Corfu Airport Auto Rental: 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Booking

Corfu rewards the tourist who can go on their personal agenda. The island appears to be like small on a map yet while you get off the major roads, distances really feel longer, buses thin out, and taxis add up simply. That is why so many travelers decide up a car or truck the moment they land at Corfu International Airport Ioannis Kapodistrias.

I have rented motors at Corfu airport for paintings and holidays, in excessive season and in overdue October drizzle. The development is invariably the comparable. The people who did a few homework are on the street in 20 mins. The ones who rushed the booking stand in queues, argue over insurance coverage at the desk and become aware of marvel prices on their card every week later.

If you want a clean Corfu airport automobile condominium trip, the absolute best lesson is to comprehend wherein others go fallacious. The following ten mistakes are those I see most of the time at Corfu airport, besides what to do instead.

1. Assuming “airport automobile rental” constantly means on-site

Many travelers search for “Corfu airport car condominium” or “employ motor vehicle Corfu airport” and imagine each and every effect is in the terminal. It is simply not that realistic.

At Corfu, a few brands have desks within the arrivals corridor and their autos in the airport parking simply throughout the road. Others perform “meet and greet” or commute capabilities. You exit arrivals, look for a man maintaining a small signal, and experience a minibus to an off web page lot a few minutes away.

That isn't necessarily awful. Off web site groups will likely be inexpensive and more flexible on issues similar to mileage or further drivers. The main issue seems to be once you anticipate to stroll on your automobile in five minutes and rather lose 40 mins tracking down a go back and forth in 30 stage warmth after a three hour flight from London.

If you want a surely on web page Corfu airport rent a automobile choice, payment fastidiously. Look for clear wording such as “table inner terminal” or “on airport”. If the confirmation mentions a shuttle, assembly element or “place of work 400 m from terminal”, build that into your timings. It matters on arrival, and it actual matters when you've got an early morning departure and desire to drop the automobile and nevertheless investigate in on time.

2. Booking handiest on price and ignoring the insurance plan structure

I nevertheless see humans brag that they determined the “highest vehicle condo Corfu airport” for 12 euros an afternoon in August. That base expense is incomprehensible with out awareness the insurance coverage.

In Greece, standard protection traditionally includes 1/3 birthday celebration legal responsibility and a few form of collision injury waiver (CDW) with a high excess. I have noticeable excesses from seven hundred to one,800 euros for an financial system motor vehicle. If there's smash, you pay as much as that amount until you've got added cowl.

The well-known blunders are two. First, workers pass any further quilt and pass their arms, then spend their excursion traumatic about slender streets in Corfu Town. Second, they buy an “excess refund” coverage from a broking website and do now not recognise that the condominium institution will still block the total extra on their card at selection.

A smart strategy at Corfu airport auto condominium counters is to make a decision in advance how you desire to deal with menace. Some travellers are cushy with a considerable deposit simply because they've got a amazing credit card and experience with rental claims. Others sleep improved with a “0 extra” package deal that quotes greater according to day yet shrinks the protection block and monetary exposure.

Read the coverage segment before you click on “Book”. Compare the expense of adding complete cowl from the condo corporate with a standalone extra policy from a good insurer. There isn't any unmarried perfect resolution, yet jogging up to the table without a plan is the fastest route to pressure and high-priced upsells.

three. Not checking fuel coverage and mileage before confirming

Corfu airport rental automobiles practically necessarily use the identical couple of gas policies. The problem is they seem to be comparable at a look, yet price very the different amounts over every week.

“Full to complete” approach you select up the automobile with a full tank, go back it full, and only pay for what you utilize. This is as a rule the fairest choice, relatively in case you plan to pressure round the island.

“Pre acquire” or “full to empty” potential you pay for a tank of gas at collection and can return it on fumes. It sounds convenient but rarely works for your favour until you'll be able to simply use so much of the tank and the enterprise prices fuel at on the subject of pump prices plus a small rate. Many do no longer.

Mileage is a further quiet entice. Most Corfu vehicle condo organisations provide unlimited kilometres, which is good for exploring Paleokastritsa, Kassiopi, the south coast and inland villages without all for distance. A few low cost provides hide a per kilometre fee above a modest day-to-day reduce.

If your affirmation email is obscure or makes use of terms you do now not recognize, e-mail or message the provider and ask for clarity. You would like written confirmation of equally gasoline policy and mileage. Verbal explanations at a hectic airport desk are hassle-free to misconceive and lots more and plenty corfu airport car rental deals tougher to dispute later.

4. Overlooking using realities on Corfu whilst determining motor vehicle size

Looking at shiny portraits, it's tempting to improve to a bigger car or truck. More space for baggage, more suitable air-con, possibly even an automatic for consolation. On Corfu, the bigger the automobile, the extra you want to place confidence in wherein you propose to pressure.

