car. One BMW owner’s comprehensive policy with a €500 excess costs €1,200 a year (January 2026). For another person comprehensive came to ‘a bit over a thousand’, even though agents’ first quotes started at five thousand — at the very same company (August 2025). For yet another, a policy with Allianz came to €1,400, while the highest quote on the same documents had been €4,300 (August 2025).
Motorbikes and scooters are cheaper than cars: €80–250 a year for the compulsory policy, depending on engine size and experience. A 125cc scooter — €214 for a policy including roadside assistance (September 2025); a 1,000cc motorbike for a beginner with one month’s experience — €170 (September 2025).
And a separate line worth keeping in mind: after an accident the price can change not by a percentage but several times over. After a door was repaired on their previous car, new companies refused one family outright, and the only one that agreed asked for €3,900 instead of the previous €800 (July 2025).
“With insurance it’s like this for me: about 5-7 policies at once, each costs 150-180€ a year. When I need to drive something that isn’t insured, I move a policy from one car to another, takes 5 minutes”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt12.03.2026
“I have comprehensive with a 500€ excess on my BMW for 1200€ a year. Seems like that’s the rate regardless of what the motor’s worth”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt20.01.2026
Why the policy goes up on its own and what to do about it
Here loyalty is not rewarded but punished. The policy renews automatically and almost always goes up, even if the year passed without a single scratch.
What it looks like in figures: one person’s car policy rose from €312 to €370 over three years (August 2026); for another the first year cost €570 and the second €600, although the same company’s calculator showed €470, and he left (June 2026); Fidelidade sent a renewal notice with a 7.7% increase (April 2025); a motorcyclist’s previous €56 turned into €135.37, and only after she wrote to her agent did a new offer appear — €87.78 for third-party alone and €117.04 for the same with roadside assistance (May 2025). One owner’s MAPFRE policy went up by 20–30% a year with no claims (August 2025). A minimum policy with UNA for €80 was billed at €200 for the following year (November 2025).
People who count their money all do the same thing: every year they get quotes from three or four companies and move to whichever gave the best price to a new customer. ‘If you surf the companies like this every year, car insurance comes out cheaper,’ is how someone put it in the Leiria chat (February 2026). Discounts are almost always aimed at new customers, not existing ones: at one company the same policy for the same car costs €170 online and €210–220 according to the renewal letter (June 2026).
There is also the opposite view: peace of mind after an accident is worth more than saving fifty euros, and a good company earns that money. Both arguments come up equally often in the chats, and the choice is yours.
“There’s one insurance database, but everyone wants new customers, so the firms that want to grow their client pool run ‘campaigns’ where the premium is temporarily cut. Basically, if you surf the companies like this every year, car insurance comes out cheaper 🙃”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatleiria04.02.2026
“There’s no way: by price. The longer you’re with one company, the more expensive (!) the insurance. Everything else is ± the same. Mind you, NSeguros recently stopped giving tow trucks to cars over 15 years old. Otherwise I haven’t heard any serious talk like ‘don’t go there, it’s a scam’.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt17.08.2026
Where to buy: online, an agent or a broker
Three routes, and each has its own cost of getting it wrong.
Online insurers (logo.pt, N Seguros and ok! seguros come up most often in conversation) are cheaper — but not for nothing: part of the cover is cut from the policy, roadside assistance first of all. A man with a logo policy got a puncture, and no tow truck was sent because, they said, punctures are not included in assistance (June 2026); another customer of the same company was refused a free tow truck because when he took out the policy himself he did not tick an optional extra and saved €50 (January 2025). Fidelidade, by contrast, puts everything it can into ‘assistance’ (June 2026).
An agent works with one company; a broker gets quotes from several. A broker is handy because in five minutes he brings you a range: from one request, one person was quoted €123 at Tranquilidade for a motorbike and €235 at Fidelidade for a car (May 2025); another was offered a basic policy for €102, and for €170 the same policy with roadside assistance and personal accident cover for the driver (July 2026). The downside of an agent or broker shows up later: they are paid commission for taking out the policy, not for renewing it, and when asked to cancel automatic renewal they sometimes simply stop answering (May 2025).
