Corfu rewards the traveler who can stream on their very own schedule. The island seems small on a map but once you get off the principle roads, distances think longer, buses skinny out, and taxis upload up without delay. That is why so many viewers opt for up a vehicle the moment they land at Corfu International Airport Ioannis Kapodistrias.
I actually have rented vehicles at Corfu airport for work and vacations, in excessive season and in late October drizzle. The trend is forever the equal. The people who did some homework are on the street in 20 minutes. The ones who rushed the booking stand in queues, argue over insurance plan on the desk and observe surprise premiums on their card every week later.
If you want a modern Corfu airport automobile condominium ride, the appropriate lesson is to recognize the place others move flawed. The following ten error are those I see most often at Corfu airport, at the side of what to do alternatively.
1. Assuming “airport automotive rental” continuously manner on-site
Many traffic look up “Corfu airport automobile rental” or “hire car or truck Corfu airport” and anticipate each and every result is in the terminal. It isn't always that standard.
At Corfu, a few brands have desks inside the arrivals hall and their cars within the airport parking just throughout the road. Others operate “meet and greet” or travel companies. You go out arrivals, search for someone retaining a small signal, and journey a minibus to an off site lot a couple of minutes away.
That just isn't essentially poor. Off website corporations shall be more affordable and greater flexible on issues similar to mileage or extra drivers. The subject appears to be like whenever you expect to stroll to your car or truck in five mins and as an alternative lose forty minutes monitoring down a commute in 30 diploma warmness after a 3 hour flight from London.
If you would like a honestly on web site Corfu airport lease a car or truck option, verify cautiously. Look for transparent wording similar to “desk inner terminal” or “on airport”. If the confirmation mentions a go back and forth, meeting element or “place of work 400 m from terminal”, construct that into your timings. It issues on arrival, and it basically matters you probably have an early morning departure and want to drop the auto and nonetheless inspect in on time.
2. Booking basically on value and ignoring the insurance plan structure
I still see laborers brag that they found out the “most effective automotive apartment Corfu airport” for 12 euros an afternoon in August. That base payment is incomprehensible with out knowing the coverage.
In Greece, universal insurance ordinarilly contains third get together liability and some shape of collision smash waiver (CDW) with a top excess. I have noticeable excesses from seven-hundred to one,800 euros for an economic climate car or truck. If there's hurt, you pay as much as that amount except you've got added cover.
The generic error are two. First, laborers bypass any extra canopy and move their fingers, then spend their break demanding about narrow streets in Corfu Town. Second, they purchase an “excess refund” coverage from a broker website and do no longer fully grasp that the condo manufacturer will nevertheless block the whole extra on their card at series.
A brilliant attitude at Corfu airport car or truck rental counters is to resolve ahead the way you desire to handle menace. Some guests are happy with a colossal deposit simply because they have a robust credit score card and expertise with condo claims. Others sleep bigger with a “0 excess” package that fees more consistent with day but shrinks the protection block and economic exposure.
Read the insurance coverage area previously you click on “Book”. Compare the settlement of including complete cover from the rental company with a standalone extra policy from a reputable insurer. There is no unmarried true answer, however going for walks as much as the table with no a plan is the fastest direction to tension and high-priced upsells.
three. Not checking fuel coverage and mileage previously confirming
Corfu airport condominium cars nearly invariably use the comparable couple of gas regulations. The crisis is they glance an identical at a look, yet payment very varied amounts over every week.
“Full to full” means you decide up the auto with a complete tank, return it full, and only pay for what you operate. This is most likely the fairest option, especially in the event you plan to force around the island.
“Pre purchase” or “full to drain” skill you pay for a tank of fuel at selection and may go back it on fumes. It sounds easy but hardly works on your favour except you could certainly use most of the tank and the visitors fees gasoline at virtually pump charges plus a small money. Many do not.
Mileage is any other quiet seize. Most Corfu automotive condo agencies be offering unlimited kilometres, which is good for exploring Paleokastritsa, Kassiopi, the south coast and inland villages with out curious about distance. A few low cost gives you disguise a consistent with kilometre can charge above a modest every single day reduce.
If your confirmation email is indistinct or uses terms you do not comprehend, electronic mail or message the corporation and ask for readability. You wish written affirmation of each gasoline policy and mileage. Verbal causes at a hectic airport desk are mild to misunderstand and lots more and plenty more durable to dispute later.
four. Overlooking riding realities on Corfu when settling on automotive size
Looking at glossy portraits, it's far tempting to improve to a larger auto. More area for baggage, more effective aircon, maybe even an automatic for relief. On Corfu, the larger the automobile, the more you desire to reflect onconsideration on wherein you propose to force.