The street from the airport into Corfu Town is extensive sufficient, however as soon as you wander into older districts, roads slim to 1 lane with stone walls on either facets and tight corners around homes. Some coastal villages and hilltop settlements are even tighter, with parking that slightly suits a compact hatchback.

If you might be staying at a lodge on the most east coast street, a bigger automotive won't be a difficulty. If your villa is up a steep lane within the north of the island, a small to medium automobile with first rate persistent and sensible turning circle is a much higher collection than a cumbersome SUV. I actually have watched human beings spend 15 minutes maneuvering a big car out of a lane that was once clearly designed for scooters and donkeys.

For most traffic, the sweet spot for Corfu airport auto apartment is a small or compact auto, guide or automatic based to your comfort. Enough CFU hire a car options boot space for baggage, however small adequate to slip into tight parking areas and meet oncoming visitors with room to respire.

5. Ignoring reports of categorical Corfu airport branches

Many travellers do a immediate examine of the manufacturer title and give up there. They see a immense overseas brand they comprehend from homestead, anticipate a regularly occurring event, and reserve. In practice, department exceptional can fluctuate broadly.

Search exceptionally for the guests identify plus “Corfu airport” and examine the latest studies for that situation. Patterns count greater than man or woman lawsuits. If one adult mentions an extended wait time, which may just be a busy Saturday in August. If 20 workers across 3 months report aggressive destroy claims or unexplained expenses, pay realization.

This tips applies both to native companies. Some small Corfu appoint a vehicle enterprises close to the airport are very best, with pleasant service and flexible guidelines. Others cut corners or place confidence in technicalities to lift cash. Reviews on a regular basis make the distinction clean.

A 15 euro difference on a week’s condo isn't very really worth a nasty argument over “pre existing” scratches you had been on no account allowed time to rfile.

6. Not getting ready your files and card correctly

One of the dullest issues, yet I still watch it unfold in line on the airport each summer season. The documents for hiring a motor vehicle in Greece is simple, however there are just a few outstanding facts.

You more often than not need:

1. A legitimate driving licence that you have held for not less than 12 months, normally two, relying at the friends and vehicle organization.
2. For non EU / EEA drivers from exact countries, an International Driving Permit along your place licence. Check this prematurely, given that you is not going to download an IDP after you are already in Greece.
3. A credit card within the most important motive force’s name with sufficient accessible minimize to canopy the deposit or excess block.
4. Passport or countrywide ID card for identity.

Where persons get stuck is with the card. Many Corfu airport vehicle apartment desks do not be given debit playing cards for the protection deposit, solely for charge. Others receive them but simplest with luxurious further insurance coverage. Prepaid playing cards are routinely refused outright.

If your confirmation does not simply country that debit cards are frequent for the deposit, expect you want a wide-spread credit score card with embossed name and numbers. Also make sure that the cardboard minimize is excessive adequate. I watched a couple from Germany grew to become away considering the fact that their modest decrease couldn't accommodate a 1,500 euro block for the excess plus their lodge’s pre authorisation.

Print or shop your affirmation e mail as a PDF, together with the voucher in case you booked simply by a dealer. Mobile information superhighway at Corfu airport is basically exceptional, but a dead battery or roaming trouble will have to no longer stand between you and your car or truck.

7. Chasing “no deposit” offers without interpreting the small print

The word “Corfu airport automotive apartment no deposit” is stunning, exceptionally while you dislike the concept of 1000's of euros blocked in your card. Genuine low deposit or no deposit selections do exist, but the devil sits in the element.

Usually, while a employer advertises no deposit, it approach considered one of two matters. Either they've developed the possibility right into a greater every day charge with needed complete insurance, or they will still keep a smaller quantity as a fuel or visitors great ensure. Sometimes the two.

There is nothing fallacious with paying a touch greater for the peace of thoughts that comes from no longer having 1,000 euros frozen for your card. Just keep in mind what you are deciding to buy. Check:

The identical amount they are going to preserve in your card, if any.

Whether the no deposit supply is tied to a selected insurance kit. How they handle minor destroy, corresponding to small scratches or chips.

Compare this to a overall bundle from one more brand that makes use of a deposit yet provides minimize fees. Over a week’s break, the full money can swing either way. The worst mistake is to booklet at the force of “no deposit” alone after which pick out a long list of exclusions and further expenditures while you succeed in the table.

8. Skipping the inspection and photo movements at pickup

You are drained, the queue has been sluggish, and the seaside is looking. The agent factors to the car, you signal the kind, throw your baggage inside the boot and pressure off. That 5 minute shortcut can value dearly if there may be current wreck that not at all made it onto the report.

At Corfu airport, where dozens of motors rotate between renters each and every week in summer time, small bumps and scrapes are movements. Most firms are sincere about this and mark the whole lot they comprehend. Some are not thorough, peculiarly at height instances.