Whatever you choose, get quotes from several: on the same documents the spread can be up to threefold.
And check that the company is actually allowed to operate here: the register of authorised insurers and intermediaries is open on the supervisory authority’s website.
“No. That’s cover that usually comes with third-party or comprehensive. It’s called Assistência em Viagem. Online insurers usually strip everything out of this cover so it’s cheaper. Insurers like Fidelidade put everything they can into Assistance.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt07.06.2026
“At Logo a client of mine was recently refused a free tow truck. He took out the insurance himself after buying the car to save 50€. Turned out that at logo it was an optional extra 😂 If you ask me, it’s always better to pay a bit more for good service and peace of mind. Especially when the saving over a year is laughable.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt19.01.2025
Tell the truth on the form: you are responsible for it
The price is calculated from your answers, and they are checked not when you take out the policy but after an accident. Online insurers do not look at documents at all — which is exactly why the temptation to ‘adjust’ your experience or age is strong.
The main trap is the condutor habitual, the main driver. The law does not forbid driving someone else’s car, but it assumes that the owner is usually the one behind the wheel. If in practice someone else uses the car, they need to be added to the policy. Otherwise, in a major claim, the insurer can say it was given false information and refuse to pay (July 2024). In minor accidents this usually goes unnoticed — but only ‘usually’.
The same goes for licences. If the person driving was not allowed to drive, the insurer will refuse and will be within its rights (May 2024). Alcohol and drugs are a separate story: under ASF rules the insurer will still pay the injured party, but will then recover the whole amount from the driver at fault through its right of recourse, and the sums involved can be crushing.
And an observation from the other side, from conversations: there is a case where a customer was paid in full under comprehensive cover even though his licence had expired — neither the police nor the assessor looked at the date (May 2025). That is luck, not a rule, and you cannot count on it.
“what you’re doing isn’t right. These are different risks. You take out these policies online and nobody checks your documents. In Portugal, you’re responsible for the information you give the insurer. Lots of people take advantage of that, because online insurers don’t check. In an accident (small ones don’t count), the insurer will refuse to pay out to you and the other person, and you’ll be paying someone’s disability or something else for the rest of your life (God forbid, of course). Don’t mess with insurers. Just giving friendly advice.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt19.01.2025
“In Portugal the insurance policy is taken out in the name of the car’s owner. The law doesn’t actually forbid other people driving the car, but it’s assumed that the owner remains the main driver. There’s also the concept of Condutor Habitual — the main driver. If another person drives the car more often than the owner, it’s recommended to name them on the policy. This is needed to avoid the insurer suspecting you gave false information when taking out the policy.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt06.05.2025
Renewal, direct debit and how to move to another company
The contract is for a year and renews itself. To stop it renewing, you have to tell the insurer in advance — in conversation people name a deadline of 30 days before the anniversary, and the same is in the contracts (January 2026, August 2026). Miss the deadline and the contract rolls into a new year, and the bill that has been issued will have to be paid.
The procedure is: 1. A month and a half to two months before the anniversary, get quotes from other companies so you have something to compare with. 2. Write to your insurer or agent saying you are not renewing the contract. It must be in writing: a verbal agreement with an agent means nothing. 3. Take out the new policy so that it starts on the day the old one ends. Not a single day without insurance. 4. Only after that, cancel the direct debit.
A word on direct debit. Almost all policies are paid by débito direto — direct debit from your bank account. You can cancel it in your banking app (August 2025), but that alone is not enough: one man removed the authorisation twice, the company reconnected it twice and took the annual payment an hour before renewal; the money was refunded only after a row (December 2024). Another man’s agent promised to cancel the renewal and disappeared, the money went out, and it had to be recovered through the bank (May 2025). So: first a letter to the insurer with confirmation, then the bank.
If you have sold the car, tell the insurer and attach the deregistration statement: the policy does not pass to the new owner automatically, and the unused part of the premium should be refunded (July 2024).
