Cheap car rental

Our fleet on this page holds 24 cars for cheap car rental in Barcelona, from €19 per day, with weekly bookings from €114 and monthly from €399. We deliver the car to you — at the airport, the station, the port or your address in the city — and every booking is agreed with a manager before hand-over.

What Makes Cheap Car Rental in Barcelona Actually Cheap

A low price here is built from three things: the class you pick, how long you keep the car, and what Spanish law already puts into every booking. Nothing else moves the figure.

How the daily price is built

Our cheapest option starts at €19 per day and runs to €34, and the class you pick is what moves the figure. Economy covers 23 of the 24 cars on this page, from €19 to €29 a day; the single Electric car sits at the top at €34. Beyond class, the length of the booking does the rest of the work: a week starts at €114, which is the daily rate multiplied by six, and a month starts at €399, the daily rate multiplied by 21. Rent-Trip keeps 24 cars on this page out of 754 across the whole site, so the cheap end of the range is where most of the choice sits. A price that looks lower often hides a smaller car or a shorter included period — compare the class, not the headline number.

What is already in the price by Spanish law

Seguro Obligatorio de Responsabilidad Civil is included in every booking by Spanish law. That cover is not an optional extra and not something a company can sell you or leave out — it travels with the car. It protects third parties: the people and property you might hit. It does not cover the vehicle itself, and it does not cover the driver. Damage to the car is a separate matter, handled through the franquicia and whatever waiver you agree, all of it printed in the agreement. That cover protects third parties, not the vehicle itself — damage to it is a separate matter set out in the agreement.

Where the rest of the money goes

In our experience, the difference between a quote that holds and one that grows comes down to what sits outside the base rate:

• Class: Economy at €19–€29 a day against Electric at €34 — the gap is the battery, not the body, since both are hatchbacks.
• Length of booking: weekly from €114 and monthly from €399, both calculated from the daily rate rather than quoted separately.
• Fuel: petrol, hybrid, petrol/LPG and electric all appear in the fleet, and what you spend at the pump or the charger depends on which one you take.
• Waivers and deposit: agreed when booking and set out in the agreement — never a figure we put on a page.

The cheapest daily rate is not always the cheapest trip: two days in a €25 car can cost less in total than a week in a €19 one you barely drive.

Cheap Car Rental in Barcelona by Class and Price

Two classes sit on this page: Economy and Electric. The table below shows what the difference in price actually buys you, so the choice is made on seats and gearbox rather than on the headline figure.

Economy and Electric side by side

Economy holds 23 of the 24 cars here from €19 a day; the single Electric car starts at €34. Both classes are hatchbacks, so the choice comes down to seats and gearbox — the Fiat 500e gives you 4 seats and an automatic, while the Economy cars run from 4 to 5 seats. A compact electric hatch covers city distances for less than a tank of petrol, provided you charge where you park rather than hunting for a rapid charger mid-journey. Our cheap car hire keeps the electric option open for exactly that kind of short stay. If your route is mostly motorway to Sitges or Girona, the petrol Economy cars stay the simpler pick — one fill, no planning.

Why most of the fleet is manual

22 of the 24 cars on this page have a manual gearbox; only the Lancia Ypsilon, the Toyota Yaris and the Fiat 500e are automatic. The manual cars run 1.0 L to 1.5 L engines with 67 to 118 hp, and every one of them is front-wheel drive. If you have only ever driven an automatic, a 1.0 L manual in city traffic takes an hour or so to feel normal — the clutch is light and the gears are short. Automatic cars sit at the top of the Economy range at €26–€29 a day, and there is only one electric automatic. In our experience the automatics go first when the city fills up and the airport roads slow to a crawl. Book the gearbox you need early rather than assuming one will be left on the day — the class is agreed when booking, and so is the car itself.

The Cheapest Cars to Rent in Barcelona and What You Get

Three models open the €19 price — Fiat Panda, Hyundai i10 and Kia Picanto — and each one differs in seats, fuel and power. Below that line the ladder climbs in single euros, so the cheapest option for your trip is usually decided by one feature, not by budget.

