Renting a car in Brazil: rules, tolls and roads

You can rent a car in Brazil on your home license for up to 180 days from the day you enter. Rental cars come with an electronic toll tag, and the big companies charge a daily fee plus 15% on the tolls you use. On free-flow highways with no booths, you have up to 30 days to pay before it counts as toll evasion.

This page covers foreign visitors renting from companies in Brazil. For the license rules by nationality, read driving in Brazil on a foreign license.

When a car makes sense

A car pays off where buses are slow and sights are spread out. Minas Gerais’s colonial towns, the coast between Rio and São Paulo, the Serra Gaúcha, Santa Catarina’s beaches and the Chapada dos Veadeiros all suit a self-drive trip. In big cities, ride apps and the metro are easier than driving and parking.

Skip the car for the Amazon, where rivers replace roads, and for Lençóis Maranhenses or Jalapão, where sand tracks need a 4x4 and a local driver. Also skip it if you are uneasy with aggressive traffic or night driving.

Who can rent

The license rule comes from Contran Resolution 933/2022. You may drive on a valid foreign license for up to 180 days from your entry into Brazil. Carry your license, an identity document and proof of your entry date. Drivers whose license comes from a party to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic must also carry an International Driving Permit (PID).

Check before you go: get an International Driving Permit at home before you fly. It costs little, rental desks and police recognize it, and it avoids disputes at roadside checks. See driving in Brazil on a foreign license.

Rental companies add their own conditions. At Localiza, foreign renters need:

• A minimum age of 18. Drivers under 21 must add the “Condutor Jovem” (young driver) option when booking.
• A passport as ID. Citizens of Mercosur countries may use their national ID card.
• A valid driver’s license, usable in Brazil for up to 180 days.
• A second proof of your entry date, such as a ticket, if your passport has no entry stamp.
• A credit card, physical or contactless, in the name of the person on the booking, for the pre-authorization hold.

Localiza’s Condutor Jovem add-on costs R$ 38.95 a day on a daily rental (about US$7.70, checked Oct 2026) and R$ 14.95 a day on a monthly rental (about US$2.95, checked Oct 2026), before the 15% rental fee. It applies from 18 up to age 20.

Movida asks foreign renters for an original passport, a valid driver’s license, and a visa valid for the permitted stay, except for Mercosur renters. It needs a credit card with an available pre-authorization limit, in the renter’s or guarantor’s name. Renters aged 18 to 20 pay a young-driver fee. Movida’s holds start at R$ 200 (about US$40, checked Oct 2026) for the smallest groups and R$ 2,000 (about US$395, checked Oct 2026) for the largest groups when protections are bought, and from R$ 30,000 (about US$5,900, checked Oct 2026) without protections. The hold is the listed amount or the total reservation value, whichever is higher.

Unidas also rents from age 18, requires the original license and blocks an amount on a credit card as a guarantee.

Check before you go: ask the company how large the credit card hold is for your car group, and make sure it fits your card limit. Ask Unidas and Localiza about any extra rules for foreign renters and young drivers before you book.

Insurance and damage

Read what the daily rate includes before you sign. At Localiza, every protection is an option chosen at booking, not added after pickup: glass and tyre cover, vehicle protection that caps your liability for damage, theft and fire at a fixed damage limit, total damage protection that removes that limit, and third-party insurance. The limit works once per rental. Without vehicle protection, Localiza charges the full repair cost plus rental days.

Movida includes some protection in its advertised rate. Cover and deductibles differ by company and car group.

Check before you go: ask each company for the cover and deductible in writing. Check whether your credit card’s rental cover applies in Brazil, and get that in writing too. Declining the company’s protection usually means a much larger credit card hold.

Walk around the car with the agent, photograph every scratch, and note the fuel level. Return the car with the same fuel level to avoid refueling charges.

Fuel

Most rental cars in Brazil are flex-fuel, running on gasoline (gasolina) or ethanol (etanol or álcool). Ethanol is cheaper per liter but gives fewer kilometers per tank. Attendants fill the tank for you at almost every station, so tell them which fuel and how much. Pay by card or Pix, and check the pump starts at zero.

Tolls: booths, tags and fees

Most toll plazas on federal concession highways take Pix, credit or debit cards, cash or an automatic tag. ANTT authorizes five tag operators: Sem Parar, Veloe, ConectCar, Greenpass and Move Mais. No other company may run automatic toll payment.

