Be Careful If You're Renting a Car in Albania: Not Bringing This in Your Backpack Could Cost You Hundreds of Euros

About 12 years ago, more or less, I started to plan my own trips. My university years were spent hopping between the dingy bars of Madrid's nightlife, snatching up cheap flights to discover nearby corners, and juggling various side jobs to finance them. When it came time to enter the job market, I made sure to choose a job that would allow me to continue exploring the wide world. I've become my best travel agent: I know exactly what kind of things I want to do and what to skip, striking the perfect balance between discovering and enjoying without rushing; and I efficiently create my itineraries and must-have lists. But, and this is something that will always happen to anyone who travels, there will always be something I'll discover upon arriving at the destination that I couldn't have predicted.

On our last vacation, we opted for Albania. We had heard so much about the European country, it was so close, and frankly, it's so cheap that it deserved a shot. We went there, as always, with everything perfectly organized: a complete itinerary that alternated between the metropolis, Roman ruins, medieval villages, and the Albanian Riviera; small hotels booked, planned activities, and a rental car. The detail we didn't consider was precisely related to this last ingredient.

Since our plan was to move around much of the country, it became evident that renting a car was convenient. In Albania, there are two main options: renting from a reputable company or from a local citizen. We went a bit crazy trying to decide which one was ideal, and the truth is that in the end, both options seemed to have similar pros and cons. The agencies had really bad reviews on Trustpilot, but offered more guarantees and cars in better condition. Eventually, we made the decision based on who offered a reasonable price for a model that would be useful for the plan we wanted to execute. In our case, it was an agency called FlexWays.

To avoid any kind of trick - and somewhat scared by the reviews - we hired a comprehensive insurance from home that was offered by the car comparison platform where we had made our reservation. It's true that these insurances are more cumbersome to use than those offered directly by agencies, as they require you to advance the money in case they claim some damages and then request reimbursement; but they usually work well and are much cheaper.

We also took the precaution of obtaining an international driving permit (remember that Albania is not part of the European Union). The truth is, we didn't need it at any point: both at the agency when picking up the car and at a police checkpoint where we had to identify ourselves, they accepted our Spanish driver's license. But for the cost (about €10), I believe it's worth having the peace of mind of carrying it.

However, there was one precaution we never thought would become necessary, which is to carry a credit card with embossed numbers. Upon arriving at the car rental company, since we weren't going to purchase comprehensive insurance with them (remember, we already had it through a third party), we had to leave a deposit that covered potential damages to the car. Here came the problem: the only way to make the deposit was with a card that was in the name of the insurance holder and that had embossed numbers, meaning that it had to be raised.

This type of card was widely used during the 20th century when banks were still using the engraving technique to record customer data. With the popularization of electronic registration methods, they started to disappear from the early millennium, with printed number cards or even non-numbered cards becoming the global standard. Nowadays, in Spain, it is rare to see debit cards with embossed numbers, as their use is more common for other services like health insurance cards.

Nevertheless, in several Balkan countries, the use of embossed cards remains the norm. Due to the particularities of the Albanian banking system, regular payments can be made with flat cards, but fund-holding operations, such as a deposit for renting a car, must be done with raised cards. All of this, of course, we learned after arriving at the FlexWays headquarters, looking like fools after pulling out all our cards and finding out that none of them were embossed; and researching that, indeed, this is a common problem in the territory.

If you receive this information before embarking on your trip, my recommendation is to request a card with embossed numbers from the bank. If it's too late, the bad news is that the only thing you can do is pay for the comprehensive insurance offered by the company itself. Since this is a payment operation and not a fund-holding operation, it should be possible to do it with a conventional card.

The unexpected payment for this insurance cost us a few hundred euros. The good news is that when we contacted the comparison platform through which we had already booked the other insurance, they had no problem and refunded the amount; as I mentioned, it is a common issue. The downside is that yes, the company's comprehensive insurance was significantly more expensive than the one we had arranged ourselves. But our options were to pay it or be without a car.

In conclusion: traveling to Albania by car can be wonderful if you are prepared. And having an embossed card in your wallet can be more useful than even the international driving permit required.