Car Hire

Trotters


Joined: 06/10/2007
Posts: 20

Message Posted:
06/10/2007 12:01

Hello

We are travelling to Cyprus in 2 weeks time. We will be staying in Ayia Napa but we want to travel to the North as we have bought property at Turtle Beach and we are going to have a look and see where they're upto with the building. Would it be a good idea to leave our rental car at the border crossing and arrange to pick up a North Cyprus car once we have "crossed over"? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated



Best wishes



Trotters

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
06/10/2007 13:13

hi there trotters

the best thing to do is just rent the car in ayia napa south cyprus and cross over to the north to famagusta with the hire car no need to rent another car in the north because your hire car you rent in the south has insurance that covers the south and the north

Trotters


Joined: 06/10/2007
Posts: 20

Message Posted:
06/10/2007 13:19

Hello ukturk



would we have fully comp insurance

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
06/10/2007 13:27

yes trotters

yes it is fully comp insurace that you get in the south

diffrent if you are driving from the north to the south because the south dont reconise (as usaual) the norths insurance polices so as soon you cross the border from the north to the south their is a insurance office where all t.c cars get their insurance policies from

hope this helps you

ilovecyprus


Joined: 08/05/2007
Posts: 2880

Message Posted:
06/10/2007 16:22

ukturk. Are you sure about this?

When I hired a car in the South I had to purchase insurance for the North, which I could only purchase from the North.



What I would do is hire a car in the North and get the hire company to pick me up by taxi from Ayia Napa and take me to their office.

Notsoboredhw


Joined: 15/03/2007
Posts: 1254

Message Posted:
06/10/2007 17:29

You can get fully comprehensive insurance on car hire from the south but as soon as you cross the border to the north it switches to third party. You are then driving the car at your own risk and I have heard if you break down they are not so keen to come and help!

Notsoboredhw


Joined: 15/03/2007
Posts: 1254

Message Posted:
06/10/2007 17:29

p.s. you cannot take any cars hired in the North to the south - the north do not allow it

orangekazzie



Joined: 31/07/2007
Posts: 1091

Message Posted:
06/10/2007 17:41

Just being really nosey and out of curiosity but why are you staying in the South if you have property in the North. From what you say the property isn't finished yet but why aren't you staying somewhere in the North? It'll take you ages to drive from Ayia Napa to Turtle Bay. Not sure where you plan to cross but it'll be quicker to cross at Famagusta rather than Lefkosa.



karen

lovingcyprus


Joined: 02/03/2007
Posts: 1272

Message Posted:
06/10/2007 18:55

You can take a hire car from South to North (get permission from the hire company though) Remember as well if you have a problem with the car in the north it is your responsibility to get it back south.



Then you have to purchase insurance at the border so that you are covered in the north BUT the insurance is only 3rd party.



I would never hire a car in the south and take it north as the standard of driving is terrible (both north and south) You may be a careful driver but many others are not.

suntanman



Joined: 18/04/2007
Posts: 721

Message Posted:
06/10/2007 20:50

Trotters

I have hired a car on several occasions in the south and driven across the border to the north. Uturk I'm afraid gave you the wrong info, the insurance you have from a hire car in the south does NOT cover you in the north, and what boredhouewife said was correct, you have to buy aditional insurane for the north, and it is only third party. For two weks insurance this cost us 15 cyp in sept this year.

Personally I didn't find the driving any worse than it is in the UK, ok there are some poor drivers over there, but I have more 'near misses' driving to work every day in England ! The biggest difference over there is that they don't like using indicators and tend to pull out in front of you without warning. Keep to the speed limits and keep your distance. The main problem I had was using a GB edition road map of Cyprus, all the town names (north and south) are in Greek, so as soon as you cross the border south to north it gets tricky.

suntanman



Joined: 18/04/2007
Posts: 721

Message Posted:
06/10/2007 20:57

Forgot to add, some car hire companies in the south do not allow their cars over the border, so choose carefully.

We used http://www.easycar.com they also sub contract with Europcar who ADVISE against taking their cars to the north as their insurance and breakdown cover does not apply in the north.

If you need help with directions to Famagusta crossing from Ayia Napa let me know.

dodger



Joined: 29/07/2007
Posts: 1895

Message Posted:
06/10/2007 22:25

i have driven south to north a couple of times now from protaris to esentepe.we actually crossed at the metehan border didnt realise till just now that famagusta would have been quicker(thanks sun tan man) i think the journey took us about 90 minutes motorway nearly all the way and quite a nice drive actually not the amount of traffic that we get in england.anyway back to the point trotters.



