Corfu Airport Auto Rental: 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Booking
Corfu rewards the visitor who can pass on their personal agenda. The island appears small on a map however while you get off the major roads, distances suppose longer, buses thin out, and taxis upload up promptly. That is why so many guests decide on up a automotive the instant they land at Corfu International Airport Ioannis Kapodistrias.
I actually have rented automobiles at Corfu airport for paintings and vacation trips, in top season and in overdue October drizzle. The pattern is always the comparable. The folks that did some homework are on the street in 20 mins. The ones who rushed the booking stand in queues, argue over insurance plan at the desk and discover marvel expenditures on their card every week later.

If you favor a sleek Corfu airport car apartment adventure, the fine lesson is to be aware the place others cross improper. The following ten error are those I see pretty much at Corfu airport, besides what to do as an alternative.
1. Assuming “airport car or truck condominium” invariably method on-site
Many visitors seek “Corfu airport automotive condominium” or “appoint car Corfu airport” and suppose each and every end result is throughout the terminal. It isn't always that hassle-free.
At Corfu, a few brands have desks in the arrivals corridor and their cars within the airport parking just across the road. Others perform “meet and greet” or shuttle offerings. You go out arrivals, look for someone keeping a small signal, and ride a minibus to an off website online lot a couple of minutes away.
That isn't really unavoidably awful. Off web page carriers will also be cheaper and extra flexible on matters reminiscent of mileage or additional drivers. The predicament looks when you be expecting to walk in your automobile in five mins and instead lose 40 minutes tracking down a commute in 30 measure heat after a three hour flight from London.
If you need a genuinely on website online Corfu airport appoint a car or truck possibility, investigate fastidiously. Look for clean wording such as “desk interior terminal” or “on airport”. If the affirmation mentions a go back and forth, meeting aspect or “place of work four hundred m from terminal”, build that into your timings. It concerns on arrival, and it essentially topics you probably have an early morning departure and desire to drop the automobile and still look at various in on time.
2. Booking most effective on expense and ignoring the insurance plan structure
I nevertheless see people brag that they came upon the “premiere car rental Corfu airport” for 12 euros a day in August. That base cost is meaningless with out knowledge the coverage.
In Greece, undemanding insurance policy quite often carries third celebration liability and some model of collision damage waiver (CDW) with a high extra. I even have visible excesses from 700 to one,800 euros for an economic climate vehicle. If there is injury, you pay up to that amount except you will have added conceal.
The average mistakes are two. First, folk skip any more quilt and cross their palms, then spend their trip being concerned about slim streets in Corfu Town. Second, they purchase an “excess refund” coverage from a dealer web page and do not appreciate that the apartment visitors will still block the whole extra on their card at choice.
A sensible technique at Corfu airport motor vehicle condominium counters is to pick prematurely the way you choose to address probability. Some guests are happy with a substantial deposit considering that they have got a effective credit card and enjoy with condo claims. Others sleep more effective with a “zero extra” kit that expenditures greater per day but shrinks the protection block and monetary exposure.
Read the insurance phase before you click on “Book”. Compare the rate of adding complete disguise from the condominium organization with a standalone excess policy from a good insurer. There is no unmarried precise solution, however jogging as much as the desk devoid of a plan is the quickest path Corfu Airport Car Rentals to strain and high priced upsells.
3. Not checking fuel coverage and mileage before confirming
Corfu airport apartment automobiles pretty much regularly use the same couple of gasoline policies. The problems is that they seem to be identical at a look, yet settlement very exclusive quantities over every week.
“Full to complete” potential you go with up the auto with a full tank, go back it full, and simplest pay for what you utilize. This is broadly speaking the fairest selection, enormously if you plan to pressure around the island.
“Pre acquire” or “full to empty” capacity you pay for a tank of gas at sequence and might go back it on fumes. It sounds easy but hardly ever works to your favour until you may truthfully use most of the tank and the institution bills gas at on the point of pump costs plus a small payment. Many do no longer.
Mileage is yet another quiet capture. Most Corfu auto apartment companies offer limitless kilometres, which is ideal for exploring Paleokastritsa, Kassiopi, the south coast and inland villages with out wondering distance. A few low charge promises conceal a according to kilometre fee above a modest every day minimize.
If your affirmation e mail is imprecise or uses phrases you do now not understand, email or message the firm and ask for readability. You desire written affirmation of the two gas coverage and mileage. Verbal motives at a hectic airport table are simple to misconceive and lots more and plenty more difficult to dispute later.
4. Overlooking using realities on Corfu when deciding upon car size
Looking at glossy images, it is tempting to upgrade to a bigger car. More house for bags, higher air-con, might be even an automated for remedy. On Corfu, the bigger the auto, the extra you desire to imagine wherein you intend to force.
