Cicar Tenerife, renting a car has never been easier!
Whether you are visiting the island of Tenerife for the first time or you already have a good knowledge of the island, we recommend renting a car for your stay on the island. Below we try to explain why and we give you all the information so that you can make the decision you want, that is if this decision is an informed decision and not a whim to try the wonderful cars that companies like Cicar Tenerife North and South can make available to their customers.
Index
Public transport is limited and runs regularly
Here we are going to be very clear and sincere, since that is what it is about informing you and telling you things as they are rather than as we would like them to be!
You may know this if you have already experienced it first-hand, but if we don’t want to warn you, public transport in Tenerife is not an option if you intend to get to know the island!
With the exception perhaps of the metropolitan area of the island ( Santa Cruz and La Laguna area) where the tram option as well as the multiple options of buses will allow you to move without problems, outside this area things get very complicated.
The problem is not the price, which is also the case…. paying more than 13€ for a journey from Puerto de la Cruz to the South airport seems savage! but the biggest problem is the unreliability of the established schedules and the infrequency of the buses on many routes…. Waiting 45 minutes for a bus can become very heavy when the operation is repeated several times a day!
VTCs are still NOT an option on the island!
Although the intentions exist, today the VTC options in the Canary Islands are very limited. While Cabify announced on its website for a while that it had a presence in Tenerife, Uber Tenerife was also shaking up social networks at some point, but the reality is that its operation was never really operational….
They had to book their car a day in advance and a long list of obstacles that made the business unviable at an operational level. But perhaps it should be noted that the biggest problem that all the large VTC operators (Uber Tenerife or Cabify Tenerife for example) that have considered their arrival in the Canary Islands have had is the legislation in force in the archipelago. At present, only one VTC license is issued for every 30 taxi licenses, which makes the service almost unviable…
Car Rental Options, including Cicar Tenerife North and South
The Big Car Rental Brands in Tenerife
In Tenerife, you will find the main brands available at any airport in the world: Avis, Hertz, Budget, Sixt and Europcar all have offices at both Tenerife North Airport, Los Rodeos and South Airport, Reina Sofia.
It goes without saying that the advantage of hiring a car with any of these brands is that, regardless of the greater or lesser kindness of the person who attends you at the ticket office, there are usually no surprises of any kind. You may pay a little more than with a small and local provider, you have to refuse the 3 upgrades that they propose, but it is the price to pay for a placid car rental and enjoy the island with total peace of mind.
And in general, our recommendation would be to hire any of these companies without hesitation, rather than assume the risk of the low-cost company and even (to a lesser extent) the small local supplier.
The low-cost players
For those who travel to Tenerife on a tight budget, obviously low-cost companies are an option to consider as they tend to have attractive prices a priori…. but beware that “all that glitters is not gold”…
When hiring the services of companies such as Goldcar or Topcar, from Tenerife Pass our recommendation is that you read the small print carefully to know exactly what you are contracting and especially when it comes to fuel (many times these companies rent their vehicles from empty to empty tank for example).
In the same way, you should know exactly what is the excess to which you are exposed in case of any breakdown with the rental car, as well as the coverages that are or are not included in your contract…. Some companies, for example, do not cover a simple puncture!
Local Actors
With the time of tourist bonanza – relative, okay! – and the rise of the independent traveller in the last 30 years, the local players in car rental have multiplied. Some have, like Cabrera Medina when he started at the end of the 50s in Lanzarote, a very small number of cars (he started with 5!).
Many of these companies, such as Orlando, offer a correct service, but they have limitations specific to the size of their company: limited staff in case of any problem during the rental, cars not always available in case of any change, fleets that are not always very recent, etc.
Much to our regret, we do not usually recommend any company here with the exception of Cicar Tenerife, which is clearly the exception that proves the rule!
The car rental option with Cabrera Medina, Cicar Tenerife
How the compromise for money that you can find on the island of Tenerife differentiates!
Basically, with Cicar Tenerife you will enjoy the best of the 2 worlds: that of the multinationals in the sector on the one hand and the proximity of a local supplier that takes care of its customers and its image in the archipelago.
Of the multinationals in the car rental sector, Cabrera Medina is inspired to implement processes and protocols for both safety and hygiene – so important at times such as those of the Covid-19 pandemic – such as cancellation policies, insurance and professional fuel, and unlike others, not focused on absent-mindedness through the small print of the rental contract.
In short, with Cicar Tenerife both in the North and in the South you will not have bad surprises, what they tell you is fulfilled and they also have enough volume (not by chance they are the nº1 in car rental in the Canary Islands) in case your car has the slightest problem.
Cabrera Medina is, as you probably already know, a company that has more than 11,000 rental cars and generates 1,500 direct jobs both in the Canary Islands and to a lesser extent in the peninsula.