“You can only cancel next year’s insurance before the period starts (usually at least 30 days before the end of the last one), so write them tearful letters and ask for early termination, saying you’re leaving the country — they usually go along with it. But bills already issued will have to be paid.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkru_Portugal_pt16.08.2026
“I cancelled the DD for Tranquilidade in my online banking, a day later they put the DD back. I deleted it again, an hour before the annual policy renewed they reconnected the DD and took the annual payment. In the end a row and threats of court helped me tell them where to go and get the money back.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt17.12.2024
Accident: fill in the declaração amigável, don’t argue on the road
The Declaração Amigável de Acidente Automóvel (DAAA), called the ‘European accident report’ or ‘amigável’ in the chats, is the only paper you need in an ordinary accident with no one hurt. You do not have to call the police for such an accident; people in the chats warn that calling the police to an accident with no one hurt can even get you a fine (December 2024).
What to do, step by step, as the supervisory authority recommends: 1. Collect the details: drivers, cars, insurers — the company name and policy number. 2. Find witnesses and write down their phone numbers. 3. If you both agree on how it happened, fill in and sign ONE DAAA form; each of you takes your copy for your own insurer. Take photos of the damage and the scene. 4. If you don’t agree, each fills in their own form and gives it to the OTHER driver’s insurer. Photos matter twice as much here. 5. If someone is hurt or there is no agreement at all, call the police.
Two important points that remove half the worries. First: filling in the DAAA does not mean admitting you are at fault — the form records the circumstances, not the blame. Second: if you are not at fault, the mere fact of filling in a DAAA does not affect the price of your policy. People in the chats don’t believe it, but it is written plainly in the supervisory authority’s leaflet.
Since 2025 the paper form is not the only option: the insurers’ association has an app, e-SEGURNET, in which the same declaration is filled in on your phone, the collision diagram is chosen from ready-made ones, you sign with your finger, and the document goes straight to the insurer. It is enough for one of the parties to have the app (December 2025).
If the driver at fault drove off but a witness wrote down the number plate, fill in the form anyway, entering just the number plate in the at-fault driver’s details: people do this, and it works (November 2025). You can check whether another car is insured by its number plate on the supervisory authority’s website.
Alongside the insurer’s paperwork there is almost always a second story — the penalty notice. It runs on its own deadlines and has nothing to do with the insurer: 15 working days from the day the notice is served, both to pay at the minimum amount and to contest. You cannot pay and contest at the same time, and paying settles only the money side: a driving ban and points come in a separate letter months later. What to do is in the guide Traffic fines in Portugal.
“Yes. If you were hit and they drove off but a witness passed on the number plate, just fill in the European accident report. In the at-fault driver’s details just the number plate. Works.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt04.11.2025
What happens next and how long it takes
Next, the IDS system applies (Indemnização Directa ao Segurado — direct compensation to the policyholder): you deal only with your own insurer, it pays you, and then it settles things with the at-fault driver’s insurer itself. But IDS does not always apply, only when five conditions are all met: exactly two cars were involved; they collided directly; both are insured with companies that have joined the system; the accident happened in Portugal; no one was hurt; and the damage is no more than €15,000 per car. If even one is not met, you will have to go to the at-fault driver’s insurer, and that takes longer (September 2025).
The deadlines are set by law, and they are worth knowing by heart: — two working days for the insurer to make first contact with the injured party and arrange the assessment; — 30 working days to decide who is liable for the accident if the damage is only material; with a completed DAAA — 15 days; — 45 days if someone was hurt. These deadlines can be extended only in exceptional weather, when there is an unusually large number of accidents at once, or when fraud is suspected.
The assessment is done by a perito — a licensed assessor. The European accident report is in itself neither an expert assessment nor an inspection: only he draws up the repair estimate (July 2025).
You do not have to accept the insurer’s decision. If you disagree, write a complaint to the company itself, then go to the provedor do cliente (the customer ombudsman, a free service), to arbitration or to court.
And a practical detail about the police: if the accident report is needed, it is the insurer that should request it. When one man asked for it himself, he was charged €96 (August 2025).
