You have cleared customs and are at the door of the arrivals hall. In front of you stands an agent holding a sheet of paper, and on the paper is your surname. This agent is not going to walk you to a desk inside the terminal. Together you will cross the road to the covered car park, take the lift down to level minus three, and sign the contract there. For most travellers, the Ercan car rental business starts on that floor. With the corporate brands the scene changes slightly — the desk is inside the terminal. There are also firms with no presence at the airport at all; they find you by phone and take you to their own car parks in the city.
A Name Board at the Exit Gate
When booking, you give the firm your flight number and landing time — a required field with almost every company. Staff track the flight. Even if weather delays your landing, the board waits at the gate and no extra charge appears for the delay. The same board greets a plane landing at 00.30 at night. At most local firms, the delivery service runs seven days, twenty-four hours, with no separate night fee. Still, that cannot be guaranteed for every firm; if you are dealing with a small or new company, have night delivery confirmed in a single sentence in your booking correspondence.
The corporate brands sit slightly outside this flow. The desks of Avis, Budget and Garenta are inside the terminal building, at the exit of the arrivals hall; the paperwork is signed there, then you walk to the same car park across the road. The counter is inside, the car outside. The only difference between a name-board welcome and a desk welcome is where you put your signature.
Across the Road, Level Minus Three
The cars of the name-board firms wait on level P3 of the covered car park, minus three by the lift. Several local firms direct their customers to the same floor; the contract and the car are both there. You pay nothing at the barrier on the way out, and both delivery from and return to this floor are free for a rental car.
The third arrangement never touches the airport. Some local firms have neither a desk nor a board at the terminal. After the plane lands, an agent calls you or writes on WhatsApp, picks you up from outside the exit in a private shuttle, and takes you to their own car park about ten minutes away. At one firm, that car park is inside Nicosia. On the return, the same shuttle drops you at the terminal door, and no separate fee is charged for it.
| Arrangement | Welcome | Where the car is handed over | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate brand | Desk inside the terminal | Covered car park across the road | Delivery free |
| Local firm with name board | Name board at the exit gate | Covered car park P3, level minus three | Delivery and parking free |
| Local firm with shuttle | Phone or WhatsApp | The firm's car park in the city, ten minutes | Shuttle free |
The Numbers on the Contract Table
At the table you are asked for a driving licence and a credit card. A licence issued in Turkey is sufficient, and no international permit is required. The card is needed for the deposit and is a condition at most firms; the amount is not charged but blocked. As of August 2026 this hold runs between 3,500 and 10,000 TL, varying by car class and firm. The insurance excess sits in the 500 to 3,000 Euro band; in a minor accident, the portion up to that amount comes out of your pocket. The daily rate for the economy class is 2,400-3,000 TL in summer and 1,700-2,300 TL in winter. Local firms add nothing to the Ercan car rental price for airport delivery. An additional driver is free at most firms, and mileage is unlimited. Weekend rentals have a rule of their own. For rentals falling on Friday to Sunday, most firms require payment for at least three days, while a one- or two-day midweek rental is no problem.
The 50 TL Sign at the Car Park Exit
There is a new practice that began as a pilot on 14 August 2026 and became official on 24 August. To reduce the crush of vehicles in front of the arrivals terminal, private cars coming to meet passengers are charged 50 TL for the first hour. The aim is to pull the cars idling outside the terminal into the car park. Does the Ercan car rental customer pay this fee? The P3 floor the firms use is outside the scheme; delivery and return there are free. If a relative is coming to collect you, the maths changes on their side — the fifty lira is paid by the private car. Do not look for the full tariff on the airport's own website; the site does not publish prices for fear the list would go stale and mislead. The current figure is on the sign at the car park entrance and on the information line. The scheme is only a few weeks old and the figure just as fresh; ask again before the next season comes around.
Renting One-Way and Driving to Kyrenia
Leaving the car park and heading for Kyrenia (Girne), you have 43-44 kilometres ahead of you. Coming down from the Nicosia plain to the coast you cross the Kyrenia Mountains (Beşparmak), which is why the drive takes longer than the kilometres suggest. The steering wheel is on the right, the lane on the left; a moment's hesitation at the first roundabout happens to everyone and passes by the second or third. The red-background Z plate tells everyone on the road the car is a rental.
Can you pick the car up at Ercan and return it in Kyrenia or Famagusta? At firms with a branch in that city, yes — either free or for a token difference. One firm goes further, working on a model of free pick-up and drop-off anywhere on the island. There is no industry-wide figure for one-way rentals; it varies firm to firm. Ask for the drop-off point and any difference to be entered in writing on the booking confirmation.
Two Hours' Grace on Return Day
On the day you fly home, you leave the car on the floor where you collected it; if you are with a shuttle firm, the shuttle picks you up from the city car park and brings you to the terminal door. Up to two hours of delay on the return time is free. The moment you pass two hours, that day is billed as a full rental day. If you plan one last coffee in town before the flight, set your watch by the return time in the contract. The tank is returned at the level you received it — take it half full, bring it back half full. In August 2026 a litre of 95-octane petrol is 68.12 TL; calculate any missing fuel accordingly.
The deposit hold is lifted after you return the car. Two patterns show up on complaint platforms. One is the hold taking weeks to release; the other is a damage claim surfacing later during the return. In one case the money still had not appeared on the card twenty days after cancellation; in another, a 3,500-5,000 TL hold remained unresolved after a full month. In the Ercan car rental business, your safeguard against these two risks is less the contract than the video you shoot yourself. When collecting the car at P3, film all four sides and the wheel rims with your phone, have the existing scratches written into the contract, and repeat the same filming at the moment of return. Ask at the return desk on what date the hold will be lifted, and have the answer written on the contract. Until the hold disappears from your statement, that piece of paper does not go in the bin.
