Corfu Airport Auto Rental: 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Booking
Corfu rewards the tourist who can move on their very own agenda. The island appears small on a map yet if you get off the most roads, distances feel longer, buses skinny out, and taxis upload up instantly. That is why such a lot of site visitors prefer up a motor vehicle the moment they land at Corfu International Airport Ioannis Kapodistrias.
I actually have rented cars at Corfu airport for work and vacation trips, in excessive season and in overdue October drizzle. The development is necessarily the similar. The individuals who did some homework are on the road in 20 mins. The ones who rushed the booking stand in queues, argue over assurance at the table and discover shock costs on their card per week later.
If you choose a modern Corfu airport vehicle condominium trip, the most beneficial lesson is to notice wherein others cross incorrect. The following ten blunders are the ones I see by and large at Corfu airport, in conjunction with what to do rather.
1. Assuming “airport auto condo” perpetually way on-site
Many travelers look up “Corfu airport auto apartment” or “lease automotive Corfu airport” and count on each and every consequence is in the terminal. It isn't very that straightforward.
At Corfu, a few brands have desks within the arrivals hall and their automobiles inside the airport parking simply across the street. Others perform “meet and greet” or commute providers. You exit arrivals, seek for someone holding a small signal, and ride a minibus to an off website lot a couple of minutes away.
That shouldn't be essentially awful. Off web page services may be cheaper and greater flexible on issues corresponding to mileage or added drivers. The predicament seems after you anticipate to stroll in your car or truck in five minutes and in its place lose forty minutes tracking down a shuttle in 30 diploma warm after a three hour flight from London.
If you would like a essentially on web site Corfu airport appoint a automotive selection, look at various sparsely. Look for clean wording such as “table inside of terminal” or “on airport”. If the affirmation mentions a commute, assembly factor or “office four hundred m from terminal”, build that into your timings. It subjects on arrival, and it particularly topics if you have an early morning departure and want to drop the car and still check in on time.
2. Booking simply on fee and ignoring the coverage structure
I nonetheless see worker's brag that they determined the “first-rate automotive rental Corfu airport” for 12 euros a day in August. That base worth is meaningless without realizing the insurance coverage.
In Greece, hassle-free insurance plan characteristically carries 3rd get together liability and some shape of collision break waiver (CDW) with a high excess. I actually have obvious excesses from 700 to at least one,800 euros for an economic climate car. If there may be break, you pay up to that quantity unless you might have further quilt.
The same old errors are two. First, of us skip any excess hide and cross their hands, then spend their vacation nerve-racking approximately narrow streets in Corfu Town. Second, they buy an “excess refund” policy from a broking service site and do no longer recognise that the rental company will still block the entire excess on their card at collection.
A lifelike procedure at Corfu airport vehicle rental counters is to come to a decision upfront the way you would like to handle possibility. Some visitors are soft with a sizeable deposit because they have a sturdy credit card and revel in with rental claims. Others sleep improved with a “0 excess” kit that bills greater consistent with day however shrinks the protection block and fiscal exposure.
Read the coverage area earlier than you click on “Book”. Compare the price of adding full disguise from the rental organization with a standalone excess policy from a good insurer. There is no unmarried true answer, yet walking as much as the table devoid of a plan is the quickest route to tension and expensive upsells.
3. Not checking gasoline coverage and mileage prior to confirming
Corfu airport rental vehicles very nearly invariably use the equal couple of gasoline policies. The obstacle is they appear same at a look, but expense very different amounts over per week.
“Full to complete” capability you prefer up the car with a complete tank, go back it full, and simplest pay for what you employ. This is regularly the fairest selection, fantastically whenever you plan to force around the island.
“Pre acquire” or “complete to empty” skill you pay for a tank of gasoline at choice and will return it on fumes. It sounds handy but hardly works to your favour until one could absolutely use such a lot of the tank and the provider charges fuel at with regards to pump costs plus a small payment. Many do now not.
Mileage is an alternate quiet entice. Most Corfu vehicle rental companies offer unlimited kilometres, which is right for exploring Paleokastritsa, Kassiopi, the south coast and inland villages without thinking about distance. A few low rate bargains disguise a per kilometre rate above a modest day-after-day restriction.
If your confirmation e mail is indistinct or makes use of phrases you do now not understand, electronic mail or message the guests and ask for clarity. You want written affirmation of each fuel coverage and mileage. Verbal motives at a hectic airport desk are convenient to misconceive and lots more and plenty tougher to dispute later.
4. Overlooking driving realities on Corfu when opting for car size
Looking at glossy pics, this is tempting to improve to a larger automotive. More space for baggage, larger air-con, perchance even an automated for remedy. On Corfu, the bigger the auto, the extra you desire to think ofyou've got where you propose to force.