“In Portugal there’s the IDS agreement (Indemnização Directa ao Segurado) — a sort of ‘direct claims settlement’. If both insurers (yours and the at-fault driver’s) are members of IDS, your insurer deals with everything directly with you — it pays you compensation and then sorts things out with the at-fault driver’s insurer itself. It’s convenient: faster, less bureaucracy, less stress for the client. But if the insurer isn’t in IDS, then: in an accident you have to go directly to the at-fault driver’s insurer.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt19.09.2025
“The European accident report is just a declaration signed by the drivers where they record the circumstances of the accident (date, place, diagram, who’s at fault etc.). It isn’t an expert assessment or an official inspection. But repair estimates or inspection reports can only be drawn up by a perito (expert) with the right licences. Those documents are legally significant and are used by insurers to calculate the payout.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt30.07.2025
Repairs: whose garage, a replacement car and ‘total loss’
You choose the garage yourself. The insurer will suggest its own — you can agree, or you can go to any other, including the official dealer; the bill then goes to the insurer (October 2025). One man did just that: he sent the European accident report to his account manager on WhatsApp, two days later the insurer offered an inspection at its own garage, he asked to go to the BMW dealer — they agreed without any fuss, estimated €1,500 of work, and gave him a slot for the repair itself a month later (June 2024). The insurer’s standard caveat in that case: it is not responsible for the quality or timing of work at a garage you chose.
Replacement car. Under the rules, if your car cannot be driven and the insurer has accepted liability for the damage, you are entitled to a car of a similar class: if it is repaired at the garage the insurer recommended, until the repair is finished; if at your own, for as many days as the assessor considered necessary. Under an own-damage policy there is no such right — only if it is written into the contract. In the chats, though, people advise not counting on a replacement car (December 2024), and one family was paid taxi fares of €15–20 a day instead of a car while theirs was being repaired (December 2025).
‘Total loss’ (perda total) does not mean ‘the car cannot be repaired’; it is a calculation. For a car under two years old it applies when the cost of repair plus the value of the salvage exceeds 100% of the car’s market value before the accident; for a car over two years old, 120%. Then instead of a repair you are paid money: the market value minus the value of the salvage if you keep the salvage, or the full market value if the car goes to the insurer. The insurer must tell you who estimated the repair, what it valued the car at before the accident and who is willing to buy the salvage for the stated amount.
It is the salvage where people get burnt: one man was first offered €200 for his wrecked car, then it was revalued at zero and left on his hands (July 2026).
“Actually you can choose any garage that works with your insurer, and there’ll be plenty. When I got hit from behind, which I didn’t even feel, they replaced the bumper, all the trims on it, the exhaust covers, bolts, seals and loads of other stuff. During the assessment they took the bumper off and looked at the reinforcement. And the repair came to 3k, so what they’re going to fix there for over a thousand apart from the wheel I can’t even imagine.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt13.04.2025
“I understand all that, but no car gets repaired straight away, unless it’s just painting a bumper. And for that there’s no point going to the insurer anyway. And no insurance broker tells you about this up front, and that includes you, with all due respect.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt27.12.2024
When it is better not to claim
Every claim you make goes into your insurance history and pushes the price up for years ahead. In the chats people mention five years for the loading to apply and a rule of thumb: if the other person’s damage is up to €300, it is cheaper to settle in cash on the spot; if more, go through the insurance (May 2026).
Sometimes the insurer itself says so. One man was not at fault, the repair was estimated at €1,100 — and the company sent a letter suggesting he pay for the repair himself, otherwise his policy would go up (September 2025). Do the maths yourself: €1,100 today against a few hundred extra euros every year.
It is important not to confuse things: all of this concerns damage to someone else’s property and your decision whether to claim. Agreeing ‘without paperwork’ with a stranger who drove into you is risky: you go your separate ways — and the claims start later. And separately: if it is you being asked for money on the spot, and they are rushing you and pull out a card machine, that is a known staged-accident scam the police have been warning about since 2025. In that situation, no money on the spot, only a DAAA or the police.
