Corfu Airport Auto Rental: 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Booking
Corfu rewards the traveller who can transfer on their own time table. The island appears small on a map but if you get off the most roads, distances consider longer, buses skinny out, and taxis add up straight away. That is why such a lot of company decide on up a motor vehicle the moment they land at Corfu International Airport Ioannis Kapodistrias.
I have rented autos at Corfu airport for paintings Look at this website and vacation trips, in excessive season and in past due October drizzle. The trend is always the similar. The people that did a few homework are on the road in 20 mins. The ones who rushed the reserving stand in queues, argue over insurance on the table and explore wonder fees on their card a week later.
If you wish a tender Corfu airport auto condominium ride, the most popular lesson is to know where others pass incorrect. The following ten error are the ones I see in general at Corfu airport, in conjunction with what to do rather.
1. Assuming “airport car condominium” at all times method on-site
Many friends look for “Corfu airport car or truck apartment” or “appoint automotive Corfu airport” and anticipate each and every result is within the terminal. It isn't always that trouble-free.
At Corfu, a few brands have desks in the arrivals hall and their autos in the airport parking just across the street. Others perform “meet and greet” or commute providers. You exit arrivals, look for an individual maintaining a small sign, and experience a minibus to an off site lot a couple of minutes away.
That is absolutely not essentially horrific. Off web site organisations could be cheaper and extra flexible on matters comparable to mileage Corfu Airport Car Rentals or further drivers. The concern appears to be like for those who assume to stroll to your automobile in five minutes and alternatively lose forty mins tracking down a go back and forth in 30 level warmth after a 3 hour flight from London.
If you favor a simply on web site Corfu airport hire a motor vehicle alternative, money in moderation. Look for clear wording corresponding to “desk internal terminal” or “on airport”. If the affirmation mentions a commute, meeting aspect or “office 400 m from terminal”, construct that into your timings. It things on arrival, and it particularly issues when you have an early morning departure and need to drop the car and nonetheless test in on time.
2. Booking solely on fee and ignoring the insurance structure
I nonetheless see folks brag that they found the “greatest car or truck condo Corfu airport” for 12 euros an afternoon in August. That base expense is incomprehensible with out figuring out the insurance plan.
In Greece, fundamental assurance ordinarilly includes 1/3 get together liability and a few shape of collision damage waiver (CDW) with a excessive extra. I have observed excesses from seven hundred to at least one,800 euros for an financial system car or truck. If there's spoil, you pay as much as that amount except you might have additional disguise.
The popular mistakes are two. First, humans bypass any more cover and pass their hands, then spend their holiday anxious approximately slim streets in Corfu Town. Second, they buy an “excess refund” policy from a broking service site and do no longer fully grasp that the condominium corporation will nonetheless block the complete excess on their card at selection.
A brilliant frame of mind at Corfu airport motor vehicle apartment counters is to settle on prematurely the way you desire to address menace. Some travelers are snug with a significant deposit considering they've a good credits card and expertise with rental claims. Others sleep higher with a “zero excess” equipment that quotes extra in step with day however shrinks the protection block and monetary exposure.
Read the insurance coverage area formerly you click “Book”. Compare the fee of including full conceal from the condo manufacturer with a standalone excess coverage from a reputable insurer. There is no unmarried appropriate reply, but going for walks as much as the desk without a plan is the fastest route to strain and pricey upsells.
3. Not checking fuel coverage and mileage before confirming
Corfu airport apartment vehicles essentially always use the related couple of gas guidelines. The hindrance is that they look an identical at a look, yet money very exceptional quantities over per week.
“Full to full” potential you pick up the automobile with a full tank, return it complete, and basically pay for what you operate. This is veritably the fairest preference, tremendously when you plan to drive around the island.
“Pre buy” or “full to empty” ability you pay for a tank of gas at series and will return it on fumes. It sounds handy however hardly works for your favour unless you'll honestly use maximum of the tank and the corporate premiums fuel at as regards to pump quotes plus a small charge. Many do now not.
Mileage is yet one more quiet seize. Most Corfu car or truck condo enterprises be offering limitless kilometres, which is ideal for exploring Paleokastritsa, Kassiopi, the south coast and inland villages with out brooding about distance. A few low rate supplies hide a per kilometre rate above a modest day-to-day reduce.
If your affirmation electronic mail is obscure or uses terms you do no longer recognize, email or message the employer and ask for clarity. You need written confirmation of equally gas coverage and mileage. Verbal factors at a hectic airport desk are straight forward to misunderstand and masses tougher to dispute later.
four. Overlooking riding realities on Corfu whilst settling on automotive size
Looking at sleek graphics, that is tempting to improve to a larger automobile. More house for luggage, more advantageous air con, per chance even an automated for remedy. On Corfu, the larger the auto, the extra you want to reflect onconsideration on in which you propose to drive.