The three cars at €19 a day

Fiat Panda, Hyundai i10 and Kia Picanto all start at €19 per day — the lowest figure on this page. The Panda seats four, the other two seat five, so a family of five pays the same €19 as a couple. All three are hatchbacks with front-wheel drive and a 1.0 L engine: 70 hp in the Panda, 67 hp in the i10 and the Picanto. The Panda runs on petrol/hybrid, the i10 and Picanto on straight petrol. Manual gearboxes across the three. At €20 sits another pair — Fiat Pandina and Toyota Aygo, both four-seaters, one hybrid and one petrol, 70 hp and 72 hp. A five-seat car at the €19 entry point is the practical pick for a group; choosing a four-seater costs you the same money and one passenger.

Petrol, hybrid, LPG or electric

• Petrol: Hyundai i10, Kia Picanto, Kia Rio, Citroen C3, Ford Fiesta, Hyundai i20, Opel Corsa, Peugeot 208, Seat Ibiza, Skoda Fabia, Volkswagen Polo and DS DS 3, from 1.0 L to 1.2 L.
• Hybrid: Fiat Pandina, Fiat 500, Fiat Grande Panda, Renault Clio, MG MG3, Lancia Ypsilon and Toyota Yaris, 70 hp to 116 hp.
• Petrol/LPG: Dacia Sandero and Dacia Sandero Stepway, both 1.0 L and 90 hp, at €22 and €24 a day.
• Electric: Fiat 500e, the only one here, 118 hp, €34 a day.
• Engine range: 1.0 L to 1.5 L across the fleet, with 67 hp at the bottom and 118 hp at the top.

The two Dacia models give the longest range per fill for the same €22–€24 as a plain petrol car of the same size. On a week of mixed city and motorway driving that difference shows up at the pump rather than in the booking price.

The only crossover and the only electric

DS DS 3 is the only crossover here at €28 a day, and Fiat 500e is the only electric at €34. Both are five-seat hatchbacks by body type, but the DS 3 sits higher and takes a 1.2 L 100 hp petrol engine, while the 500e pairs a 118 hp electric motor with an automatic gearbox — one of only three automatics on this page, alongside Lancia Ypsilon and Toyota Yaris. Charging terms for the 500e are set out in the rental agreement, so a short city stay can undercut a petrol fill. Worth knowing before you book: the electric is the priciest car here, and it only pays off if you can charge where you park overnight.

Renting a Cheap Car in Barcelona for a Week or a Month

The longer you keep the car, the lower the daily rate works out — a week is charged as six days and a month as twenty-one, so the same €19 car that costs €19 for a single day drops to roughly €16 a day across a week.

What a week actually costs

• Weekly rate: any car on this page is charged at the daily price multiplied by six, so the €19 Economy models come to €114 for the week.
• Monthly rate: the same daily price multiplied by twenty-one — €399 for the €19 cars, and the €34 Fiat 500e works out at €714 for the month.
• Which term suits which trip: a long weekend, the Costa Brava run and the Montserrat day trip all fit inside a week; a month covers a full stay with the Pyrenees and Penedès wine country included.
• Where the savings land: the gap between a daily and a weekly booking on the cheapest car is €19 — one day you no longer pay for.

Choosing between the two terms

A week at €114 and a month at €399 are both built on the same daily figure, so a longer booking never raises the rate per day — it only changes how many days you are paying for. If your stay runs to nine or ten days, the weekly rate still applies and the extra days are added at the daily price, which is why we ask for your dates before quoting rather than after. Travellers who split a long stay into two separate bookings usually pay more than they need to: one continuous booking of three weeks is charged as twenty-one days at the daily rate, not as a week plus a fortnight. Tell the manager your return date and the term is set from that, not from a menu.

What the term does not change

The class of car, the fuel type and the number of seats stay the same whether you book for one day or for a month — a €19 Fiat Panda is a 1.0 L petrol/hybrid with four seats and a manual gearbox on any term. What does change is availability: the 23 Economy cars here cover most requests, but the single Fiat 500e is one car, so a month-long electric booking needs to be agreed early. Delivery and collection are arranged with the manager at booking, and the deposit, the excess and any delivery fee are set out in the rental agreement rather than quoted on this page. Book the term first, then confirm the model — swapping a car inside a confirmed booking is harder than picking the right one at the start.

Driving a Cheap Rental Car in Barcelona

Driving here is straightforward for anyone used to right-hand traffic: all our cars are left-hand drive, and the wheel is on the left. The complications are the low-emission zone, the paid parking areas and the toll tunnels out of the city — three things worth knowing before you turn the key.