“Leave your phone number under the wiper; if he wants up to 300€, better to pay in cash. If more, then better through third-party. For a claim you’ll get a loading for 5 years.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt31.05.2026
“The car insurance system in Portugal amazes me, I must say. The insurer estimated the repair at 1100 euros (I wasn’t at fault), but wrote a nice letter suggesting I fix everything at my own expense. Otherwise, they said, the cost of the insurance will go up.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt19.09.2025
Roadside assistance: what it is and what it doesn’t include
Assistência em viagem is the very cover that makes a policy useful in everyday life. It pays for a tow truck, minor repairs on the spot, a jump-start for a flat battery, and on a long trip a taxi and a hotel while the car is at the garage. People tell of a tow truck arriving at night within twenty minutes, of a taxi sent for them two hundred kilometres away, of a car winched out of an underground garage.
But this cover is not compulsory, and it is exactly what gets cut from cheap policies (June 2026). So before signing, ask exactly three things: — whether roadside assistance is included at all and how much it costs separately (for one person the difference between the basic policy and the policy with assistance was €68 a year — €102 against €170, July 2026); — how many call-outs a year are free (people mention two to four) and whether there is a distance limit; — from what distance from home it applies: some policies do not cover towing ‘from your doorstep’.
Check punctures separately: one online company refused to send a tow truck precisely because of a puncture, even though there was no such exclusion in the policy’s general terms (June 2026). What helps here is not arguing on the phone but quoting your policy’s Condições Gerais in a letter.
And an age limit that appeared recently: one company stopped providing tow trucks for cars over fifteen years old (August 2026).
“In the end I did it through vitorinos. They offered a similar basic policy for 102 euros, and for 170 it already included roadside assistance and personal health insurance”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkMoto chat 🇵🇹01.07.2026
“Nobody’s ever charged me for that so far, even on the cheapest rubbish policies (I’ve ridden on tow trucks a few times, they’ve taken me to a hotel by taxi, come out to jump-start me) With comprehensive the excess becomes much more important, by default 4 companies offered me 500 euros each (glass doesn’t count)”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkMoto chat 🇵🇹12.12.2025
Refused a payout, or nobody wants to insure you at all
Figures first, so you understand how common this is. According to the supervisory authority’s report for the second half of 2024, 12,928 complaints were made to insurance companies, and motor insurance is the most complained-about line: 37% of all complaints. Most complaints are about the handling of claims (53%), and within that, about deciding who was at fault. 44% of complaints were resolved in the complainant’s favour, 55% against. The average company response time is 9 working days.
What to do if you have been refused: 1. A complaint to the company itself, in writing, with the policy number and the date of the incident. It must reply within the deadline set by the supervisory rules. 2. The provedor do cliente — an independent complaints ombudsman appointed by the insurers themselves. Free of charge. 3. A complaint to the ASF (Autoridade de Supervisão de Seguros e Fundos de Pensões — the supervisor of insurers and pension funds) through its consumer portal. 929 complaints were made directly to the ASF over the same half-year, 39% of them about motor insurance. 4. The complaints book — on paper at the office or online at livroreclamacoes.pt; the procedure is covered in a separate guide. 5. Insurance dispute arbitration — CIMPAS (Centro de Informação, Mediação e Arbitragem de Seguros). It is faster and cheaper than court, and the decision is binding on both sides. 6. Court — the last resort. In the chats there is the story of a man who spent three years in court with his insurer over a stolen motorbike, and that is no exaggeration.
A separate case is when nobody wants to insure you at all: after an accident, because of your history, because of an unusual car. Here a mechanism applies that people in the chats hardly know about. If at least three companies have refused you compulsory insurance, the ASF itself assigns an insurer that is obliged to accept you, and sets the price. You need a written declaração de recusa (refusal) from each company — they are obliged to issue it; all three must have been issued within the last 60 days. To these you attach the completed form, the certificado de tarifação from your previous contract, and copies of the vehicle registration document and certificate of ownership, your driving licence, your ID and a valid MOT. The pack is sent to consumidor@asf.com.pt or taken to the ASF at Avenida da República, 76 in Lisbon.