The road from the airport into Corfu Town is vast ample, but as quickly as you wander into older districts, roads narrow to at least one lane with stone partitions on the two aspects and tight corners around homes. Some coastal villages and hilltop settlements are even tighter, with parking that slightly fits a compact hatchback.
If you are staying at a hotel on the major east coast avenue, a larger automotive would possibly not be a concern. If your villa is up a steep lane inside the north of the island, a small to medium auto with decent strength and smart turning circle is a miles more effective collection than a cumbersome SUV. I have watched other people spend 15 mins maneuvering a sizable motor vehicle out of a lane that changed into sincerely designed for scooters and donkeys.
For most travelers, the candy spot for Corfu airport car apartment is a small or compact automotive, manual or automatic relying to your remedy. Enough boot area for luggage, but small sufficient to slide into tight parking spaces and meet oncoming site visitors with room to breathe.
5. Ignoring evaluations of explicit Corfu airport branches
Many travellers do a quick money of the emblem name and discontinue there. They see a tremendous global brand they be aware of from domestic, expect a regular experience, and reserve. In observe, branch caliber can range widely.
Search above all for the employer identify plus “Corfu airport” and examine the fresh experiences for that situation. Patterns remember more than man or woman complaints. If one character mentions a longer wait time, that may simply be a hectic Saturday in August. If 20 other folks throughout three months document aggressive injury claims or unexplained prices, pay realization.
This information applies equally to neighborhood suppliers. Some small Corfu lease a vehicle services close to the airport are the best option, with pleasant carrier and versatile rules. Others lower corners or depend on technicalities to spice up cash. Reviews on the whole make the distinction clean.
A 15 euro difference on a week’s condo is not worth a foul argument over “pre present” scratches you had been not at all allowed time to rfile.
6. Not making ready your records and card correctly
One of the dullest disorders, but I still watch it unfold in line at the airport every summer season. The bureaucracy for hiring a vehicle in Greece is straightforward, yet there are a few essential information.
You recurrently desire:
- A valid riding licence that you just have held for not less than three hundred and sixty five days, commonly two, based at the guests and motor vehicle community.
- For non EU / EEA drivers from precise countries, an International Driving Permit along your house licence. Check this ahead, considering that you shouldn't receive an IDP when you are already in Greece.
- A credit score card in the fundamental driver’s identify with ample conceivable decrease to disguise the deposit or extra block.
- Passport or nationwide ID card for identification.
Where workers get caught is with the card. Many Corfu airport automobile condo desks do not settle for debit cards for the protection deposit, only for check. Others settle for them however purely with costly greater assurance. Prepaid cards are frequently refused outright.
If your affirmation does no longer without a doubt kingdom that debit cards are common for the deposit, suppose you want a normal credit card with embossed call and numbers. Also make sure the cardboard restrict is high ample. I watched a couple from Germany became away given that their modest decrease couldn't accommodate a 1,500 euro block for the extra plus their resort’s pre authorisation.
Print or save your confirmation e mail as a PDF, together with the voucher whenever you booked by a broker. Mobile cyber web at Corfu airport is routinely nice, but a lifeless battery or roaming predicament should always now not stand between you and your car.
7. Chasing “no deposit” gives with out examining the small print
The word “Corfu airport motor vehicle condominium no deposit” is captivating, relatively if you dislike the concept of masses of euros blocked on your card. Genuine low deposit or no deposit thoughts do exist, but the satan sits inside the aspect.
Usually, when a corporate advertises no deposit, it method one in all two issues. Either they've got equipped the probability into a bigger day-after-day price with mandatory full insurance plan, or they're going to nonetheless carry a smaller amount as a gasoline or site visitors tremendous warrantly. Sometimes equally.
There is nothing wrong with paying slightly more for the peace of thoughts that comes from no longer having 1,000 euros frozen to your card. Just perceive what you are deciding to buy. Check:
The properly quantity they can keep to your card, if any.
Whether the no deposit supply is tied to a specific insurance coverage bundle. How they take care of minor ruin, akin to small scratches or chips.Compare this to a average bundle from an alternative firm that makes use of a deposit yet gives cut down rates. Over every week’s vacation, the complete rate can swing either way. The worst mistake is to guide on the power of “no deposit” by myself after which hit upon a protracted listing of exclusions and further costs after you reach the table.
8. Skipping the inspection and graphic movements at pickup
You are tired, the queue has been slow, and the seashore is asking. The agent features to the car, you sign the kind, throw your luggage within the boot and pressure off. That five minute shortcut can expense dearly if there may be latest injury that not at all made it onto the report.
At Corfu airport, in which dozens of motors rotate among renters each and every week in summer time, small bumps and scrapes are routine. Most enterprises are fair about this and mark the entirety they realize. Some will not be thorough, highly at peak occasions.