The avenue from the airport into Corfu Town is broad satisfactory, but as quickly as you wander into older districts, roads slim to 1 lane with stone walls on the two sides and tight corners round constructions. Some coastal villages Corfu Airport Car Rentals 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 important east coast avenue, a larger car would possibly not be a issue. If your villa is up a steep lane inside the north of the island, a small to medium automotive with first rate persistent and brilliant turning circle is a much larger option than a cumbersome SUV. I even have watched people spend 15 minutes maneuvering a significant motor vehicle out of a lane that was once basically designed for scooters and donkeys.
For so much friends, the sweet spot for Corfu airport car or truck condo is a small or compact car, handbook or automated relying for your comfort. Enough boot space for bags, however small sufficient to slip into tight parking areas and meet oncoming traffic with room to breathe.
5. Ignoring reviews of exact Corfu airport branches
Many travellers do a speedy cost of the brand identify and give up there. They see a colossal world enterprise they recognize from home, anticipate a common trip, and reserve. In exercise, branch fine can vary broadly.
Search principally for the corporation title plus “Corfu airport” and study the current reports for that location. Patterns count number extra than unusual complaints. If one man or women mentions an extended wait time, which may just be a hectic Saturday in August. If 20 human beings across three months document competitive spoil claims or unexplained quotes, pay interest.
This assistance applies both to regional suppliers. Some small Corfu employ a car corporations close to the airport are spectacular, with friendly provider and bendy guidelines. Others cut corners or depend on technicalities to boost profit. Reviews most often make the change clear.
A 15 euro difference on per week’s condominium is not really well worth a foul argument over “pre existing” scratches you had been in no way allowed time to document.
6. Not making ready your files and card correctly
One of the dullest complications, yet I nonetheless watch it spread in line at the airport each summer time. The documents for hiring a vehicle in Greece is simple, but there are some excellent particulars.
You more often than not desire:
- A legitimate riding licence that you have held for not less than 12 months, from time to time two, based on the employer and car institution.
- For non EU / EEA drivers from distinct nations, an International Driving Permit alongside your own home licence. Check this in advance, given that you will not get hold of an IDP when you are already in Greece.
- A credit card in the foremost motive force’s title with satisfactory on hand restriction to cowl the deposit or extra block.
- Passport or countrywide ID card for id.
Where folk get stuck is with the card. Many Corfu airport automobile rental desks do no longer receive debit playing cards for the safety deposit, solely for settlement. Others receive them yet handiest with steeply-priced excess coverage. Prepaid cards are pretty much refused outright.
If your confirmation does now not surely kingdom that debit cards are widespread for the deposit, imagine you need a average credit card with embossed call and numbers. Also ensure the card limit is high sufficient. I watched a pair from Germany grew to become away for the reason that their modest reduce couldn't accommodate a 1,500 euro block for the extra plus their motel’s pre authorisation.
Print or keep your confirmation e mail as a PDF, which includes the voucher for those who booked by a dealer. Mobile net at Corfu airport is recurrently pleasant, however a dead battery or roaming element will have to no longer stand between you and your motor vehicle.
7. Chasing “no deposit” affords with no examining the small print
The word “Corfu airport automobile apartment no deposit” is beautiful, surprisingly whenever you dislike the theory of masses of euros blocked in your card. Genuine low deposit or no deposit strategies do exist, however the devil sits inside the element.
Usually, whilst a brand advertises no deposit, it potential one among two matters. Either they've outfitted the hazard into a greater day-by-day charge with mandatory complete insurance plan, or they'll still retain a smaller quantity as a gas or visitors nice ensure. Sometimes each.
There is nothing mistaken with paying a little bit more for the peace of intellect that comes from not having 1,000 euros frozen to your card. Just realize what you are shopping. Check:
The targeted quantity they can hold to your card, if any.
Whether the no deposit be offering is tied to a selected insurance package deal. 
Compare this to a universal package from an alternate friends that makes use of a deposit yet supplies cut down costs. Over per week’s holiday, the complete value can swing both approach. The worst mistake is to guide on the power of “no deposit” on my own and then notice a long listing of exclusions and extra bills whenever you achieve the table.
eight. Skipping the inspection and photograph ordinary at pickup
You are drained, the queue has been slow, and the sea coast is looking. The agent issues to the automobile, you sign the model, throw your luggage within the boot and force off. That five minute shortcut can rate dearly if there is current smash that under no circumstances made it onto Helpful site the document.
At Corfu airport, the place dozens of automobiles rotate between renters each and every week in summer, small bumps and scrapes are ordinary. Most businesses are trustworthy approximately this and mark every thing they comprehend. Some aren't thorough, especially at peak instances.
