Say I'm a foreigner renting a car in Brazil. What kind of car transmissions are popular in Brazil rental car agencies? Do they let you choose if you ask?
I know standard (aka manual) transmission is, well, the most "standard" or popular type of car everywhere except the US, but in case I want to split driving with someone else who doesn't know how to drive one...
According to TripAdvisor it's rare to get automatic transmissions in Brazil, or that when the companies do have them, they're regularly more expensive.
Your best bet is to contact the company before you get to Brazil (from comments of yours on other questions I gather you've booked through Modiva), and find out if you can reserve one. I suspect they'll be getting similar questions from others, especially from the US, so should be able to clarify.
Well, in Brazil you can get automatic transmission, and like @Mark said, it's more expensive. However, be advised when rent "popular" models with manual transmission. In general, the most cheap models are insecure (no ABS, no air-bags...).
There are some companies you can contact:
