Corfu Airport Auto Rental: 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Booking

Corfu rewards the traveler who can circulation on their very own time table. The island seems small on a map yet while you get off the major roads, distances believe longer, buses thin out, and taxis add up speedy. That is why so many company go with up a motor vehicle the instant they land at Corfu International Airport Ioannis Kapodistrias.

I actually have rented automobiles at Corfu airport for paintings and vacations, in excessive season and in late October drizzle. The development is invariably the same. The folks that did some homework are on the road in 20 minutes. The ones who rushed the booking stand in queues, argue over insurance coverage on the desk and stumble on surprise bills on their card per week later.

If you wish a soft Corfu airport automobile condominium experience, the ideal lesson is to have in mind where others move fallacious. The following ten errors are those I see as a rule at Corfu airport, at the side of what to do alternatively.

1. Assuming “airport motor vehicle condominium” continually manner on-site

Many company look up “Corfu airport car condominium” or “lease auto Corfu airport” and expect every end result is contained in the terminal. It isn't that common.

At Corfu, a few manufacturers have desks within the arrivals corridor and their automobiles in the airport parking simply throughout the street. Others perform “meet and greet” or trip expertise. You exit arrivals, look for anyone holding a small sign, and experience a minibus to an off website online lot a couple of minutes away.

That is just not inevitably negative. Off website establishments shall be more cost-effective and extra versatile on matters similar to mileage or additional drivers. The worry seems in the event you expect to walk in your automobile in 5 minutes and as a substitute lose 40 minutes monitoring down a go back and forth in 30 stage heat after a 3 hour flight from London.

If you need a truthfully on web site Corfu airport hire a car or truck possibility, test moderately. Look for clean wording equivalent to “desk inside of terminal” or “on airport”. If the confirmation mentions a go back and forth, assembly point or “place of business four hundred m from terminal”, build that into your timings. It topics on arrival, and it certainly things if you have an early morning departure and want to drop the car and still determine in on time.

2. Booking only on worth and ignoring the insurance structure

I nonetheless see americans brag that they located the “excellent automobile condominium Corfu airport” for 12 euros an afternoon in August. That base rate is incomprehensible with out figuring out the insurance.

In Greece, hassle-free insurance plan customarily contains 3rd get together legal responsibility and some variety of collision spoil waiver (CDW) with a top excess. I have considered excesses from seven hundred to 1,800 euros for an economic system automotive. If there's harm, you pay up to that quantity except you've got you have got additional quilt.

The conventional error are two. First, other folks bypass any additional canopy and go their hands, then spend their trip being worried approximately narrow streets in Corfu Town. Second, they purchase an “extra refund” coverage from a broker site and do no longer realize that the rental friends will still block the total excess on their card at selection.

A shrewd mind-set at Corfu airport motor vehicle condo counters is to resolve earlier how you desire to deal with risk. Some visitors are smooth with a massive deposit on account that they've got a robust credits card and enjoy with condo claims. Others sleep higher with a “zero extra” package that bills greater according to day yet shrinks the protection block and economic exposure.

Read the coverage part earlier than you click on “Book”. Compare the cost of including complete disguise from the rental company with a standalone extra policy from a credible insurer. There isn't any unmarried accurate reply, however walking as much as the table devoid of a plan is the quickest course to strain and costly upsells.

3. Not checking gas coverage and mileage earlier than confirming

Corfu airport condo autos nearly normally use the identical couple of fuel policies. The read more issue is they glance comparable at a glance, yet check very completely different amounts over per week.

“Full to complete” means you decide on up the automobile with a complete tank, go back it complete, and simply pay for what you utilize. This is assuredly the fairest preference, fairly if you happen to plan to drive across the island.

“Pre acquire” or “complete to drain” approach you pay for a tank of gas at choice and can return it on fumes. It sounds easy but hardly works in your favour unless you can in reality use most of the tank and the guests expenses fuel at almost about pump fees plus a small cost. Many do no longer.

Mileage is an alternate quiet catch. Most Corfu vehicle rental agencies offer limitless kilometres, which is good for exploring Paleokastritsa, Kassiopi, the south coast and inland villages devoid of excited about distance. A few low fee gives you disguise a per kilometre price above a modest each day prohibit.

If your affirmation e mail is indistinct or makes use of terms you do now not recognise, electronic mail or message the firm and ask for readability. You need written affirmation of either gas policy and mileage. Verbal causes at a busy airport table are easy to misunderstand and masses harder to dispute later.

4. Overlooking using realities on Corfu when deciding upon vehicle size

Looking at modern pictures, it's far tempting to upgrade to a larger automotive. More house for baggage, more suitable aircon, might be even an automated for alleviation. On Corfu, the bigger the car, the greater you desire to consider where you intend to force.

The avenue from the airport into Corfu Town is extensive satisfactory, yet as soon as you wander into older districts, roads narrow to 1 lane with stone partitions on each 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're staying at a hotel on the most east coast street, a bigger automotive won't be a drawback. If your villa is up a steep lane in the north of the island, a small to medium automobile with good force and precise turning circle is a miles more suitable possibility than a cumbersome SUV. I have watched other people spend 15 minutes maneuvering a titanic car out of a lane that became essentially designed for scooters and donkeys.

For such a lot viewers, the sweet spot for Corfu airport automobile condo is a small or compact vehicle, guide or automated based for your alleviation. Enough boot space for bags, yet small satisfactory to slide into tight parking areas and meet oncoming site visitors with room to respire.

5. Ignoring opinions of exceptional Corfu airport branches

Many travellers do a immediate money of the brand name and end there. They see a huge overseas issuer they comprehend from domestic, think a widespread trip, and reserve. In follow, branch great can vary broadly.

Search exceptionally for the agency identify plus “Corfu airport” and study the recent stories for that situation. Patterns be counted greater than distinct court cases. If one man or woman mentions an extended wait time, which will simply be a busy Saturday in August. If 20 individuals throughout three months file competitive hurt claims or unexplained rates, pay focus.

This advice applies equally to native vendors. Some small Corfu employ a motor vehicle services close to the airport are exquisite, with friendly carrier and flexible rules. Others reduce corners or depend on technicalities to raise revenue. Reviews constantly make the change clean.

A 15 euro big difference on per week’s condominium seriously isn't really worth a nasty argument over “pre latest” scratches you were by no means allowed time to doc.

6. Not getting ready your files and card correctly

One of the dullest issues, yet I nevertheless watch it unfold in line at the airport each and every summer time. The paperwork for hiring a car or truck in Greece is simple, however there are just a few primary tips.

You as a rule desire:

1. A legitimate driving licence which you have held for not less than one year, repeatedly two, depending at the business and automobile neighborhood.
2. For non EU / EEA drivers from detailed international locations, an International Driving Permit alongside your house licence. Check this prematurely, simply because you cannot acquire an IDP once you are already in Greece.
3. A credit card inside the most important driver’s call with sufficient achievable minimize to quilt the deposit or excess block.
4. Passport or country wide ID card for id.

Where men and women get stuck is with the cardboard. Many Corfu airport car or truck apartment desks do no longer accept debit playing cards for the safety deposit, in basic terms for cost. Others be given them however most effective with highly-priced more insurance coverage. Prepaid cards are characteristically refused outright.

If your affirmation does no longer evidently state that debit cards are standard for the deposit, count on you want a time-honored credit card with embossed call and numbers. Also be sure the card decrease is high sufficient. I watched a couple from Germany grew to become away seeing that their modest limit could not accommodate a 1,500 euro block for the extra plus their inn’s pre authorisation.

Print or store your affirmation e mail as a PDF, including the voucher once you booked by using a broker. Mobile net at Corfu airport is mainly high quality, yet a dead battery or roaming component will have to now not stand among you and your automobile.

7. Chasing “no deposit” deals devoid of interpreting the small print

The word “Corfu airport motor vehicle apartment no deposit” is fascinating, extraordinarily should you dislike the proposal of hundreds and hundreds of euros blocked on your card. Genuine low deposit or no deposit techniques do exist, but the devil sits in the detail.

Usually, when a corporate advertises no deposit, it potential one in every of two things. Either they've developed the danger right into a upper each day cost with essential complete insurance plan, or they may nonetheless grasp a smaller quantity as a fuel or visitors advantageous guarantee. Sometimes both.

There is nothing improper with paying slightly more for the peace of thoughts that comes from not having 1,000 euros frozen in your card. Just be aware of what you're acquiring. Check:

The properly amount they're going to hold on your card, if any.

Whether the no deposit present is tied to a specific insurance equipment. How they address minor hurt, akin to small scratches or chips.

Compare this to a common equipment from any other firm that makes use of a deposit however affords curb prices. Over per week’s break, the total check can swing either means. The worst mistake is to ebook on the capability of “no deposit” on my own and then become aware of a long record of exclusions and further rates after you attain the table.

eight. Skipping the inspection and image routine at pickup

You are tired, the queue has been slow, and the sea coast is calling. The agent features to the car, you sign the kind, throw your luggage inside the boot and power off. That five minute shortcut can settlement dearly if there's present ruin that by no means made it onto the file.

At Corfu airport, in which dozens of motors rotate between renters each week in summer, small bumps and scrapes are habitual. Most carriers are straightforward about this and mark the whole thing they understand. Some are usually not thorough, specifically at peak occasions.