Treat your inspection as component of the apartment, not a nuisance. Walk around the automobile, cost each and every panel, the wheels, and the the front and rear bumpers mainly. Pay interest to:
Small scratches and dents.
Alloy wheel scuffs and hubcap wreck. Chips or cracks within the windscreen. Any break on the roof should you are tall enough or can see from an attitude.Photograph everything, even matters which can be already marked. Capture the automobile from every single corner, the odometer analyzing, and the gasoline gauge. Time stamped portraits to your cellphone create a record it truly is hard to argue with later.
Encourage the team member to feature any missing marks to the style before you sign. If they appear reluctant, reside well mannered but firm. A little while here is worth some distance greater than an indignant e mail alternate after you come back house.
nine. Forgetting to devise parking and entry at your accommodation
Corfu airport auto condo is the straight forward piece. The tougher edge, chiefly in top season, is dwelling with the automobile whenever you achieve your accommodation.
Many antique villages and some components of Corfu Town have very constrained parking. Some beachfront motels have personal hundreds, others be counted thoroughly on public areas that stock up easily in July and August. Steep non-public driveways are typical for villas, normally with awkward angles and loose gravel.
Before you guide, ask your lodging about parking in categorical, real looking terms. Do not accept “parking readily available”. Ask regardless of whether that's personal or public, what number of spaces they have got, how tight the get entry to is, and whether or not better vehicles have compatibility conveniently.
This ought to influence now not best your selection of condo auto measurement, as noted in advance, yet also regardless of whether you even desire a car on your comprehensive live. For illustration, once you are spending three nights in Corfu Town and then a week in a north coast village, one could do more desirable to spend the primary section taking walks and taxis, then organize a Corfu airport automobile condo establishing at the day you leave city.
Thinking in segments like this can retailer payment, parking complications and the strain of threading a car or truck by way of the city’s one means machine when you are still jet lagged.
10. Returning the car in a rush and neglecting the basics
I actually have misplaced depend of what number disputes jump at drop off due to the fact that the renter is hurrying to trap a flight. When you might be dashing, you fail to remember gas, you park in which you usually are not purported to, or you hand over keys with no checking the very last forms.
Give yourself a acceptable buffer for go back. If your flight is at 13:00, do not plan to roll into the auto park at eleven:45, relatively once you rented off web site and want a go back and forth experience lower back to the terminal.
At go back, aim to:
- Refill the tank at a station with regards to the airport in case you are on a full to complete policy. Keep the receipt. There are a number of petrol stations within a short force, yet a few may well be busy.
- Remove all non-public items from the car, consisting of door pockets and beneath seats.
- Walk across the auto with the agent the place you possibly can and ask them to be certain in writing that the car is returned without new hurt and with a full tank if desirable.
- Take final pictures, together with the gas gauge and odometer.
If you need use a key drop container when you consider that you're returning external workplace hours, graphics and a speedy video walkaround grow to be even greater amazing. Corfu airport lease a car vendors repeatedly tackle those returns exceptionally, but a clear visual listing protects you in case a new dent seems to be on the inspection sheet later.
A quick pre reserving checklist
Used nicely, a automotive turns Corfu right into a versatile, simple island to discover. Used badly, it turns into a thread of hysteria jogging because of your break. Before you decide to any airport automotive rent Corfu deal, run as a result of this short record.
- Verify if the corporate is on airport or off website with a travel, and how that affects your timings.
- Read latest reports primarily for the Corfu airport branch, not just the brand.
- Compare entire settlement, together with insurance coverage, fuel policy and any mileage limits, not simply the base on a daily basis charge.
- Check parking and entry at your lodging and want vehicle dimension to that end.
- Confirm what cards and paperwork you need and regardless of whether any “no deposit” be offering has restrictive stipulations.
Handled with this level of consideration, Corfu airport condo cars believe less like a raffle and extra like a nicely controlled instrument for your shuttle.
Final strategies from the queue at Corfu airport
If you spend half-hour in the arrivals hall on a hectic afternoon, you possibly can nearly are expecting who will breeze with the aid of and who will find yourself annoyed. The ones with revealed confirmations, transparent judgements on insurance and useful expectations about the car and the island generally tend to depart smiling. The ones who booked on charge by myself and did not study a phrase of the phrases are those arguing at the desk.
Corfu car apartment does now not have to be difficult. It is quite simply a rely of matching the actuality at the floor together with your own tolerance for menace, budget and driving trust. Look past headline costs, notice how coverage and deposits work, opt the proper length of car for Corfu’s roads, and deliver yourself time at equally pickup and go back.
Do that, and your employ a motor vehicle at Corfu airport will become what it may still be: an gentle gateway to mountain villages, quiet seashores and late dinners in small tavernas, on your possess clock instead of everybody else’s.