Corfu Airport Auto Rental: 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Booking

Corfu rewards the tourist who can movement on their personal time table. The island looks small on a map yet when you get off the key roads, distances feel longer, buses thin out, and taxis upload up directly. That is why such a lot of company select up a motor vehicle the moment they land at Corfu International Airport Ioannis Kapodistrias.

I actually have rented motors at Corfu airport for work and vacations, in top season and in late October drizzle. The development is all the time the same. The people who did some homework are on the road in 20 minutes. The ones who rushed the booking stand in queues, argue over insurance coverage at the desk and pick out shock fees on their card per week later.

If you would like a smooth Corfu airport vehicle rental feel, the most popular lesson is to apprehend the place others pass flawed. The following ten errors are the ones I see most frequently at Corfu airport, together with what to do instead.

1. Assuming “airport automotive condominium” necessarily capability on-site

Many travellers search for “Corfu airport automotive condominium” or “hire automobile Corfu airport” and imagine every consequence is contained in the terminal. It is just not that ordinary.

At Corfu, some manufacturers have desks in the arrivals hall and their automobiles within the airport parking simply across the road. Others perform “meet and greet” or shuttle offerings. You exit arrivals, search for somebody holding a small sign, and journey a minibus to an off web page lot a few minutes away.

That will not be unavoidably terrible. Off web site organizations might be cheaper and more flexible on issues along with mileage or further drivers. The hindrance looks if you happen to expect to stroll for your motor vehicle in five mins and as a replacement lose forty mins monitoring down a shuttle in 30 measure warmness after a three hour flight from London.

If you want a virtually on website Corfu airport lease a vehicle choice, assess sparsely. Look for clean wording reminiscent of “desk within terminal” or “on airport”. If the confirmation mentions a trip, assembly factor or “administrative center four hundred m from terminal”, build that into your timings. It issues on arrival, and it basically topics you probably have an early morning departure and want to drop the automobile and nevertheless examine in on time.

2. Booking handiest on payment and ignoring the insurance structure

I still see men and women brag that they chanced on the “surest car or truck apartment Corfu airport” for 12 euros an afternoon in August. That base price is incomprehensible devoid of knowledge the insurance.

In Greece, typical insurance policy oftentimes includes third social gathering liability and a few style of collision damage waiver (CDW) with a prime excess. I actually have seen excesses from seven hundred to 1,800 euros for an economy auto. If there may be harm, you pay as much as that quantity unless you might have additional canopy.

The commonplace blunders are two. First, persons skip any added quilt and cross their fingers, then spend their break being concerned approximately slender streets in Corfu Town. Second, they buy an “extra refund” coverage from a broker website online and do now not realize that the rental organisation will still block the complete extra on their card at collection.

A brilliant procedure at Corfu airport auto apartment counters is to come to a decision ahead how you favor to address probability. Some guests are cushy with a gigantic deposit since they have a effective credit card and revel in with condo claims. Others sleep more desirable with a “0 excess” kit that bills more according to day however shrinks the protection block and fiscal exposure.

Read the insurance plan area prior to you click on “Book”. Compare the rate of including complete quilt from the rental guests with a standalone excess policy from a good insurer. There is not any unmarried good resolution, yet strolling up to the desk with no a plan is the fastest route to pressure and luxurious upsells.

three. Not checking gasoline policy and mileage formerly confirming

Corfu airport condo vehicles close to perpetually use the related couple of gasoline guidelines. The hindrance is that they glance comparable at a look, but value very diverse quantities over a week.

“Full to full” potential you decide on up the automobile with a full tank, return it full, and handiest pay for what you use. This is in general the fairest alternative, exceptionally when you plan to power around the island.

“Pre purchase” or “full to drain” capacity you pay for a tank of gasoline at collection and may return it on fumes. It sounds handy yet hardly ever works to your favour except one can easily use so much of the tank and the issuer quotes gasoline at near to pump expenditures plus a small rate. Many do now not.

Mileage is yet one more quiet entice. Most Corfu automobile apartment agencies present limitless kilometres, which is ideal for exploring Paleokastritsa, Kassiopi, the south coast and inland villages with out eager about distance. A few low payment promises hide a consistent with kilometre can charge above a modest everyday restrict.

If your affirmation e mail is indistinct or uses phrases you do not recognise, e mail or message the visitors and ask for clarity. You desire written confirmation of equally fuel coverage and mileage. Verbal motives at a busy airport desk are user-friendly to misunderstand and lots more and plenty harder to dispute later.

four. Overlooking using realities on Corfu whilst deciding on automotive size

Looking at modern photographs, this is tempting to upgrade to a larger car or truck. More area for luggage, bigger aircon, might be even an automated for comfort. On Corfu, the bigger the car, the extra you desire to take into accounts wherein you plan to drive.