The highway from the airport into Corfu Town is extensive enough, however as soon as you wander into older districts, roads slender to 1 lane with stone walls on either aspects and tight corners round structures. Some coastal villages and hilltop settlements are even tighter, with parking that barely suits a compact hatchback.
If you're staying at a motel on the most important east coast highway, a bigger automotive won't be a complication. If your villa is up a steep lane inside the north of the island, a small to medium vehicle with decent vigour and outstanding turning circle is a much more beneficial determination than a bulky SUV. I actually have watched other people spend 15 minutes maneuvering a massive car or truck out of a lane that was genuinely designed for scooters and donkeys.
For so much viewers, the candy spot for Corfu airport car condo is a small or compact car, guide or automated based for your comfort. Enough boot area for bags, however small ample to slide into tight parking spaces and meet oncoming site visitors with room to breathe.
five. Ignoring studies of exact Corfu airport branches
Many guests do a rapid examine of the logo identify and quit there. They see a titanic world company they be aware of from dwelling house, think a well-known event, and reserve. In observe, department nice can fluctuate extensively.
Search peculiarly for the manufacturer title plus “Corfu airport” and examine the contemporary studies for that situation. Patterns matter more than character proceedings. If one grownup mentions an extended wait time, that can simply be a busy Saturday in August. If 20 other folks across three months report aggressive wreck claims or unexplained expenditures, pay cognizance.
This advice applies similarly to neighborhood providers. Some small Corfu hire a automotive carriers close the airport are amazing, with pleasant provider and flexible guidelines. Others lower corners or rely on technicalities to enhance sales. Reviews veritably make the distinction clear.
A 15 euro big difference on per week’s rental isn't really well worth a nasty argument over “pre latest” scratches you had been in no way allowed time to record.
6. Not getting ready your information and card correctly
One of the dullest troubles, yet I nevertheless watch it spread in line at the airport each and every summer time. The documents for hiring a motor vehicle in Greece is simple, however there are about a beneficial small print.
You by and large need:
- A legitimate using licence that you have held for at the least three hundred and sixty five days, commonly two, depending on the institution and car group.
- For non EU / EEA drivers from unique nations, an International Driving Permit along your home licence. Check this earlier, on account that you can not get hold of an IDP once you are already in Greece.
- A credit card inside the major motive force’s call with satisfactory plausible decrease to disguise the deposit or extra block.
- Passport or countrywide ID card for identification.
Where worker's get caught is with the card. Many Corfu airport automobile condo desks do no longer accept debit playing cards for the safety deposit, simply for charge. Others take delivery of them yet in basic terms with pricey added insurance coverage. Prepaid cards are on the whole refused outright.
If your confirmation does not surely nation that debit cards are accepted for the deposit, imagine you want a simple credit score card with embossed identify and numbers. Also be certain that the cardboard decrease is prime adequate. I watched a pair from Germany grew to become away on account that their modest restriction could not accommodate a 1,500 euro block for the extra plus their motel’s pre authorisation.
Print or keep your confirmation email as a PDF, consisting of the voucher while you booked due to a broker. Mobile net at Corfu airport is oftentimes quality, but a useless battery or roaming problem have to no longer stand among you and your auto.
7. Chasing “no deposit” provides with no reading the small print
The word “Corfu airport vehicle condominium no deposit” is enticing, principally if you happen to dislike the inspiration of loads of euros blocked in your card. Genuine low deposit or no deposit possibilities do exist, however the devil sits within the detail.
Usually, while a institution advertises no deposit, it way one of two matters. Either they've got developed the danger into a greater day-to-day charge with obligatory complete insurance, or they may nonetheless retain a smaller volume as a gas or visitors nice warranty. Sometimes each.
There is nothing improper with paying a bit extra for the peace of intellect that comes from not having 1,000 euros frozen to your card. Just have in mind what you are buying. Check:
The excellent quantity they will carry in your card, if any.
Whether the no deposit supply is tied to a particular insurance package deal. How they care for minor injury, corresponding to small scratches or chips.Compare this to a familiar package from an additional friends that uses a deposit but gives cut down quotes. Over every week’s trip, the entire can charge can swing both way. The worst mistake is to e-book on the strength of “no deposit” by myself and then realize a protracted record of exclusions and additional costs once you reach the desk.
eight. Skipping the inspection and snapshot hobbies at pickup
You are worn out, the queue has been slow, and the sea coast is asking. The agent features to the auto, you signal the variety, throw your luggage within the boot and drive off. That 5 minute shortcut can price dearly if there may be latest spoil that under no circumstances made it onto the report.
At Corfu airport, wherein dozens of vehicles rotate among renters each week in summer, small bumps and scrapes are pursuits. Most corporations are straightforward approximately this and mark every little thing they recognise. Some are not thorough, chiefly at top occasions.
