Avis Car Hire in Madrid

Avis operates counters in both Terminal 1 and Terminal 4 at Madrid-Barajas Adolfo Suárez Airport (MAD), so your pickup location depends on which terminal your flight uses. Travellers arriving at Terminals 2 or 3 need to connect via the free inter-terminal shuttle, which runs every 5 minutes during daytime hours and every 20 minutes between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM, with an 8-to-10-minute ride between T1 and T4. Allow 30 to 60 minutes from baggage claim to reaching your vehicle, and note that weekend hours close earlier — Avis desks shut at 10:30 PM on Saturdays and Sundays versus 12:30 AM on weekdays; key drop boxes handle after-hours returns. Madrid's low-emission zone covers the entire city, and your hire vehicle should carry a DGT environmental sticker confirming compliance — confirm this with the agent at pickup, since non-compliant vehicles face fines of EUR 90–200. Toll roads marked with the "AP" prefix charge EUR 5–25 per segment; Avis offers an electronic toll tag to use dedicated Telepeaje lanes, avoiding cash queues at booths. Fuel runs around EUR 1.55 per litre for petrol and EUR 1.61 for diesel — Spanish pumps label petrol as "gasolina" and diesel as "gasoleo" to avoid misfuelling. A credit card in the primary driver's name is required at pickup, with an authorisation hold of around EUR 200 placed on the card. Drivers whose licences use a non-Latin script — Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, or Japanese, for example — must also present an International Driving Permit.