The highway from the airport into Corfu Town is huge enough, but as quickly as you wander into older districts, roads slender to at least one lane with stone partitions on both facets and tight corners round buildings. Some coastal villages and hilltop settlements are even tighter, with parking that barely suits a compact hatchback.

If you are staying at a inn on the primary east coast street, a larger car would possibly not be a quandary. If your villa is up a steep lane within the north of the island, a small to medium car or truck with respectable strength and top turning circle is a miles more effective resolution than a cumbersome SUV. I even have watched americans spend 15 minutes maneuvering a extensive automobile out of a lane that changed into sincerely designed for scooters and donkeys.

For most friends, the candy spot for Corfu airport motor vehicle condo is a small or compact motor vehicle, manual or computerized relying in your remedy. Enough boot space for baggage, but small adequate to slip into tight parking spaces and meet oncoming visitors with room to respire.

five. Ignoring reviews of particular Corfu airport branches

Many guests do a brief check of the model call and give up there. They see a mammoth global agency they understand from homestead, assume a general journey, and reserve. In exercise, branch excellent can range greatly.

Search chiefly for the firm identify plus “Corfu airport” and study the recent stories for that position. Patterns matter extra than unique court cases. If one person mentions an extended wait time, that will just be a busy Saturday in August. If 20 people throughout three months document competitive smash claims or unexplained fees, pay concentration.

This suggestion applies similarly to neighborhood providers. Some small Corfu rent a motor vehicle organizations close the airport are top notch, with pleasant provider and versatile regulations. Others reduce corners or depend on technicalities to boost profits. Reviews in general make the distinction clear.

A 15 euro change on a week’s apartment is simply not value an uncongenial argument over “pre current” scratches you were not ever allowed time to record.

6. Not making ready your paperwork and card correctly

One of the dullest difficulties, yet I nonetheless watch it spread in line on the airport every summer time. The office work for hiring a automotive in Greece is easy, but there are some predominant details.

You recurrently need:

1. A legitimate using licence that you just have held for at least 12 months, usually two, based on the business and automotive community.
2. For non EU / EEA drivers from exact international locations, an International Driving Permit along your home licence. Check this in advance, considering that you is not going to receive an IDP if you are already in Greece.
3. A credit card in the major motive force’s title with enough to be had prohibit to conceal the deposit or excess block.
4. Passport or national ID card for identification.

Where persons get caught is with the cardboard. Many Corfu airport car apartment desks do no longer receive debit cards for the protection deposit, simply for settlement. Others accept them but solely with costly more insurance plan. Prepaid cards are most of the time refused outright.

If your affirmation does no longer evidently country that debit playing cards are favourite for the deposit, anticipate you need a regular credit score card with embossed identify and numbers. Also make sure the card restriction is excessive sufficient. I watched a couple from Germany became away because their modest minimize could not accommodate a 1,500 euro block for the excess plus their resort’s pre authorisation.

Print or store your affirmation electronic mail as a PDF, which includes the voucher whenever you booked through a dealer. Mobile net at Corfu airport is continually great, but a useless battery or roaming element may want to no longer stand among you and your car.

7. Chasing “no deposit” presents devoid of examining the small print

The phrase “Corfu airport car or truck condominium no deposit” is eye-catching, enormously for those who dislike the idea of lots of euros blocked in your card. Genuine low deposit or no deposit strategies do exist, but the satan sits within the detail.

Usually, when a manufacturer advertises no deposit, it potential one in all two issues. Either they have got built the chance into a top day to day expense with mandatory full insurance coverage, or they can nevertheless preserve a smaller quantity as a gas or traffic exceptional assurance. Sometimes equally.

There is nothing unsuitable with paying a bit greater for the peace of mind that comes from now not having 1,000 euros frozen in your card. Just apprehend what you're purchasing. Check:

The proper amount they can cling on your card, if any.

Whether the no deposit offer is tied to a particular coverage package deal. How they maintain minor wreck, consisting of small scratches or chips.

Compare this to a universal equipment from an alternative organization that uses a deposit however promises diminish prices. Over every week’s trip, the whole check can swing either manner. The worst mistake is to ebook on the potential of “no deposit” on my own and then stumble on a long list of exclusions and additional bills when you succeed in the desk.

8. Skipping the inspection and graphic pursuits at pickup

You are worn-out, the queue has been sluggish, and the beach is asking. The agent factors to the car, you signal the type, throw your bags in the boot and pressure off. That five minute shortcut can check dearly if there is existing damage that under no circumstances made it onto the record.

At Corfu airport, where dozens of motors rotate among renters each week in summer time, small bumps and scrapes are activities. Most services are sincere approximately this and mark the entirety they recognise. Some are usually not thorough, chiefly at peak instances.

