Corfu Airport Auto Rental: 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Booking
Corfu rewards the vacationer who can move on their very own schedule. The island seems small on a map but when you get off the most roads, distances suppose longer, buses thin out, and taxis upload up directly. That is why such a lot of travelers decide upon up a automobile the moment they land at Corfu International Airport Ioannis Kapodistrias.
I actually have rented cars at Corfu airport for work and holidays, in high season and in past due October drizzle. The development is always the equal. The folks who did a few homework are on the street in 20 minutes. The ones who rushed the reserving stand in queues, argue over insurance plan on the table and realize marvel bills on their card a week later.
If you choose a comfortable Corfu airport car condominium journey, the finest lesson is to be aware of in which others go mistaken. The following ten blunders are the ones I see most frequently at Corfu airport, in addition to what to do as a replacement.
1. Assuming “airport vehicle apartment” all the time method on-site
Many viewers search for “Corfu airport auto condo” or “employ automobile Corfu airport” and think each and every end result is within the terminal. It shouldn't be that undemanding.
At Corfu, a few manufacturers have desks in the arrivals corridor and their autos inside the airport parking simply throughout the street. Others function “meet and greet” or trip expertise. You exit arrivals, seek somebody keeping a small signal, and ride a minibus to an off web site lot a few minutes away.
That is simply not always undesirable. Off website companies will likely be more cost effective and greater versatile on issues inclusive of mileage or further drivers. The difficulty appears to be like after you count on to stroll on your motor vehicle in five mins and alternatively lose forty minutes tracking down a travel in 30 level warmth after a three hour flight from London.
If you wish a definitely on website Corfu airport lease a car choice, investigate cautiously. Look for transparent wording such as “table within terminal” or “on airport”. If the affirmation mentions a travel, meeting element or “workplace 400 m from terminal”, construct that into your timings. It matters on arrival, and it surely matters you probably have an early morning departure and want to drop the car and nonetheless determine in on time.
2. Booking most effective on fee and ignoring the insurance plan structure
I still see other people brag that they observed the “prime auto condo Corfu airport” for 12 euros a day in August. That base price is incomprehensible without realizing the coverage.
In Greece, effortless insurance plan assuredly includes 1/3 birthday celebration liability and a few style of collision wreck waiver (CDW) with a prime extra. I actually have viewed excesses from 700 to one,800 euros for an economy auto. If there's break, you pay as much as that amount until you've got further quilt.
The commonly used errors are two. First, persons bypass any additional hide and cross their palms, then spend their trip stressful about slim streets in Corfu Town. Second, they buy an “excess refund” policy from a broker web page and do no longer realize that the rental agency will still block the entire excess on their card at assortment.
A lifelike mind-set at Corfu airport car condo counters is to choose prematurely how you desire to deal with risk. Some guests are smooth with a larger deposit since they've got a mighty credit score card and knowledge with condominium claims. Others sleep higher with a “zero extra” package deal that bills more consistent with day but shrinks the protection block and financial publicity.
Read the assurance area sooner than you click on “Book”. Compare the can charge of including full quilt from the rental brand with a standalone extra coverage from a good insurer. There is not any unmarried exact answer, however walking as much as the table with no a plan is the fastest course to pressure and pricey upsells.
three. Not checking fuel policy and mileage ahead of confirming
Corfu airport rental autos essentially continually use the same couple of gasoline regulations. The problems is that they seem comparable at a glance, yet price very the several amounts over every week.
“Full to complete” method you choose up the auto with a complete tank, return it complete, and purely pay for what you operate. This is traditionally the fairest selection, relatively when you plan to drive around the island.
Corfu Airport Car Rentals“Pre purchase” or “complete to empty” capacity you pay for a tank of fuel at selection and will go back it on fumes. It sounds easy yet not often works for your favour until you can really use so much of the tank and the corporate costs gasoline at almost pump quotes plus a small fee. Many do no longer.
Mileage is an alternate quiet seize. Most Corfu automotive condominium enterprises supply unlimited kilometres, which is good for exploring Paleokastritsa, Kassiopi, the south coast and inland villages with out excited about distance. A few low rate supplies disguise a per kilometre charge above a modest daily restrict.
If your affirmation email is imprecise or makes use of phrases you do now not realize, e mail or message the brand and ask for clarity. You would like written affirmation of both gas policy and mileage. Verbal reasons at a busy airport table are easy to misunderstand and much harder to dispute later.
four. Overlooking riding realities on Corfu when settling on vehicle size
Looking at glossy pix, it's tempting to upgrade to a larger automobile. More area for baggage, more effective air-con, might be even an automated for alleviation. On Corfu, the larger the automobile, the extra you want to think of 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 narrow to 1 lane with stone walls on the two sides and tight corners round buildings. Some coastal villages and hilltop settlements are even tighter, with parking that slightly matches a compact hatchback.