when you hire your car from the south make sure you dont get ripped of ,because when you go in and ask how much, they will give you a price which does not include insurance, then when they actually start adding up the price with all the other extras it will end up being double what you were originally quoted.so ask them straight away what the drive away price will be and alway shop around. some charge for petrol some dont etc etc.the first two hire companies that i tried told me that it was illegal to take a car from the south to the north this is absolute bollocks and just greek propaganda,once they found out that i wanted to cross the border their attitude towards me seemed to change.i knew that it was perfectly legal to cross and made sure that i told them so as well.its just a greek cyp thing but you get used to it.when i went to the third hire company i never mentioned about crossing the border and just hired the car for three days.if you decide to go the metehan border way just head for larnaca, then just before the turn for larnaca carry on for lefkosia (nicosia) carry on until junction 2 troodos mountains and kyrennia.dont do what i did and drive into the centre of nicosia and look for the border (nightmare)when you reach the border you need to ask for a visa to cross into the north not your passport as these are not recognised.the visa is just a piece of paper which they stamp and you sign and date and then you will have to pay extra to insure your car for the north,i think it works out to be about £10.00 sterling.i believe this is only classed as third party insurance though.dont worry about crossing the border the guards are very friendly,you have probably heard of lots of horror stories dont listen to them,you will have no problems.a word of warning though the border is very poorly sign posted, more so when you are coming back from north to south.i have a better idea though, go on holiday in the north its gorgeous good luck and keep in touch with how the journey went sorry it was such a long post.

dodger



Joined: 29/07/2007
Posts: 1895

Message Posted:
06/10/2007 22:28

suntanman,

whats the journey time from napa to esentepe crossing the border at famagusta.

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
07/10/2007 04:14

sorry guys got my wires crossed about fully comp insurance

and the only way you can cross from the north to the south is with your own car and you have to get insurance as soon as you cross the border from the little office

again sorry for the cross wires

suntanman



Joined: 18/04/2007
Posts: 721

Message Posted:
07/10/2007 10:06

dodger

It took us 50 mins to drive from Protraras to our apt in Bahceli, that was including the delay at the border to get insurance an passport checks etc. it was 13km to the border crossing, an 51km total from protraras. Its a nice drive and not much traffic on the roads. There's one stretch when you turn right at Dortyol ( excuse spelling I'm at work and haven't got map with me) thats a bit bumpy and only single track, but the rest is good quality road taking you straight to the north coast, right in the Talitsu/Esentepe/Bahceli area. It avoids any traffic which can be busy around Kyrenia.

lovingcyprus


Joined: 02/03/2007
Posts: 1272

Message Posted:
07/10/2007 13:52

suntanman



You can drive as careful as you can BUT it is the other idiots it is really a high risk thing to take a hire car from south to north.



Here is a question for you, would you drive a car valued at £8-10K in the UK on 3rd party insurance.



I for one would not and I don't think many people would.

suntanman



Joined: 18/04/2007
Posts: 721

Message Posted:
07/10/2007 15:27

lovingcyprus

I take your point, but I AM prepared to carry on hiring cars in the south and drive over the border, and certainly wouldn't call it 'high risk'

I dont really see what all the fuss is about as the standard of driving over there isn't as bad as what people make out. I have driven all over Europe and can think of quite a few places that are alot worse than TRNC. I found the style of driving in Cyprus both north and south to be far more relaxing than in my local town centre back home. After driving all over Cyprus for two weeks I found it very stressfull to return to the British way.

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
07/10/2007 17:55

hi there

i agree with suntanman driving in north cyprus is a piece of cake you want to come over to marmaris turkey the other place i live and see how they drive here!!! then when im over in n cyprus it is like a breath of fresh air

you would either kill someone with your bare hands or someone killing you with their driving

dodger



Joined: 29/07/2007
Posts: 1895

Message Posted:
07/10/2007 19:56

i also agree with suntanman i prefer driving in cyprus to england.

suntanman



Joined: 18/04/2007
Posts: 721

Message Posted:
07/10/2007 20:33

Thanks for backing me up guys, I was beginning to think that I was the only person in the world who enjoyed driving in N Cyprus.

When we picked up our hire car at Larnaca in August we headed towards Protraras on the A3, and not wanting to get clocked for speeding in a foreign country I kept to the speed limit of 100, but after a short while couldn't work out why I was overtaking everything in sight, as back home when I am doing 70 I seem to be among the slowest of drivers on the motorway. I glanced at the speedo to realise that it was giving my speed in mph not kmph I was actually doing about 140 ! oops

Mountain Edge



Joined: 23/02/2007
Posts: 199

Message Posted:
07/10/2007 22:10

I wonder if the police would have believed that one if you had been stopped.

I don't mind driving in the TRNC you just have to expect the unexpected.

pilgrim



Joined: 11/05/2007
Posts: 1404

Message Posted:
07/10/2007 23:39

Had our own car here for 3years driven 8000miles only in north, enjoyed every mile except whilst in traffic jams in Girne. Our car has ZT plates, I understand cars with these plates shouldn't cross border, however spotted next digit ZT plate on 4x4 at Larnaca airport, obviously was picking up or dropping off as spotted again driving towards border. I wonder was he just lucky and not noticed at border or am I misinformed?

regards

p

Trotters


Joined: 06/10/2007
Posts: 20

Message Posted:
11/10/2007 10:45

Many thanks to everyone for the advice. We have not yet decided on the best course of action, might have to get back to you all for the best directions and crossing point