# Expat Motorcycle/Car Ownership



## wind4ken (Aug 21, 2011)

Hi, My wife and I will be living in Crete next year (7 months...Oct-June). The site's been good about providing lots of info on Expats owning/renting motorbikes/cars.

- I have a valid driver's license (with a MC endorsement) from my home country (USA)
- Since we are staying over 3 months I plan on addressing the Greek residency issue.

What I'm having a hard time finding out is where to buy or rent a car/bike....and some estimated costs. We are budget travelers. Coming in off-season like we are and arranging long-term rents (or buying)....my questions are:

1. Are used cars/scooters easy to purchase on Crete?
2. Older (not pretty ok...but reliable) transportation is what we are looking for....can someone give us an idea on what kind of purchase price I might be in store for?

Efxaristo
Ken


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## OldPro (Feb 18, 2015)

You should have no problem finding a bike or car to buy/rent given the very large market of tourists rentals.

I don't know if I would go through the hassle of buying given you are staying for only 7 months and especially as most of your time will be off-season when you can expect to get a good deal on a monthly rental.

I'd rent, make sure it is insured (some rental outfits only insure their vehicles for the tourist season). You can drive for the 7 months on your US license with no issues, no need to get a Greek license for a rental.

I'd rent a car simply based on winter weather. You might get by on a bike but some days won't be fun to ride in if you have to from necessity.

Greek islands like Crete have the major rental companies like Avis, Hertz, etc. but also have hundreds of small outfits as well. You would probably get the best deal from a smaller outfit but you need to exercise some care in picking one. ie. such as insurance 

I used to live on Rhodes and if I were returning there for 7 months, I would rent. I would know who to go and rent from but of course that is not the case for you. I would suggest an initial rental for a week or two until you get to know a few people and can ask for recommendations of who to rent long term from. It's kinda like trying to find a good auto mechanic anywhere back home (USA for you). Local knowledge and advice is needed.

Unless of course you get lucky and someone here posts who lives on Crete and suggest a specific company. Of course, you then have to assume they aren't giving you a bum steer. LOL


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## samrvy (Mar 26, 2011)

I've bought and also looked at a few bikes over the years. Compared to UK prices they are far more expensive. I've owned a collection of bikes all my life back in UK so I'm pretty clued up with prices etc. you also need a tax number before purchase , this is also needed for simple things like cell phone top ups for some crazy reason.


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## akeeley (Oct 2, 2015)

We just moved to Crete from the States and are trying to buy a car... which requires insurance... which apparently requires either a Greek drivers license or an international drivers license... so look into that before you commit to buying. We found the car we want to buy on car.gr - it translates to English pretty well, and searches by location/cost/style/etc.
If you are still coming, hit me up, we would love to know more ex-pats on Crete.
Alex


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## DavidFontaine (Jan 30, 2014)

akeeley said:


> We just moved to Crete from the States and are trying to buy a car... which requires insurance... which apparently requires either a Greek drivers license or an international drivers license... so look into that before you commit to buying. We found the car we want to buy on car.gr - it translates to English pretty well, and searches by location/cost/style/etc.
> If you are still coming, hit me up, we would love to know more ex-pats on Crete.
> Alex


I had insurance and I didn't have a Greek or an international driving license. It's now in my Greek wife's name so maybe I just wasn't technically covered but they never asked me.


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