“maybe someone can help 🙏🏼 With our previous car in Portugal we had an accident with no third party, a door scratched and replaced. We bought a new car. We want to insure it and now all the insurers won’t give us insurance because of the previous car’s history. The only firm that agreed is asking 3900 euros (instead of the 800 euros we paid before). Never had such flat refusals and price jumps before.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkmyptaxes17.07.2025
“Well, how bad they are, everyone draws their own conclusions: a friend of mine was in court with them for over three years when his motorbike with comprehensive and theft cover was stolen.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkMoto chat 🇵🇹17.05.2025
What people say about the companies and what surveys show
There is no single ‘best insurer’, and people argue about it in the chats all the time. Below are both halves of the picture: a survey and the conversations. Neither is a price list or a reliability rating.
The survey. On 31 August 2026 DECO PROteste published a study on the transparency of insurance policies: 4,024 responses, 1,954 of them collected online in January 2026. For motor insurance the scores are (on a scale of 1 to 10): Fidelidade — 6.5; Mapfre — 6.2; Zurich — 6.1; ok! seguros — 6.0; followed by Allianz, Generali Tranquilidade and Ageas; last is Logo with 4.3. No company reached eight points in any type of insurance. The main cause of dissatisfaction, according to the organisation itself, is exclusions from cover: people find out a risk is not covered at the very moment they are about to make a claim.
The conversations. Fidelidade is called expensive but hassle-free: an agent who works with it puts it plainly — ‘if you want cheaper, go with the online insurers; if you want no problems after an accident, come here’ (February 2024). There is also the opposite case: after an accident in which the other driver admitted fault, Fidelidade refused compensation under both of her policies and sent the person to the guarantee fund (August 2025). Generali Tranquilidade is praised for its tow truck via the app (November 2025) and criticised for reinstating a cancelled direct debit. Logo is the most divisive: one person has had all his cars and motorbikes with it for ten years, at €140–170 a year per car and €80 per motorbike, two tow trucks a year anywhere in Europe and no problems with payouts (February 2024); another got a refused tow truck and a 15% rise every year. Allianz — a story of price spreads and a dispute over €900 of roadside assistance that has dragged on for a year (May 2026). In August 2026 MAPFRE told a customer that in personal insurance it does not cover hybrid cars. Zurich insures one person’s motorbike for €214 with roadside assistance, and for others drags its feet for ten days over refunding the premium when a car is sold.
How to use this: do not choose a company on someone else’s experience — choose on your own quote and on the wording of the exclusions in the contract. One person’s experience with one branch is one person’s experience.
“I work exclusively with Fidelidade and can’t get quotes from other companies. Every insurer has its own rates and terms. If you want cheaper, go with the online insurers. If you want better and no problems later after an accident, go with FIDELIDADE. As for stopping answering, that happens too, lots of requests. You need to be more persistent.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt29.02.2024
“MAPFRE, which turns out to be a division of mawdy.com, replied: ‘Within personal insurance we do not provide insurance cover for hybrid cars.’”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt24.08.2026
Without insurance: how it ends
You may not drive, or even park, without compulsory insurance. People in conversation put the fine at €500 to €2,500 for an individual, which may come with the loss of two points and a driving ban of up to twelve months (July 2024); in September 2025 someone in a chat confirms it briefly — ‘€500 fine’ — and adds that whether a car has a policy can be seen from its number plate in five seconds. That is right: policies are checked against the database — by cameras, at roadside checks and at any stop.
This is not rare: according to the supervisory authority’s study ‘Profile of the uninsured driver’, published in July 2026, around 121,000 cars are on the road in the country without the compulsory policy — 1.33% of all vehicles, and the share is growing.
If you are stopped without insurance, you are given a modelo 9 form to fill in on the spot — and that is the whole procedure; if there was also an accident, the guarantee fund’s paperwork is added (August 2026).
And the other side of it: if an uninsured or entirely unknown driver hits you, the Fundo de Garantia Automóvel (motor guarantee fund) will pay. It compensates for bodily injury both when the driver at fault is unknown and when they are known but uninsured; for damage to property — when the driver at fault is known and was uninsured, and when the driver at fault is unknown only in special cases: for example, if there is also serious bodily injury or the car was abandoned at the scene and the police recorded it. The fund then recovers what it paid from the driver at fault, with interest.