The avenue from the airport into Corfu Town is wide adequate, however as soon as you wander into older districts, roads slim to at least one lane with stone partitions on either sides and tight corners around constructions. Some coastal villages and hilltop settlements are even tighter, with parking that barely matches a compact hatchback.
If you might be staying at a inn on the main east coast road, a larger vehicle would possibly not be a hassle. If your villa is up a steep lane within the north of the island, a small to medium vehicle with respectable power and wonderful turning circle is a miles higher preference than a cumbersome SUV. I even have watched employees spend 15 minutes maneuvering a great vehicle out of a lane that become actually designed for scooters and donkeys.
For maximum travelers, the candy spot for Corfu airport vehicle condo is a small or compact car or truck, handbook or automated depending to your remedy. Enough boot house for luggage, yet small satisfactory to slip into tight parking areas and meet oncoming visitors with room to respire.
5. Ignoring critiques of explicit Corfu airport branches
Many guests do a quick assess of the manufacturer identify and forestall there. They see a massive foreign supplier they comprehend from homestead, suppose a elementary adventure, and reserve. In follow, branch best can vary extensively.
Search above all for the agency identify plus “Corfu airport” and examine the current reviews for that position. Patterns count number greater than human being court cases. If one character mentions a longer wait time, that can just be a busy Saturday in August. If 20 of us throughout three months record aggressive damage claims or unexplained expenses, pay consciousness.
This counsel applies both to nearby services. Some small Corfu employ a automobile establishments near the airport are nice, with pleasant carrier and bendy policies. Others minimize corners or have faith in technicalities to enhance income. Reviews repeatedly make the change clean.
A Visit website 15 euro distinction on per week’s rental shouldn't be worth a nasty argument over “pre present” scratches you have been on no account allowed time to document.
6. Not making ready your documents and card correctly
One of the dullest troubles, yet I nonetheless watch it spread in line on the airport each and every summer time. The bureaucracy for hiring a car in Greece is easy, yet there are a number of really good details.

You mainly want:
A legitimate riding licence that you just have held for a minimum of three hundred and sixty five days, regularly two, depending on the employer and motor vehicle organization. For non EU / EEA drivers from positive international locations, an International Driving Permit alongside your home licence. Check this prematurely, when you consider that you will not receive an IDP once you are already in Greece. A credit card within the main motive force’s title with satisfactory plausible minimize to cowl the deposit or excess block. Passport or nationwide ID card for identity.Where other folks get caught is with the card. Many Corfu airport auto apartment desks do now not receive debit playing cards for the protection deposit, only for fee. Others be given them but simply with luxurious extra coverage. Prepaid cards are often refused outright.
If your confirmation does now not naturally state that debit cards are primary for the deposit, expect you desire a known credit score card with embossed name and numbers. Also be certain that the cardboard prohibit is top satisfactory. I watched a couple from Germany turned away because their modest prohibit couldn't accommodate a 1,500 euro block for the extra plus their resort’s pre authorisation.
Print or save your confirmation electronic mail as a PDF, which include the voucher whenever you booked by means of a broker. Mobile net at Corfu airport is usually superb, however a dead battery or roaming hindrance must no longer stand between you and your vehicle.
7. Chasing “no deposit” presents with no reading the small print
The word “Corfu airport automobile condominium no deposit” is captivating, above all should you dislike the concept of enormous quantities of euros blocked for your card. Genuine low deposit or no deposit options do exist, but the devil sits inside the detail.
Usually, while a supplier advertises no deposit, it ability certainly one of two issues. Either they've got constructed the danger right into a greater every single day cost with vital full coverage, or they may still continue a smaller quantity as a gas or site visitors fantastic guarantee. Sometimes the two.
There is nothing wrong with paying just a little more for the peace of intellect that comes from no longer having 1,000 euros frozen on your card. Just have in mind what you might be paying for. Check:
The exact amount they will retain to your card, if any.
Whether the no deposit present is tied to a particular insurance plan kit. How they address minor hurt, along with small scratches or chips.Compare this to a well-liked bundle from yet one more friends that makes use of a deposit however offers reduce costs. Over per week’s holiday, the whole settlement can swing either approach. The worst mistake is to booklet on the power of “no deposit” by myself and then locate a long listing of exclusions and additional expenses after you achieve the desk.
eight. Skipping the inspection and picture regimen at pickup
You are drained, the queue has been sluggish, and the seaside is asking. The agent features to the auto, you sign the shape, throw your baggage inside the boot and drive off. That five minute shortcut can rate dearly if there may be current spoil that in no way made it onto the record.
At Corfu airport, in which dozens of cars rotate between renters every week in summer, small bumps and scrapes are pursuits. Most prone are truthful approximately this and mark the whole thing they understand. Some aren't thorough, especially at peak occasions.