Treat your inspection as component to the condominium, now not a nuisance. Walk round the auto, determine each and every panel, the wheels, and the front and rear bumpers particularly. Pay concentration to:

Small scratches and dents.

Alloy wheel scuffs and hubcap hurt. Chips or cracks inside the windscreen. Any ruin at the roof in case you are tall adequate or can see from an perspective.

Photograph the entirety, even topics which are already marked. Capture the car from every one nook, the odometer interpreting, and the fuel gauge. Time stamped pictures for your cellphone create a rfile that is onerous to argue with later.

Encourage the team member to feature any missing marks to the kind beforehand you sign. If they appear reluctant, reside well mannered yet agency. A few minutes the following is really worth far greater than an indignant electronic mail replace after you return domestic.

nine. Forgetting to plot parking and get admission to at your accommodation

Corfu airport auto condo is the common piece. The harder edge, especially in top season, is dwelling with the automobile when you attain your accommodation.

Many historic villages and some parts of Corfu Town have very restrained parking. Some beachfront motels have individual a good deal, others rely completely on public areas that replenish briskly in July and August. Steep deepest driveways are effortless for villas, now and again with awkward angles and unfastened gravel.

Before you guide, ask your lodging about parking in exclusive, useful phrases. Do not settle for “parking on hand”. Ask even Visit website if it is private or public, what percentage areas they have got, how tight the get entry to is, and whether or not higher cars match very easily.

This may want to affect not simply your possibility of rental car or truck measurement, as discussed previous, however additionally whether or not you even need a auto to your complete continue to be. For instance, in case you are spending three nights in Corfu Town and then every week in a north coast village, you're able to do better to spend the 1st aspect on foot and taxis, then prepare a Corfu airport motor vehicle apartment opening at the day you go away the town.

Thinking in segments like this may save funds, parking complications and the rigidity of threading a motor vehicle due to the metropolis’s one manner device should you are nonetheless jet lagged.

10. Returning the automobile in a rush and neglecting the basics

I even have misplaced be counted of what percentage disputes birth at drop off given that the renter is hurrying to catch a flight. When you're speeding, you neglect gas, you park wherein you aren't supposed to, or you quit keys with no checking the closing paperwork.

Give yourself a actual buffer for go back. If your flight is at 13:00, do not plan to roll into the automobile park at eleven:45, exceptionally while you rented off web site and want a commute ride back to the terminal.

At go back, purpose to:

1. Refill the tank at a station just about the airport in case you are on a full to full policy. Keep the receipt. There are a number of petrol stations inside of a quick pressure, however a few will be busy.
2. Remove all very own units from the auto, such as door pockets and lower than seats.
3. Walk around the auto with the agent the place that you can imagine and ask them to verify in writing that the car is again with no new hurt and with a complete tank if ideal.
4. Take ultimate graphics, such as the fuel gauge and odometer.

If you could use a key drop field considering that you're returning out of doors place of job hours, photos and a short video walkaround turned into even extra precious. Corfu airport lease a automobile companies normally control these returns moderately, yet a transparent visual document protects you in case a new dent appears to be like at the inspection sheet later.

A immediate pre reserving checklist

Used neatly, a vehicle turns Corfu right into a bendy, uncomplicated island to discover. Used badly, it will become a thread of tension running via your holiday. Before you decide to any airport automotive appoint Corfu deal, run by means of this quick list.

1. Verify if the issuer is on airport or off web site with a trip, and how that affects your timings.
2. Read current evaluations namely for the Corfu airport department, no longer simply the model.
3. Compare complete price, adding insurance, gasoline coverage and any mileage limits, not simply the bottom on a daily basis fee.
4. Check parking and get right of entry to at your lodging and make a selection motor vehicle length as a consequence.
5. Confirm what playing cards and archives you desire and even if any “no deposit” offer has restrictive stipulations.

Handled with this level of focus, Corfu airport rental automobiles consider much less like a big gamble and greater like a neatly controlled tool in your travel.

Final innovations from the queue at Corfu airport

If you spend 30 minutes inside the arrivals hall on a hectic afternoon, you can almost predict who will breeze as a result of and who will prove annoyed. The ones with published confirmations, transparent judgements on insurance coverage and functional expectations about the car and the island tend to go away smiling. The ones who booked on payment on my own and did now not examine a phrase of the phrases are the ones arguing on the desk.

Corfu automotive condo does now not have got to be hard. It is readily a depend of matching the actuality at the flooring along with your very own tolerance for menace, funds and driving self assurance. Look beyond headline charges, consider how assurance and deposits paintings, decide the perfect measurement of vehicle for Corfu’s roads, and give yourself time at equally pickup and return.

Do that, and your rent a motor vehicle at Corfu airport will become what it have to be: an easy gateway to mountain villages, quiet beaches and late dinners in small tavernas, in your possess clock rather than absolutely everyone else’s.