Most of a car hire goes right or wrong in the first fifteen minutes. You have been on a plane, you want the keys, and nobody wants to spend the start of a trip at a counter. Here is exactly how collection works at Luqa, so you know what to expect before you land.
Tell us your flight number
This is the single most useful thing you can give us when booking. With the flight number we watch the arrival rather than the clock — if you are delayed two hours, the car is there two hours later, and nobody charges you for the difference or gives the car away. If you land early, that works too.
What to have ready
Have three things to hand and this takes minutes rather than half an hour: your driving licence, your passport or ID, and the credit card the deposit will be pre-authorised on. The card has to be in the main driver’s name — it is the most common thing that holds a collection up, and it cannot be worked around at the airport.
- The pre-authorisation is placed at collection, so make sure the limit is free.
- Bring the physical card. A phone wallet cannot hold a pre-authorisation.
- Only the named driver can drive — tell us in advance if that changes.
Walk the car with us
We go round the car together before you drive off, and we would rather you were fussy about it than polite. Photograph anything you want recorded. It takes two minutes and it is the difference between a calm return and a conversation about a mark neither of us can date.
Giving it back
Return is at the airport as well. Leave more time than the drive needs — the roads around Luqa carry real traffic at peak hours, and you do not want the handover competing with your check-in. Once the car is back and checked, the deposit hold is released; how quickly the money shows as available again is your bank’s business rather than ours, and it is usually a few working days.
Out of hours
Flights into Malta land late and leave early. If your schedule falls outside normal hours, say so when you book rather than on the day — it is usually fine, but it is something to arrange rather than assume.