Treat your inspection as portion of the condo, no longer a nuisance. Walk round the automobile, payment every panel, the wheels, and the entrance and rear bumpers particularly. Pay interest to:

Small scratches and dents.
Alloy wheel scuffs and hubcap harm. Chips or cracks in the windscreen. Any ruin at the roof while you are tall sufficient or can see from an attitude.Photograph the entirety, even troubles that are already marked. Capture the automobile from every corner, the odometer reading, and the fuel gauge. Time stamped pics for your cell create a checklist this is not easy to argue with later.
Encourage the staff member to feature any missing marks to the kind before you sign. If they seem reluctant, live well mannered however corporation. A short time right here is really worth some distance extra than an indignant e mail trade after you come residence.
9. Forgetting to plan parking and entry at your accommodation
Corfu airport car condominium is the undemanding piece. The more difficult side, tremendously in height season, is residing with the automobile when you achieve your accommodation.
Many previous villages and some materials of Corfu Town have very limited parking. Some beachfront accommodations have exclusive a great deal, others count number thoroughly on public areas that refill soon in July and August. Steep exclusive driveways are original for villas, usually with awkward angles and free gravel.
Before you publication, ask your lodging approximately parking in targeted, realistic phrases. Do not settle for “parking conceivable”. Ask whether or not that's personal or public, what number of spaces they've, how tight the entry is, and regardless of whether bigger autos fit with ease.
This deserve to result no longer solely your selection of condominium auto size, as noted before, however additionally regardless of whether you even desire a car or truck for your overall keep. For example, whenever you are spending 3 nights in Corfu Town and then every week in a north coast village, it is easy to do superior to spend the primary facet strolling and taxis, then set up a Corfu airport automobile condo beginning on the day you leave metropolis.
Thinking in segments like this could retailer dollars, parking headaches and the rigidity of threading a car or truck simply by the town’s one approach manner whilst you are nonetheless jet lagged.
10. Returning the auto in a hurry and neglecting the basics
I even have lost count of how many disputes start at drop off due to the fact that the renter is hurrying to catch a flight. When you're rushing, you forget about gas, you park wherein you will not be imagined to, or you quit keys with no checking the ultimate forms.
Give your self a suitable buffer for return. If your flight is at thirteen:00, do no longer plan to roll into the automobile park at eleven:forty five, mainly when you rented off website and want a trip journey returned to the terminal.
At go back, aim to:
- Refill the tank at a station near the airport when you are on a complete to complete policy. Keep the receipt. There are a number of petrol stations inside a quick pressure, yet some should be busy.
- Remove all exclusive gifts from the auto, including door wallet and underneath seats.
- Walk around the car with the agent in which manageable and ask them to make sure in writing that the auto is back and not using a new destroy and with a complete tank if ideal.
- Take last pictures, such as the gasoline gauge and odometer.
If you have to use a key drop box on account that you're returning outside workplace hours, pics and a quick video walkaround emerge as even greater amazing. Corfu airport rent a vehicle suppliers mainly deal with those returns somewhat, yet a transparent visible file protects you in case a new dent appears to be like on the inspection sheet later.
A swift pre reserving checklist
Used effectively, a vehicle turns Corfu right into a flexible, trouble-free island to discover. Used badly, it will become a thread of hysteria running through your holiday. Before you decide to any airport auto lease Corfu deal, run by this brief list.
- Verify if the institution is on airport or off web site with a commute, and the way that impacts your timings.
- Read current comments mainly for the Corfu airport branch, no longer just the brand.
- Compare overall check, which includes insurance plan, fuel policy and any mileage limits, not just the base on a daily basis charge.
- Check parking and access at your accommodation and choose automotive length accordingly.
- Confirm what playing cards and data you desire and even if any “no deposit” be offering has restrictive circumstances.
Handled with this degree of realization, Corfu airport condo autos sense less like a raffle and extra like a nicely controlled software in your commute.
Final innovations from the queue at Corfu airport
If you spend 30 minutes inside the arrivals corridor on a hectic afternoon, you could practically expect who will breeze due to and who will prove pissed off. The ones with revealed confirmations, clear choices on insurance coverage and life like expectations approximately the automobile and the island have a tendency to leave smiling. The ones who booked on worth alone and did now not examine a note of the phrases are those arguing on the desk.
Corfu motor vehicle apartment does not have got to be elaborate. It is genuinely a remember of matching the fact at the flooring along with your own tolerance for menace, finances and riding confidence. Look beyond headline fees, be mindful how insurance coverage and deposits work, go with the proper length of automobile for Corfu’s roads, and give your self time at the two pickup and return.
Do that, and your hire a motor vehicle at Corfu airport will become what it could be: an trouble-free gateway to mountain villages, quiet seashores and past due dinners in small tavernas, to your possess clock in preference to all and sundry else’s.