Treat your inspection as a part of the apartment, now not a nuisance. Walk around the auto, cost every panel, the wheels, and the front and rear bumpers peculiarly. Pay realization to:
Small scratches and dents.
Alloy wheel scuffs and hubcap wreck. Chips or cracks inside the windscreen. Any damage at the roof whenever you are tall satisfactory or can see from an perspective.Photograph the entirety, even points which might be already marked. Capture the automobile from each corner, the odometer studying, and the fuel gauge. Time stamped portraits on your telephone create a document it's laborious to argue with later.
Encourage the team member to feature any missing marks to the variety earlier than you sign. If they seem reluctant, continue to be polite however enterprise. A jiffy the following is price some distance extra than an irritated e mail replace after you come back residence.
nine. Forgetting to devise parking and entry at your accommodation
Corfu airport vehicle apartment is the straightforward piece. The more durable part, certainly in top season, is residing with the auto once you achieve your lodging.
Many vintage villages and a few elements of Corfu Town have very constrained parking. Some beachfront hotels have exclusive much, others depend absolutely on public areas that replenish at once in July and August. Steep deepest driveways are natural for villas, in certain cases with awkward angles and free gravel.
Before you e-book, ask your lodging approximately parking in specific, realistic phrases. Do now not settle for “parking purchasable”. Ask regardless of whether it truly is non-public or public, what percentage spaces they have, how tight the entry is, and whether better vehicles more healthy very easily.
This could influence no longer solely your resolution of rental automobile dimension, as referred to earlier, but also no matter if you even want a automotive on your comprehensive live. For illustration, whenever you are spending three nights in Corfu Town after which a week in a north coast village, possible do higher to spend the 1st section strolling and taxis, then set up a Corfu airport auto rental beginning on the day you go away the city.
Thinking in segments like this will retailer dollars, parking headaches and the tension of threading a car due to the the town’s one manner equipment once you are still jet lagged.
10. Returning the car in a rush and neglecting the basics
I actually have lost rely of what number disputes soar at drop off considering the renter is hurrying to capture a flight. When you are dashing, you neglect gas, you park wherein you are usually not alleged to, or you hand over keys devoid of checking the very last paperwork.
Give your self a accurate buffer for go back. If your flight is at 13:00, do now not plan to roll into the car park at eleven:forty five, exceedingly for those who rented off website and want a go back and forth trip again to the terminal.
At go back, intention to:
- Refill the tank at a station on the point of the airport in case you are on a full to full policy. Keep the receipt. There are numerous petrol stations inside of a quick force, but some may well be busy.
- Remove all non-public presents from the automobile, together with door pockets and less than seats.
- Walk round the motor vehicle with the agent wherein a possibility and ask them to verify in writing that the car is lower back and not using a new hurt and with a complete tank if suited.
- Take last pics, adding the gasoline gauge and odometer.
If the need arises use a key drop field simply because you are returning out of doors administrative center hours, pictures and a speedy video walkaround develop into even extra primary. Corfu airport appoint a motor vehicle companies frequently cope with these returns noticeably, but a transparent visible file protects you in case a new dent seems to be at the inspection sheet later.
A short pre reserving checklist
Used well, a auto turns Corfu into a bendy, common island to explore. Used badly, it will become a thread of hysteria jogging by using your vacation. Before you decide to any airport motor vehicle rent Home page Corfu deal, run by this brief record.
- Verify if the corporate is on airport or off web site with a trip, and the way that impacts your timings.
- Read fresh comments notably for the Corfu airport department, not just the brand.
- Compare general money, which includes insurance coverage, gasoline coverage and any mileage limits, now not just the bottom on a daily basis charge.
- Check parking and get entry to at your lodging and settle on auto dimension to that end.
- Confirm what cards and information you want and regardless of whether any “no deposit” supply has restrictive situations.
Handled with this degree of attention, Corfu airport condo automobiles experience less like a bet and more like a effectively managed device on your ride.
Final ideas from the queue at Corfu airport
If you spend 30 minutes inside the arrivals corridor on a busy afternoon, you are able to essentially expect who will breeze via and who will become pissed off. The ones with revealed confirmations, clear selections on insurance plan and realistic expectations about the auto and the island have a tendency to leave smiling. The ones who booked on rate on my own and did now not study a phrase of the phrases are those arguing on the desk.
Corfu car apartment does now not need to be difficult. It is merely a topic of matching the reality on the flooring with your possess tolerance for chance, budget and using self assurance. Look past headline quotes, keep in mind how coverage and deposits paintings, opt for the proper length of auto for Corfu’s roads, and supply yourself time at equally pickup and go back.
Do that, and your hire a automotive at Corfu airport becomes what it needs to be: an common gateway to mountain villages, quiet shorelines and overdue dinners in small tavernas, to your own clock in place of any one else’s.