“500€ fine. A car isn’t even allowed to stand without insurance. By cameras, when you have contact with the police, at police checks. Whether you have insurance can be checked on publicly available websites by your number plate in 5 sec.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt20.09.2025
“You need to fill in modelo 9, they’ll give you the form right there. That’s the whole procedure if you’re stopped without insurance. If you had an accident, then you also need documents from the FGA”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt10.08.2026
Foreign plates, trips abroad and the Carta Verde
The Carta Verde (green card) is a certificate confirming that the car is insured. It comes from the insurer as an ordinary A4 sheet you can print yourself, and people in the chats are regularly surprised by this — they expect a plastic card. You no longer need to stick it on the windscreen as you used to, and an electronic certificate counts the same as a paper one: in conversation people cite Lei n.º 32/2023 of 10 July 2023 (September 2024). In practice it works — a woman was stopped without a green card or a paper policy, showed the email from her insurer, and there were no questions (May 2025).
If an accident in Portugal involves a car with foreign plates, you need to contact the Portuguese green card bureau (Gabinete Português de Carta Verde), which operates within the insurers’ association (Associação Portuguesa de Seguradores).
If you have an accident abroad — in the EU or in a green card system country — you can deal with it back home: every European insurer must have a claims representative in every EU country.
Not every company will insure a car on Ukrainian or Russian registration: one man had to go round several companies and found only one that agreed (May 2025). And checks do happen: in December 2025 in Setúbal, drivers with foreign plates were fined for not having a Portuguese MOT (€250) and for not having insurance (€500).
“If the police stop you and demand to see paper car insurance when you have a valid electronic version, that’s illegal.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt17.09.2024
“If they stop you without a licence, the fine is from 60€ to 300€. You can show it at the police station within 5 working days afterwards. The fine may be reduced, but you’ll still have to pay. I was stopped without the car’s green card and without the insurance paper, and I found the insurance email, showed it and everything was fine.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatsetubal30.05.2025
What it costs, according to community conversations
| Compulsory policy, car | about €170 a year online, €210–220 on renewal | source |
| Compulsory policy, several cars | €150–180 a year per policy | source |
| Compulsory policy after recalculation | was €270, became €510, €217 at another company | source |
| Compulsory policy, rise over three years | from €312 to €370 a year | source |
| First and second year with one company | €570 and €600 against a quote of €470 | source |
| Comprehensive cover, €500 excess, BMW | €1,200 a year | source |
| Comprehensive cover, ordinary car | ‘a bit over a thousand’ | source |
| Policy with glass and fire cover | €496 a year | source |
| Policy after an accident in a previous car | €3,900 instead of the previous €800 | source |
| Third-party, and the same with roadside assistance | €87.78 and €117.04 a year | source |
| Basic policy, and the same with roadside assistance | €102 and €170 a year | source |
| Motorbike and car with one broker | €123 and €235 a year | source |
| Motorbike, minimum policy, first year | €80, billed €200 for the second year | source |
| Car and motorbike with one company | €140–170 and €80 a year | source |
| Excess on vandalism cover | 500 € | source |
| Repair after being hit from behind | about €3,000 | source |
| Fine for having no policy | 500 € | source |
What to bring
- The policy (apólice) and insurance certificate — the Carta Verde; keep a paper copy in the car or a photo on your phone
- The vehicle registration and ownership document (Documento Único Automóvel) — but don’t leave the original in the car
- A valid MOT (IPO)
- Driving licence; when taking out a policy for the first time, your old licence and a certificate of driving experience from your previous country help
- A blank declaração amigável form in the glovebox — or the e-SEGURNET app installed
- Certificado de tarifação from your previous insurer — when moving to a new company
- A hi-vis vest and warning triangle — they are checked at roadside checks along with your documents
Where people most often trip up
- The compulsory policy never repairs your car. If the other driver is at fault, their insurer pays; if you are, you pay yourself or your comprehensive cover does.
- The policy renews itself and almost always goes up. You need to opt out of renewal in advance, usually 30 days before the anniversary.