Treat your inspection as component to the condo, now not a nuisance. Walk around the automobile, cost each panel, the wheels, and the entrance and rear bumpers peculiarly. Pay attention to:

Small scratches and dents.

Alloy wheel scuffs and hubcap spoil. Chips or cracks inside the windscreen. Any wreck on the roof while you are tall adequate or can see from an angle.

Photograph every thing, even concerns which are already marked. Capture the automobile from each and every corner, the odometer analyzing, and the gasoline gauge. Time stamped footage in your smartphone create a file it really is complicated to argue with later.

Encourage the group member so as to add any missing marks to the kind sooner than you signal. If they seem reluctant, dwell well mannered yet enterprise. A short while here is valued at a ways greater than an irritated email change after you return dwelling house.

nine. Forgetting to plot parking and access at your accommodation

Corfu airport automobile apartment is the simple piece. The tougher part, surprisingly in peak season, is residing with the auto after you reach your accommodation.

Many previous villages and a few constituents of Corfu Town have very constrained parking. Some beachfront accommodations have inner most a great deal, others rely fullyyt on public spaces that replenish quick in July and August. Steep private driveways are hassle-free for villas, commonly with awkward angles and loose gravel.

Before you e-book, ask your lodging about parking in targeted, useful terms. Do now not accept “parking achieveable”. Ask no matter if it's far confidential or public, what number of spaces they've got, how tight the get right of entry to is, and whether or not bigger automobiles fit without problems.

This need to have an impact on now not simply your possibility of condominium car measurement, as brought up formerly, but additionally whether you even want a car or truck in your entire keep. For instance, whenever you are spending three nights in Corfu Town and then a week in a north coast village, you could do enhanced to spend the primary element walking and taxis, then arrange a Corfu airport automobile rental commencing on the day you go away town.

Thinking in segments like this can retailer cost, parking complications and the stress of threading a vehicle thru the metropolis’s one method formulation whilst you are still jet lagged.

10. Returning the auto in a hurry and neglecting the basics

I even have misplaced depend of how many disputes delivery at drop off on account that the renter is hurrying to capture a flight. When you are dashing, you put out of your mind gas, you park wherein you usually are not presupposed to, otherwise you give up keys without checking the last forms.

Give yourself a accurate buffer for return. If your flight is at 13:00, do now not plan to roll into the automobile park at 11:forty five, chiefly if you rented off website online and desire a commute journey to come back to the terminal.

At go back, purpose to:

1. Refill the tank at a station nearly the airport if you happen to are on a full to full policy. Keep the receipt. There are several petrol stations inside a short pressure, however a few would be busy.
2. Remove all own products from the car, which include door pockets and less than seats.
3. Walk round the auto with the agent in which possible and ask them to ensure in writing that the car is lower back without a new damage and with a full tank if suitable.
4. Take ultimate portraits, together with the fuel gauge and odometer.

If that you have to use a key drop box on the grounds that you are returning out of doors place of work hours, pix and a immediate video walkaround grow to be even extra brilliant. Corfu airport employ a automotive providers many times maintain these returns rather, however a clear visual listing protects you in case a new dent seems to be at the inspection sheet later.

A short pre reserving checklist

Used good, a motor vehicle turns Corfu into a flexible, undemanding island to explore. Used badly, it will become a thread of anxiety jogging by using your excursion. Before you commit to any airport auto employ Corfu deal, run by way of this brief checklist.

1. Verify if the business is on airport or off web page with a commute, and the way that impacts your timings.
2. Read up to date reports primarily for the Corfu airport department, no longer just the brand.
3. Compare entire cost, along with assurance, gasoline coverage and any mileage limits, no longer simply the base every day charge.
4. Check parking and access at your lodging and prefer car or truck length hence.
5. Confirm what cards and documents you want and even if any “no deposit” be offering has restrictive prerequisites.

Handled with this level of focus, Corfu airport apartment cars sense less like of venture and greater like a nicely managed tool in your shuttle.

Final stories from the queue at Corfu airport

If you spend half-hour in the arrivals corridor on a busy afternoon, you possibly can virtually expect who will breeze with the aid of and who will emerge as pissed off. The ones with published confirmations, clean decisions on assurance and life like expectations approximately the car and the island have a tendency to depart smiling. The ones who booked on expense on my own and did not study a phrase of the phrases are the ones arguing at the table.

Corfu vehicle condo does not ought to be advanced. It is in simple terms a topic of matching the actuality on the ground along with your own tolerance for threat, price range and driving trust. Look past headline quotes, perceive how insurance and deposits work, choose the excellent dimension of car or truck for Corfu’s roads, and give your self time at each pickup and go back.

Do that, and your lease a car or truck at Corfu airport becomes what it will have to be: an gentle gateway to mountain villages, quiet seashores and late dinners in small tavernas, to your own clock as opposed to any person else’s.