On holiday in Crete and it’s all been a bit of a nightmare so far. Less than 20 minutes after leaving the airport, I had an accident in the car hire vehicle swerving to avoid an oncoming scooter. It ended up in the vehicle needing to be recovered and a €140 taxi journey to our accommodation 90 minutes away. We arrived at 4am and were scrabbling around on the mountain in the dark trying to find the right villa. We almost let ourselves into another villa until we noticed the drying swimsuits outside.
I’m on day 3 of the 10 day holiday, and it’s apparent we won’t be able to stay here without a car. It’s a 40 minute walk up the mountain away from the town. We did a taxi trip on the first morning for groceries, but the taxi had no seatbelts. I felt awful for allowing my 12 year old son to ride without a seatbelt but felt I had little other options at the time.
The car hire company aren’t being very responsive. I’ve got a police accident and other paperwork, ready to start their accident process but so far, have not had the promised call back from the ‘manager’. I’d need to give them another €1500 damage deposit and travel back to their offices 90 minutes away to collect a replacement vehicle. I’m reluctant to authorise any more charges to my card until I know the extent of the original liability. I took out indemnity insurance separately but I’ll need to pay any cost up front. I emailed my insurer yesterday to start the paper trail.
The accommodation hosts haven’t been very helpful and just sent links to car hire companies. I haven’t seen them or heard from the at all in person. AirBnB have been better and are offering to cancel and refund unused nights. I’m checking if they can book a property that has availability now.
As it’s just me and my 12 year old, I’m struggling to keep it together. I feel isolated in the mountains without a car and I’m worried about the liability from the accident.