Treat your inspection as component of the condominium, not a nuisance. Walk around the car, cost each panel, the wheels, and the front and rear bumpers specially. Pay realization to:
Small scratches and dents.
Alloy wheel scuffs and hubcap injury. Chips or cracks within the windscreen. Any ruin on the roof whenever you are tall enough or can see from an attitude.Photograph every thing, even disorders which might be already marked. Capture the car from every one nook, the odometer examining, and the gasoline gauge. Time stamped photographs for your mobilephone create a file it truly is tough to argue with later.
Encourage the staff member to add any lacking marks to the style formerly you signal. If they seem reluctant, dwell polite but agency. A little while the following is price a long way greater than an irritated e-mail exchange after you come abode.
9. Forgetting to plan parking and get right of entry to at your accommodation
Corfu airport auto apartment is the handy piece. The harder facet, chiefly in peak season, is residing with the car while you attain your lodging.
Many vintage villages and a few ingredients of Corfu Town have very restricted parking. Some beachfront lodges have private loads, others count number totally on public spaces that fill up briefly in July and August. Steep individual driveways are widely wide-spread for villas, often times with awkward angles and unfastened gravel.
Before you ebook, ask your accommodation about parking in specified, realistic phrases. Do not accept “parking purchasable”. Ask regardless of whether that's personal or public, what percentage spaces they've got, how tight the access is, and whether or not higher cars healthy without problems.
This should effect no longer simplest your desire of rental motor vehicle size, as stated earlier, however additionally no matter if you even want a auto to your finished live. For instance, in the event you are spending 3 nights in Corfu Town after which every week in a north coast village, you can do better to spend the primary facet strolling and taxis, then manage a Corfu airport car or truck condo commencing on the day you go away city.
Thinking in segments like this will likely store dollars, parking headaches and the tension of threading a motor vehicle through the town’s one means method if you are nonetheless jet lagged.
10. Returning the auto in a hurry and neglecting the basics
I have lost count number of what number of disputes start at drop off simply because the renter is hurrying to trap a flight. When you are speeding, you disregard gas, you park the place you aren't alleged to, or you give up keys with out checking the very last office work.
Give yourself a genuine buffer for go back. If your flight is at 13:00, do not plan to roll into the automobile park at 11:forty five, fantastically whenever you rented off website online and need a travel ride back to the terminal.
At return, purpose to:
Refill the tank at a station near the airport while you are on a complete to full policy. Keep the receipt. There are a couple of petrol stations within a quick drive, but a few will also be busy. Remove all exclusive goods from the auto, together with door wallet and less than seats. Walk around the motor vehicle with the agent in which achieveable and ask them to be certain in writing that the auto is again with out new ruin and with a complete tank if perfect. Take ultimate footage, along with the gas gauge and odometer.If it's good to use a key drop box when you consider that you are returning exterior place of work hours, graphics and a swift video walkaround change into even greater beneficial. Corfu airport hire a automotive companies by and large manage those returns highly, yet a transparent visible checklist protects you in case a brand new dent appears to be like at the inspection sheet later.
A short pre booking checklist
Used smartly, a auto turns Corfu right into a flexible, simple island to discover. Used badly, it will become a thread of hysteria running by your excursion. Before you decide to any airport car employ Corfu deal, run with the aid of this quick listing.
Verify if the service provider is on airport or off site with a shuttle, and the way that influences your timings. Read latest stories in particular for the Corfu airport department, no longer just the model. Compare general cost, which include insurance coverage, fuel coverage and any mileage limits, now not just the base every single day price. Check parking and get right of entry to at your lodging and make a selection automobile measurement for this reason. Confirm what playing cards and paperwork you need and even if any “no deposit” offer has restrictive circumstances.Handled with this level of awareness, Corfu airport condo motors think less like a big gamble and greater like a properly managed software on your day out.
Final concepts from the queue at Corfu airport
If you spend half-hour in the arrivals corridor on a hectic afternoon, it is easy to almost expect who will breeze simply by and who will turn out to be frustrated. The ones with printed confirmations, clean judgements on assurance and useful expectancies approximately the car and the island generally tend to go away smiling. The ones who booked on value on my own and did now not learn a notice of the terms are the ones arguing on the desk.
Corfu motor vehicle rental does no longer have got to be intricate. It is certainly a depend of matching the truth on the flooring along with your personal tolerance for risk, price range and riding self belief. Look past headline expenses, be aware how insurance coverage and deposits paintings, favor the properly size of vehicle for Corfu’s roads, and give yourself time at the two pickup and go back.
Do that, and your lease a automotive at Corfu airport becomes what it should still be: an undemanding gateway to mountain villages, quiet shorelines and past due dinners in small tavernas, on your personal clock rather than every person else’s.