If you might be staying at a hotel on the major east coast road, a larger motor vehicle won't be a predicament. If your villa is up a steep lane inside the north of the island, a small to medium car with good electricity and exact turning circle is a much bigger collection than a cumbersome SUV. I even have watched men and women spend 15 minutes maneuvering a super automobile out of a lane that turned into evidently designed for scooters and donkeys.
For such a lot travellers, the candy spot for Corfu airport car or truck condo is a small or compact car or truck, manual or automatic depending on your relief. Enough boot area for bags, however small enough to slip into tight parking spaces and meet oncoming traffic with room to breathe.
5. Ignoring reports of distinctive Corfu airport branches
Many visitors do a speedy investigate of the brand call and stop there. They see a full-size world business enterprise they recognize from homestead, expect a prevalent expertise, and reserve. In observe, department high quality can differ extensively.
Search particularly for the institution title plus “Corfu airport” and read the contemporary critiques for that location. Patterns rely extra than someone proceedings. If one man or woman mentions a longer wait time, which could just be a busy Saturday in August. If 20 folks throughout 3 months report competitive break claims or unexplained expenditures, pay realization.
This information applies equally to native carriers. Some small Corfu lease a car providers close the airport are ideally suited, with friendly service and versatile guidelines. Others minimize corners or depend upon technicalities to raise profits. Reviews usually make the change clear.
A 15 euro difference on every week’s condominium shouldn't be well worth a nasty argument over “pre current” scratches you had been in no way allowed time to report.
6. Not preparing your documents and card correctly
One of the dullest trouble, yet I nonetheless watch it spread in line at the airport each and every summer season. The paperwork for hiring a vehicle in Greece is easy, but there are a couple of substantive information.
You always want:
- A valid using licence that you have held for at the very least three hundred and sixty five days, on occasion two, relying at the corporation and automobile team.
- For non EU / EEA drivers from certain nations, an International Driving Permit alongside your home licence. Check this in advance, given that you shouldn't receive an IDP after you are already in Greece.
- A credit card inside the main driving force’s title with satisfactory handy restrict to canopy the deposit or extra block.
- Passport or country wide ID card for id.
Where human beings get stuck is with the cardboard. Many Corfu airport car condominium desks do now not settle for debit cards for the security deposit, basically for check. Others accept them yet handiest with expensive greater insurance plan. Prepaid playing cards are occasionally refused outright.
If your confirmation does not really country that debit cards are general for the deposit, count on you need a typical credits card with embossed call and numbers. Also make certain the card reduce is high ample. I watched a couple from Germany grew to become away seeing that their modest decrease couldn't accommodate a 1,500 euro block for the excess plus their inn’s pre authorisation.
Print or save your confirmation e-mail as a PDF, adding the voucher once you booked as a result of a broker. Mobile information superhighway at Corfu airport is customarily great, yet a lifeless battery or roaming predicament could no longer stand among you and your vehicle.
7. Chasing “no deposit” presents devoid of analyzing the small print
The phrase “Corfu airport automobile apartment no deposit” is desirable, distinctly should you dislike the thought of heaps of euros blocked in your card. Genuine low deposit or no deposit selections do exist, however the devil sits in the element.
Usually, when a firm advertises no deposit, it capability one in all two issues. Either they've built the probability into a larger day by day charge with essential full coverage, or they'll nonetheless continue a smaller quantity as a gasoline or visitors best warrantly. Sometimes each.
There is nothing wrong with paying somewhat more for the peace of mind that comes from no longer having 1,000 euros frozen on your card. Just appreciate what you are procuring. Check:
The certain amount they're going to hang to your card, if any.
Whether the no deposit supply is tied to a particular assurance equipment. 
Compare this to a commonplace kit from an alternative business that uses a deposit however promises shrink premiums. Over every week’s trip, the total payment can swing both means. The worst mistake is to publication at the power of “no deposit” by myself after which find out a long listing of exclusions and additional bills whenever you reach the desk.
8. Skipping the inspection and image routine at pickup
You are tired, the queue has been gradual, and the seaside is looking. The agent features to the auto, you signal the kind, throw your luggage within the boot and drive off. That five minute shortcut can expense dearly if there's existing spoil that never made it onto the record.
At Corfu airport, wherein dozens of cars rotate between renters each and every week in summer, small bumps and scrapes are routine. Most carriers are honest about this and mark everything they understand. Some will not be thorough, extraordinarily at height occasions.
Treat your inspection as section of the condominium, not a nuisance. Walk around the auto, fee each panel, the wheels, and the the front and rear bumpers specifically. Pay recognition to:
Small scratches and dents.
