FAQ

• You should contact Happycar, then the Public Police Service. Both phone numbers can be found at the top of the Rental Agreement.

• You should contact Happycar immediately and follow the instructions given.
  
  Should you fail to do this, it would be considered negligent behavior and would not be covered by our Super Collision Damage Waiver (SCDW).

• The minimum period is 1 day (24 hours). During our busiest periods (from April to October and the last weeks of December) we may raise the minimum rental period to two or three days. Due to technical reasons, it is only possible to book a car for 3 days minimum on our website.

• Office hours are as follows: Monday to Sunday from 9 am to 1 pm and from 3 pm to 7 pm. At the Airport from Monday to Sunday, any flight schedule, after confirmation of the reservation by Happycar.

• To be able to pick up the vehicle, you need a valid Driver’s License, and an Identity Card or Passport.

• Yes, as long as the reservation is confirmed by us.

• No, the driver does not need to be a credit card holder; however the credit card holder must be present when the payment is being done.

• Yes, all prices include VAT in accordance to the current legislation.

• Fuel is not included in the rental price. We ask our customers to return the vehicle with same level of fuel as when it was delivered.
• If the car is not returned with the same level of fuel it had when it was delivered, we may have to charge your credit card for the missing amount.

• Yes, if the vehicle is returned with a lower fuel level than when it was delivered, a refueling fee will be charged for the amount of missing fuel.

• We do not offer refunds for the early return of a vehicle.

• Payment for an online reservation should be made when we confirm that the vehicle is reserved.

• Yes. The driver must be a Driver License holder for at least 1 year and must be at least 21 years old.

• When cancelling the reservation 48 hours in advance, it is free of charge.
• If you cancel the reservation, within 48 hours of the pick-up, we only refund 50% of the payment.
• Scheduling changes are free of charge, provided there is availability.

• We currently accept VISA/MASTERCARD Debit/Credit cards, cash or bank transfers as valid payment methods.
  Please note that the Card Holder must be present when making the payment and any payments done by bank transfer must be done before the scheduled pick-up date. 

• A deposit is always required if you do not opt for our SCDW (Super Collision Damage Waiver).

• Yes, you can have one secondary driver added for an extra daily cost. Both the main driver and the second driver must be present with the necessary personal documentation to sign the Rental Agreement. 

• In case of a flight cancellation or delay please contact us so we can try to adjust your reservation. If you get a new flight number please provide it at your earliest convenience.
• We try to accomodate for flight delays and cancellations, but we can only guarantee that we will have a vehicle available for you for the reservation period that we originally confirmed. 
• If a delayed flight ends up landing at the end of, or after, our business hours (starting from 18:30), there will be an additional fee charged. We understand that it’s not the customer’s fault if a flight is delayed but we hope you understand it’s not the fault of our employees either, if they have to work after our business hours.

• Usually it is possible. We recommend that you contact us as soon as you decide to extend the reservation, rather than near the end of the rental period so we can check if the car is available. 
  
  Please keep in mind that, just because a colleague says a car might be available for an extension of the rental period when you pick-up the car, that does not mean that will remain true if you decide to do the extension a few days later. The sooner you ask for an extension of the rental period, the better your chances will be of being able to do so.

• A free grace period of 30 minutes is provided for all vehicle returns. If the 30 minutes are exceeded, a tax will be charged for delays of up to one hour. Should the delay exceed an hour, an extra rental day will be charged, along with any extra charges featured on the Rental Agreement such as SCDW, Extra Driver, etc. 

Yes. Currently we offer the following items for rental upon request and at an additional cost:

1. Baby Seats
2. Children Booster Seats
3. GPS
4. WIFI Service

• Depending on the pick-up location you choose, we may charge an extra fee for the delivery and return of the vehicle. This fee is to cover for fuel, staff and, sometimes, parking costs.
  Currently we charge extra fees for pick-up/returns at the Airport or outside of Funchal, Machico, Santa Cruz.

• Driving under the influence of alcohol
• Driving off-road where it is not allowed
• Loss of car keys
• Filling the fuel tank with the wrong type fuel
• Damage to the interior of the car
• Parking and speeding fines
• Damage underneath the car
• Damage on the tires or the hubcaps
• Not reporting a mechanical malfunction to Happy Car and continuing to drive the vehicle.
• Not properly braking the vehicle when parked and damage being caused by it sliding

• It is the amount of money for which a customer is liable in case of accidental damage to the vehicle.
• If you opt for our SCDW (Super Collision Damage Waiver) you do not need to leave a Deposit/Deductible but you are still liable for accidental damage or negligent behavior not covered by SCDW.

We can deliver vehicles to any logdging or Hotel provided that they have a parking location nearby.

Some lodgings do not offer parking for vehicles or have reasonable parking locations near them and in such cases the delivery will only be possible if we are provided the address and confirm that we can deliver the vehicle there.

We advise our customers to contact us in case they are not able to meet us for their scheduled appointment time.

If your reservation was pre-paid, the car will be reserved for a period of 4 hours after your scheduled pick-up time. If your reservation was not pre-paid it will be cancelled after 30 minutes unless we are contacted beforehand.

When it comes to car pick-ups at Hotels or Lodgings, if you are not present at the delivery location within 15 minutes of the scheduled time you may either lose your reservation or have to wait a few hours until the car is delivered. 

Should you pick-up a car after your scheduled pick-up time we can not guarantee that we will be able to extend your reservation return time because it may conflict with another client’s reservation.