- Cancelling the direct debit at the bank is not enough: without a letter to the insurer the contract counts as renewed, and the money may be taken again.
- Cheap online policies cut roadside assistance first. Check punctures and towing from home separately.
- A ‘4%’ excess is calculated on different things at different companies: on the car’s value or on the repair cost. The difference is tenfold.
- Driving experience is counted from the date your licence was issued, and on an exchanged licence that date is Portuguese. Ask which date was used in the calculation.
- The main driver (condutor habitual) must be named on the policy. Otherwise, after a major accident, the insurer may refuse to pay.
- Every claim you make pushes the policy price up for years. For minor damage it is sometimes cheaper to settle in cash.
- Insurance does not pass to the new owner when you sell the car. The policy has to be closed and part of the premium refunded.
- Being refused insurance is not a dead end: after three written refusals the supervisory authority assigns you an insurer.
How it went for people
Accident at a roundabout in Sintra: from the accident report to the repair in a month and a half
A man was hit from behind at a roundabout in Sintra; the other driver agreed straight away that he was at fault. Filling in the European accident report took about an hour; the man refused to settle ‘without paperwork’ because he was not sure of the quality of such a repair. He sent the form on WhatsApp to the account manager who had arranged his policy. Two days later an operator from the insurer called and offered an inspection at a garage near the airport; the man asked to go to the official BMW dealer — this was allowed, they only asked him to confirm the address. A few days later the car was inspected and about €1,500 of work was estimated. A slot for the repair itself was given a month later; on site they found another bent part and got it approved by the insurer within a day. June 2024.
The driver at fault fled — and the injured man’s policy ended up paying
In spring a third car turned across a man’s path in the rain; he braked, the car aquaplaned, he clipped the driver at fault and collided head-on with an oncoming Mercedes. The driver at fault drove off. Four witnesses remembered the number plate differently, and the police found no one. The Mercedes was written off as a total loss, and the man’s insurer was ordered to pay for it. The following year he started being quoted €450, €500 and €700 — precisely because of the recorded accident. He asked in the chat whether the mark could be removed from the database with a police report; there is no answer in the conversations saying anyone managed it. May 2025.
First year €80, second €200
A man took out minimum insurance on a new motorbike through a broker with the company UNA for €80 a year. The year passed with no claims and no trips abroad. Before renewal a letter arrived: €200 for the following year. He voiced what people in these chats say all the time: they lure you in with a low price for the first year and then count on the direct debit going through unnoticed. His plan for the future was two things — cancel the direct debit and ask the same broker for a new quote. November 2025.
The agent promised to cancel the renewal — and disappeared
A man took out a policy with Tranquilidade through a local agent recommended by friends. When the policy was arranged, everything was fine. A couple of weeks before the anniversary he asked the agent to cancel the renewal; the agent wrote that he would see what could be done and stopped getting in touch. Then the man noticed the money had been taken by direct debit a month before the renewal month. The agent had vanished; the insurer told him to call the bank. He managed to get the money back through the bank. May 2025.
Glass under comprehensive cover: original or Chinese
A man was hit by a stone and had his windscreen replaced under comprehensive cover. Only at the garage did it turn out they would be fitting Chinese glass; he objected and demanded an original — two days later the replacement was approved. While he waited, he read up on the subject: original windscreens also get scratched and crack, here they are replaced as a consumable, and the Chinese manufacturer has a good record. He called the garage, asked whether that glass was still waiting for him, and had it fitted. In almost two years since then, stones bigger than the first have hit the windscreen, and it has stayed almost as good as new. May 2023.
A tow truck under the policy pulled a car out of an underground garage
A man in Leiria had a car that broke down and sat in an underground garage with an awkward exit; he had asked in the chat in advance whether the tow truck call-outs included in his policy covered such a case. In the morning he went to the garage he had chosen, arranged for them to take the car, then called the insurer and explained the situation. Forty minutes later a tow truck with a long winch arrived; together with the driver he pushed the car to the ramp, and five minutes later it was on its way to the garage. He did not need to go with it. October 2024.
Retold in our own words from messages in open chats. The link leads to the full original message.