My trip (Part II) - Highways to hell

Maybe some of you already know about this... I didn't, until I was told by my girlfriend: There are 3 highways in Portugal (there will be many more in the near future) which used to be free, but not anymore. I'm talking about SCUTs ("Sem Custo para o UTente/UTilizador")

These used to be paid by the government, based on an approach to the real number of cars using them. But you know about crisis, don't you? Who pays now? We do.

But this is not that easy, of course... You can't pay when you arrive to a traditional toll. There are a sort of cameras with recognition systems over the highway instead. So you need some kind of electronic device which is not so easy to get.

After thinking deeply about this trouble, I tried to get the "Via Verde" device, as it'll assure that I could travel all over the country using any kind of highway, both SCUTs and traditional ones. This seemed to be a good alternative because it'd solve the issue with SCUTs and it'd also make my trips cheaper when using the other highways.

But I can't get one of these. I'm not portuguese, I don't pay taxes here so the "Via Verde" is not available to me. I have to apply for a prepaid device that is some sort of cheating, as you have to buy (they say you rent, but you pay almost the same as buying) the device and put some money into it... money that you'll never get back if you don't spend it.

Anyway, they also offer some other alternatives, like postpaid services (only available for portuguese people again, and also adding administrative fees), where you've got 5 days to pay after using the highways.

And finally, I hope this could be my alternative, you can buy the device and associate it to your credit card, so you pay a little bit more for the device, but you only pay what you spend on highways. But you don't get any discount when using traditional highways with this kind of device... :( Actually, you have to use the traditional tolls there, as this device doesn't work as a "Via Verde" compatible device.

Anyway, I tried to get one of these, but they are not used to foreigners here. They say you can get one of them at petrol stations or post offices, but when I went there and asked for them, they looked at me like saying: "What the hell are you talking about?"

So I'll have to wait until I can reach Tuy to solve this issue. Meanwhile, I'll have to pay the fucking 20€ of traditional highway fee and be careful when driving through Oporto, because any minor mistake can put your car under the cameras sight without any way out.

Update: More info...