Rental companies fit their cars with a tag and bill you for it:

You can avoid Localiza’s tag by using the manual toll lanes. Unidas charges tolls, parking and tag use when you return the car. Tolls that reach Localiza after your contract closes are billed to you by email.

Localiza also passes on the daily environmental fee (TPA) charged by Ubatuba (São Paulo) and Bombinhas (Santa Catarina) if you do not pay it, plus its 15% fee.

Free flow: tolls with no booths

Free flow is electronic tolling with no booths or barriers. Gantries over the road record each vehicle. Lei 14.157 of June 1, 2021 created the system and added article 209-A to the traffic code: evading the charge, or not paying it in the set way, is a “grave” infraction. The fine for a grave infraction is R$ 195.23 (about US$38, checked Oct 2026) under article 258.

These federal highway stretches use free flow:

• BR-101 between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states (RioSP / Motiva)
• BR-116 between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (RioSP / Motiva)
• BR-381 in Minas Gerais (Nova 381)
• BR-262 in Minas Gerais (Way-262)
• BR-364 in Rondônia and BR-277 in Paraná (Nova 364)
• BR-369 in Paraná (EPR Iguaçu)
• BR-272, BR-369, BR-376 and other stretches in Paraná (EPR Paraná)

Without a tag, you have up to 30 days to pay through the concessionaire’s official site, app or roadside kiosks. After that, the toll counts as evaded. With a tag, the toll is charged to the tag automatically.

ANTT Resolution 6.079/2026 sets federal rules for free flow. You get 30 days to pay with no surcharge, then a 2% late fine and 1% interest a month. A charge confirmed as wrong must be refunded at double the amount within seven days.

In 2026, Contran gave drivers a window to pay overdue free-flow tolls without a fine. Under Deliberação 277/2026, published in the Diário Oficial da União on April 29, 2026, fines and license points for unpaid free-flow tolls are suspended, and the window closes on November 16, 2026. The suspension is not a cancellation, and paying the toll stays mandatory. Pay an overdue toll by that date and the related fine and points are cancelled automatically. From November 17, 2026, an unpaid toll can be fined again (R$ 195.23). Treat November 15 as your last day to be safe.

Ask the rental company whether its tag pays free-flow gantries or whether you must pay them yourself online. Pay every free-flow toll within 30 days either way, because the company passes any fine back to you with its fee.

Road rules that cost money

These rules come from the traffic code (CTB, Lei 9.503/1997) and the laws that amended it:

Fine amounts by category, from article 258: gravíssima R$ 293.47 (about US$58, checked Oct 2026), grave R$ 195.23 (about US$38, checked Oct 2026), média R$ 130.16 (about US$26, checked Oct 2026), leve R$ 88.38 (about US$17, checked Oct 2026). Some offenses multiply the base fine, as with alcohol.

Speed cameras are common on highways and city avenues, and rental companies pass fines on to you with a fee. Watch for signs reading “fiscalização eletrônica.”

Roads and safety

Road travel in Brazil is more hazardous than in the US or UK. Poor driving, bad roads and heavy traffic all play a part. Watch for debris, horse-drawn carts, unmarked speed bumps (lombadas) and potholes. Avoid trips outside metropolitan areas at night. Flooding cuts some Amazon roads for much of the year.

Carjackings and robberies happen at intersections and in tunnels, especially at night. Keep doors locked and windows up in cities, and leave nothing visible in the car. Do not stop for hitchhikers or for people with apparent car trouble, as this can be a setup.

Outside toll roads, which have their own services, roadside help is rare. Save your rental company’s assistance number before you leave the lot. Use a navigation app, but be careful with shortcuts it suggests through unfamiliar urban areas.

Emergency numbers:

• 193 fire and rescue, the fastest help on any road. It works in Portuguese only.
• 190 police. Report every accident to the police.

Checklist

1. Carry your license, passport and proof of your entry date.
2. Carry an International Driving Permit.
3. Book with a credit card in the driver’s name, with room for the hold.
4. Photograph the car before you drive off.
5. Ask how the company charges tolls and free-flow gantries.
6. Pay any free-flow toll within 30 days.
7. Drink nothing before you drive.
8. Plan to arrive before dark outside cities.

If you stay past 180 days, read driving in Brazil on a foreign license. Before you set out, check is Brazil safe and how to pay along the way in money in Brazil.