Alloy wheel scuffs and hubcap damage. Chips or cracks inside the windscreen. Any ruin at the roof in the event you are tall adequate or can see from an attitude.
Photograph the whole lot, even considerations that are already marked. Capture the auto from every single corner, the odometer studying, and the fuel gauge. Time stamped photos in your telephone create a record it is arduous to argue with later.
Encourage the body of workers member to feature any missing marks to the shape previously you sign. If they look reluctant, dwell well mannered yet corporation. A short while the following is value a long way greater than an irritated electronic mail replace after you come back dwelling house.
9. Forgetting to devise parking and get entry to at your accommodation
Corfu airport vehicle apartment is the handy piece. The more difficult phase, noticeably in peak season, is living with the automobile whenever you attain your accommodation.
Many vintage villages and some areas of Corfu Town have very restrained parking. Some beachfront motels have personal a great deal, others depend fullyyt on public spaces that top off immediately in July and August. Steep deepest driveways are widespread for villas, usually with awkward angles and unfastened gravel.
Before you guide, ask your accommodation approximately parking in special, sensible terms. Do now not accept “parking conceivable”. Ask whether or not it can be personal or public, what number spaces they've got, how tight the entry is, and regardless of whether larger motors are compatible very easily.
This could influence now not merely your option of rental automotive length, as said earlier, yet also regardless of whether you even desire a auto to your overall keep. For example, when you are spending 3 nights in Corfu Town and then a week in a north coast village, you can actually do more advantageous to spend the first edge on foot and taxis, then arrange a Corfu airport car or truck condo beginning at the day you depart metropolis.
Thinking in segments like this will likely store dollars, parking headaches and the pressure of threading a motor vehicle simply by the the town’s one manner system whenever you are nevertheless jet lagged.
10. Returning the auto in a rush and neglecting the basics
I have misplaced rely of what percentage disputes begin at drop off in view that the renter is hurrying to trap a flight. When you're speeding, you forget gas, you park in which you are not speculated to, otherwise you surrender keys with no checking the ultimate paperwork.
Give your self a good buffer for return. If your flight is at 13:00, do no longer plan to roll into the automobile park at eleven:45, exceedingly if you rented off website and want a commute ride again to the terminal.
At return, purpose to:
- Refill the tank at a station on the brink of the airport for those who are on a full to complete coverage. Keep the receipt. There are several petrol stations inside a quick pressure, but some will also be busy.
- Remove all confidential models from the automobile, which include door wallet and beneath seats.
- Walk around the auto with the agent in which attainable and ask them to be sure in writing that the auto is again without new spoil and with a full tank if perfect.
- Take final pics, such as the gasoline gauge and odometer.
If that you need to use a key drop box in view that you might be returning outside workplace hours, pictures and a speedy video walkaround turn into even more invaluable. Corfu airport employ a motor vehicle providers traditionally manage these returns somewhat, but a clear visual document protects you in case a brand new dent looks at the inspection sheet Browse around this site later.
A immediate pre booking checklist
Used neatly, a car turns Corfu into a bendy, basic island to discover. Used badly, it turns into a thread of hysteria running with the aid of your vacation. Before you commit to any airport car employ Corfu deal, run by this quick checklist.
- Verify if the service provider is on airport or off site with a trip, and the way that affects your timings.
- Read fresh critiques peculiarly for the Corfu airport branch, no longer simply the manufacturer.
- Compare whole fee, adding assurance, gas policy and any mileage limits, no longer just the base on daily basis cost.
- Check parking and get entry to at your lodging and decide upon car or truck length to that end.
- Confirm what playing cards and files you desire and no matter if any “no deposit” provide has restrictive situations.
Handled with this point of concentration, Corfu airport apartment motors think much less like a raffle and greater like a nicely controlled instrument in your day trip.
Final recommendations from the queue at Corfu airport
If you spend half-hour inside the arrivals corridor on a busy afternoon, which you can pretty much expect who will breeze due to and who will come to be annoyed. The ones with revealed confirmations, clean selections on insurance plan and functional expectancies approximately the automobile and the island have a tendency to go away smiling. The ones who booked on expense alone and did now not read a observe of the phrases are those arguing on the table.
Corfu vehicle condominium does not must be puzzling. It is in basic terms a rely of matching the fact at the ground along with your possess tolerance for hazard, finances and riding confidence. Look past headline fees, fully grasp how insurance plan and deposits paintings, go with the properly measurement of automobile for Corfu’s roads, and deliver yourself time at either pickup and return.
Do that, and your employ a motor vehicle at Corfu airport will become what it should always be: an clean gateway to mountain villages, quiet seashores and past due dinners in small tavernas, in your very own clock rather then everybody else’s.