Car rental at
Larnaca Airport

Positive: Car at the airport, no shuttle needed. Good price through third party offer (which included private zero excess CDW coverage). Car itself (KIA Piccanto) rather new (25k), without flaws and stunning 4.5l/100km consumption. Professional return (one staff member started being critical of the lines on the side of the car left in the dust by a small branch, calling them "scratches", but the boss just shrugged this nonsense away and accepted the return). Was allowed to change the return time from 14:00 to 18:00 (pickup time was 20:00, so a formality, but still worth mentioning that it was a non-issue). Good fuel deal: pickup full, drop-off full, so no need to arrive on the last drop to avoid wasting money. Negative: as so many others report, when receiving the car there was some pressure put on me to "get an upgrade". Now, I always gladly take a class higher for free, if they want to give out the not needed cars for long-term rentals, but was not willing to pay the "2.5 euro" (per day, of course, not mentioned). When I explained I don't need a huge SUV in the small mountain villages, the strategy changed to "look, the engine is too small for the mountains" (nope, I drove up a road with 28% without issue), followed by "you might want an automatic, do you even know how to drive here" (25.000 km in Cyprus over 10 years, thank you). Luckily I rented enough cars in my life to both dodge this and the subsequent obligatory attempt to make me pay almost double the rental price to have the 1000,- excess (a bit excessive, at that) waived. Also, I always arrive with a variety of credit cards to not fall prey to the "sorry this one does not work, you have to pay extra". Anyway, not the staff's fault I'd say, they were friendly, it's just the routine they have to do as company policy. Overall I had a good car for about 15,- a day, which is reasonable early in the season. The negatives no reason to avoid Sixt, just be aware of the strategies that by now most rental companies apply in order to scare inexperienced renters into additional fees and payments.