Otopeni & Payless Rental Car

Henry Coanda International Airport (OTP) is located in Otopeni, 10 miles north of Bucharest. It's a small airport and it was quick to clear customs.

There was a sign posted above the luggage carousel outlining the options to get into town. It warned not to use public transportation that was not listed because of safety concerns and price gouging.

I had reserved a car with Payless Rental Car and was happy we wouldn't have to deal with this for now. I did make note of the options because we would be returning to OTP at the end of our trip and would need to get into Bucharest.

When I reserved the car, Payless was listed as being in the terminal. When we exited customs, we followed the signs to the Rental Car Center but couldn't find the Payless counter. I asked one of the other agency where Payless was located and was told that Payless didn't have a counter in the terminal and usually met customers in the Arrivals area. Back at the Arrivals terminal, we still couldn't find the Payless agent.

We went to the Airport Information Desk and learned that Payless usually had an agent in front of the flower stand at the end of the terminal. We found the flower stand but still couldn't find a Payless agent. Back to the Information Desk. She wouldn't offer any additional aid. I asked if she could help us make a call to Payless but she was not willing to help. I found someone who was at least able to tell me Romania's country code so we could make a call from our cell phone.

We woke up the Payless agent and he told us he would meet us in the Arrivals area in 5 minutes. Ten minutes later, he showed up and walked us over to the Departure terminal where a van picked us up. It was a 5 minute drive to their location, located off site. No wonder Payless was half the price of other options!

Next surprise was learning that we needed an International Drivers License to rent a car in Romania. This had changed just a few months prior. This was not indicated in the Lonely Planet guidebook but then again the guidebook was last updated 2 years ago. I was surprised that Expedia didn't indicate the need for an International License when I booked the car. Never fear. We were able to arrange for one online.

You also need a vignette to drive in Romania. A 7-day pass is €3 and an annual pass is €28, if purchased online. The agency charged us €10 for 10 days, which saved us the hassle of getting a vignette online.




2019 09 16