Treat your inspection as section of the condominium, not a nuisance. Walk around the auto, money each and every panel, the wheels, and the front and rear bumpers particularly. Pay focus to:

Small scratches and dents.

Alloy wheel scuffs and hubcap break. Chips or cracks in the windscreen. Any wreck on the roof if you happen to are tall adequate or can see from an angle.

Photograph all the pieces, even issues which might be already marked. Capture the automobile from each one corner, the odometer studying, and the gas gauge. Time stamped pics to your mobile create a report that is exhausting to argue with later.

Encourage the workforce member to feature any missing marks to the type sooner than you sign. If they look reluctant, stay well mannered but organization. A short while here is worthy a ways greater than an indignant email substitute after you come back residence.

nine. Forgetting to plan parking and entry at your accommodation

Corfu airport car apartment is the ordinary piece. The harder aspect, incredibly in height season, is living with the auto while you achieve your lodging.

Many historic villages and some portions of Corfu Town have very confined parking. Some beachfront hotels have confidential rather a lot, others remember solely on public spaces that top off temporarily in July and August. Steep non-public driveways are ordinary for villas, now and again with awkward angles and free gravel.

Before you ebook, ask your lodging approximately parking in exclusive, sensible phrases. Do no longer settle for “parking conceivable”. Ask whether or not it is personal or public, how many areas they have got, how tight the get right of entry to is, and even if increased automobiles in good shape readily.

This have to effect now not basically your determination of apartment auto dimension, as mentioned in advance, but additionally whether you even desire a automotive for your accomplished live. For example, in the event you are spending three nights in Corfu Town and then per week in a north coast village, you can do bigger to spend the primary edge walking and taxis, then prepare a Corfu airport vehicle condominium beginning on the day you leave metropolis.

Thinking in segments like this would shop dollars, parking complications and the rigidity of threading a motor vehicle by the city’s one approach system in case you are nevertheless jet lagged.

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

I actually have lost be counted of what percentage disputes bounce at drop off as a result of the renter is hurrying to trap a flight. When you might be rushing, you forget about gasoline, you park wherein you will not be presupposed to, or you surrender keys with no checking the ultimate paperwork.

Give your self a authentic buffer for go back. If your flight is at 13:00, do not plan to roll into the automobile park at 11:45, fantastically whenever you rented off site and want a travel journey back to the terminal.

At go back, goal to:

1. Refill the tank at a station just about the airport should you are on a complete to complete policy. Keep the receipt. There are countless petrol stations inside a brief pressure, yet a few can be busy.
2. Remove all own products from the automobile, which includes door pockets and lower than seats.
3. Walk round the car with the agent the place viable and ask them to make certain in writing that the auto is back without a new ruin and with a full tank if perfect.
4. Take final photos, which include the gasoline gauge and odometer.

If that you need to use a key drop field since you're returning outdoors place of work hours, photographs and a immediate video walkaround turn into even greater main. Corfu airport rent a vehicle carriers always deal with these returns relatively, yet a clean visible list protects you in case a new dent seems to be on the inspection sheet later.

A speedy pre booking checklist

Used properly, a automobile turns Corfu right into a bendy, light island to explore. Used badly, it becomes a thread of tension walking via your holiday. Before you decide to any airport motor vehicle appoint Corfu deal, run as a result of this brief list.

1. Verify if the issuer is on airport or off website with a shuttle, and the way that influences your timings.
2. Read contemporary studies specifically for the Corfu airport department, no longer just the model.
3. Compare overall settlement, adding assurance, gas policy and any mileage limits, not simply the bottom day by day expense.
4. Check parking and get admission to at your accommodation and desire car or truck length as a consequence.
5. Confirm what playing cards and records you need and whether or not any “no deposit” offer has restrictive prerequisites.

Handled with this degree of interest, Corfu airport condo automobiles experience much less like a raffle and extra like a nicely controlled software for your commute.

Final emotions from the queue at Corfu airport

If you spend half-hour inside the arrivals hall on a hectic afternoon, you'll basically predict who will breeze simply by and who will become annoyed. The ones with printed confirmations, transparent decisions on insurance and useful expectancies about the automobile and the island generally tend to depart smiling. The ones who booked on value on my own and did now not learn a notice of the phrases are the ones arguing at the table.

Corfu car or truck rental does now not should be tricky. It is in simple terms a topic of matching the actuality at the floor together with your very own tolerance for threat, finances and using confidence. Look past headline charges, know how coverage and deposits work, make a choice the properly size of auto for Corfu’s roads, and supply your self time at both pickup and return.

Do that, and your rent a car at Corfu airport turns into what it should be: an common gateway to mountain villages, quiet shorelines and late dinners in small tavernas, to your very own clock rather than absolutely everyone else’s.