The ZBE Rondes BCN low-emission zone

The Zona de Bajas Emisiones Rondas de Barcelona (ZBE Rondes BCN) covers more than 95 km² — the whole municipality except the Zona Franca industrial estate and the Vallvidrera – el Tibidabo i les Planes neighbourhood, plus L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Sant Adrià de Besòs and parts of Esplugues de Llobregat and Cornellà de Llobregat. It runs on working days, Monday to Friday. The DGT environmental sticker on the windscreen decides whether you may enter: 0 emisiones (blue) and ECO (blue-green) are the cleanest grades. Foreign plates need prior registration in the Registre metropolità de vehicles estrangers i altres vehicles autoritzats a les zones de baixes emissions. In our practice, the sticker question comes up before anything else — check the grade on the car we hand you rather than assuming any vehicle passes.

Parking, tolls and charging

Speed limits and what a fine costs

A 50% discount applies if you pay within 20 calendar days. Using a phone in your hand is €200 and six points, and children under 135 cm need an SRI child seat. From our side, we tell every customer the same thing: photograph the fuel level and the odometer at hand-over, because the fuel policy and the deposit are agreed when booking and printed in the rental agreement.

What a Cheap Car Rental in Barcelona Includes

Every quote we issue covers the same things: the car itself, the mandatory third-party cover, and the paperwork you need to drive legally in Spain. What changes between bookings is the class, the length of the hire, and whether you add protection on top.

What every hire includes by Spanish law

Seguro Obligatorio de Responsabilidad Civil is included in every booking by Spanish law. That cover protects third parties — pedestrians, other drivers, their cars — and it applies even if the person behind the wheel was not named in the agreement. It does not protect the vehicle itself, and it does not protect the driver. Damage to the car is a separate matter, and the amount you would pay towards it is the franquicia, or excess, printed in the agreement. We tell you that figure before you sign anything. The rest of the cover — CDW, THW, glass and tyres — is optional and priced by the contract, not by law.

What our price covers and what it does not

• Mandatory third-party insurance: included in every booking, as Spanish law requires.
• The car and its class: 24 cars on this page, Economy from €19 a day and Electric from €34.
• Unlimited use of the vehicle: the price does not change with the kilometres you drive in the city.
• Optional protection: CDW, THW and the buy-back of the excess are agreed when booking, never assumed.
• Fuel: the tank policy is agreed when booking, so you know what to do before you return the car.

What is agreed when you book

The deposit, the excess, the fuel policy, the minimum age and the delivery details are all confirmed with a manager before the car reaches you — none of them is a fixed figure we print on this page. That is deliberate. A cheap car rental in Barcelona is cheap because the price is honest about what sits inside it, not because something important was left out and added later at the counter. Ask your manager which protection level suits your route; for a short stay inside the city, the base cover is usually enough, while longer trips towards Montserrat or the Costa Brava are worth the extra protection.

Booking a Cheap Car Rental in Barcelona with a Manager

You do not book through a checkout form. Cheap car rental with us works the other way round: you agree the details with a manager, and the car is delivered to you. That single step is what keeps the price where it is — the fleet is planned around your dates rather than around a forecourt.

What the manager settles before your trip

• The car: which of the 24 models on this page fits your dates, your luggage and your seats — 4 or 5.
• The class: Economy from €19 a day or the Electric Fiat 500e at €34.
• The length: a week from €114, a month from €399.
• The delivery: where and when the car reaches you, agreed with the manager when booking.
• The paperwork: the agreement, the deposit and the insurance options, set out in the rental agreement.

Why a manager and not a booking engine

A booking engine sells you whatever is left on the day. We work from a fleet of 754 cars across the company, 24 of them on this page, so the manager can move a car to your dates rather than talk you into a different one. That matters most at short notice and in the busy weeks. If the model you picked is not available, the manager offers an alternative before anything is confirmed — you are never handed a surprise at the door. Our booking is a conversation: you say what the trip looks like, we say what it costs and what is included, and only then does it become a reservation.

Booking early is the one habit worth keeping

The cheap end of the fleet is also the thin end: 23 of the 24 cars here are Economy, but the €19 group — Fiat Panda, Hyundai i10, Kia Picanto — is the first to go for weekend and holiday dates. In our experience the same request made a fortnight out gets the model and the price you wanted, while a request made closer to the date gets the manager's best available match instead. Have your dates, your flight or arrival time and your driving licence details ready before you write; the manager can then confirm the car, the delivery and the total in one exchange rather than three. Nothing is charged until the terms are clear to you.