AB833

My wife and I will be leaving for Crete in several weeks, landing in HER. (Four days there before moving on to Athens.) We are in the process of exploring car rental possibilities, including Avis, National, Hertz, and a local company or two. Being aware of the high accident and death rates associated with driving in Greece, we are particularly interested in insurance (or CDW, etc.) coverage. We do have the credit cards that provide the supplementary coverage, but remain unsure how reasonable it is to rely on that source on Crete. On the other hand, even the expensive coverage that may be purchased from Avis (or the others) comes with a very sizeable deductible (between $700 and $1000). One private company in Crete provides full coverage with its somewhat higher rates. I would be most grateful for recommendations regarding an optimum choice.

grandmere

Driving on Crete is very different from driving on mainland Greece. We did the former quite easily but would never attempt the latter. We rented through AutoEurope; I can't remember whom we actually rented from--probably Avis or Hertz. We relied only upon our credit card for insurance; in retrospect, perhaps not a wise move, but we were lucky and had no problems.

Rick_EMT

Thrifty Car Rental has several locations on Crete. http://www.thriftygreece.gr/

I've never rented from them there - was recommended to me as I plan my trip.

Anyone ever used them? I am planning to rent a car from Thrifty at the Heraklion Airport, drive to Knossos and the area, and return to the Heraklion area to spend the night and drop off the car at Thrifty downtown Heraklion office at 8am when they open, and then over to the ferry terminal for a Flying Dolphin to Thira (Santorini) at 9:30am.

What do you think, Crete experts?

Thanks!

-- Rick from Maryland

sheila

We've used Zakros with no difficulty

PurpleNeon

We rented a car on Crete for 4 days this summer. I booked it through our travel agent at home, who used Europcar. They have an outlet near the ferry port in Heraklion, as well as at the airport. I believe they also had locations in Chania and Rethymnon. The car was a 4-door Renault something-or-other that my husband was quite happy with. Based on our observations on the other islands we had driven on, we definitely bought the extra insurance when we picked the car up and I think it was 25-ish Euros/day.

My husband thought driving on Crete was hysterical. Personally, I'm glad it was him driving and not me! There is a new highway that connects Heraklion via Rethymnon to Chania (I assume it also goes further, but this was the extent of my personal experience on it).

Heraklion caused our only problem. We picked up the car and we could literally see the sign on top of our hotel (the Lato--also recommend it, very nice and within walking distance of the museum and pedestrianized areas) so we didn't bother to ask for directions. Almost 2 hours later we conceded defeat and parked the car to walk to the hotel! The streets curve and wind seemingly at random and there are many one way streets. Moral of story: always ask for directions, no matter how simple it seems!

My husband drove on Paros, Naxos, Santorini, Crete and Rhodes and he was fine with it (see previous comment about my own opinions!). Yes people drive a lot differently than at home, but to be honest we did not view one accident during our entire 3 weeks.

Hope that helps a bit.

AB833

I am very grateful for the help provided. On the basis of the comments, I have arranged for a rental from Zakros, with full coverage, and, on the basis of the comments of grandmere and PurpleNeon, my wife and I feel more comfortable in anticipating the Cretan driving experience.

Travelnick

We used Zakros last month as it was much cheaper than the majors. Car was just the same as offered by the others. Roads were fine and little in the way of nutty driving. Mind you that may be simply because having lived in Lebanon for the past year, any European country is better by a huge margin.

Travelnick

We used Zakros last month as it was much cheaper than the majors. Car was just the same as offered by the others. If you are picking up from Heraklion airport - I think they are stand 5 outside the airport exit - to the left as you walk out of the exit. There is no office inside the airport. The guy that manned the desk, Nick,was very helpful - had lived in Las Vegas for so many years.
Roads were fine and little in the way of nutty driving. Mind you that may be simply because having lived in Lebanon for the past year, any European country is better by a huge margin.