Which Tenerife Car Hire Company Should You Actually Book?

Booking a rental car in Tenerife means choosing between a genuinely wide field — a handful of strong local operators, several large international brands, and a middle tier that’s cheaper but riskier — and the headline price alone rarely tells you which category you’re actually in. Two companies charging near-identical daily rates can leave you with a €400 hold on your card or a €2,300 one, a same-day deposit release or a two-week wait, a calm five-minute pickup or a twenty-minute upsell conversation. This page pulls together the specific numbers and review patterns from our full breakdown of each company, so you can see the real differences side by side before picking which deep-dive to read in full.

The Bottom Line, By Scenario

• Want to avoid a deposit hold entirely? Autoreisen takes none at all, not even card details at booking.
• Want the largest fleet with a low, low-risk deposit? Cicar holds just €200–€400, with zero-excess built into the standard rate.
• Want the absolute lowest headline price and are comfortable managing some risk? PlusCar is often cheaper, but with a genuinely mixed track record worth reading about first.
• Booking a big international name because of availability or brand familiarity? Europcar is generally solid but carries a higher excess (€800–€2,300) and a stricter fuel policy.
• Seeing a very cheap Goldcar quote? Read what their reviews actually describe before booking — the pattern around desk upselling and contingent deposits is the most consistently documented of any company covered here.
• Sticking with a familiar global brand for loyalty points or network reach? Hertz is a reasonable choice, but reviews describe a specific, repeated “pre-existing damage claimed as new” dispute pattern worth preparing for.
• None of these is objectively “the best” — the right choice depends on how much you value avoiding a deposit hold versus fleet size versus absolute lowest price versus international brand recognition.

How do the deposit amounts actually compare?

This is the single clearest, most checkable difference between these companies, and it varies far more than most renters expect going in. Autoreisen sits at one extreme with no deposit at all; Cicar holds a modest €200–€400 depending on vehicle category; PlusCar’s stated policy is generally deposit-light but has drawn enough complaints about surprise deposits (particularly for debit-card payers) to treat with more caution; and the two international brands covered here, Europcar and Goldcar, sit meaningfully higher — Europcar’s standard excess runs €800–€2,300, while Goldcar’s contingent deposit for declining their own insurance has been reported as high as €3,000 in some reviews.

Which companies build zero-excess into the base rate, and which sell it separately?

Autoreisen and Cicar both take the same fundamental approach: full, zero-excess insurance is part of the standard rate you’re quoted, not an upgrade you’re offered at the counter. This is the structural reason both consistently outperform the international brands on review sentiment around the pickup experience specifically — there’s no insurance conversation to have, because there’s nothing to upsell. Europcar and Goldcar both work the opposite way: the advertised rate includes a high standard excess, and reducing that excess toward zero means paying for an additional cover product, a conversation that happens at the desk rather than during online booking. It’s this exact structural difference — not fleet quality or company size — that explains most of the desk-friction complaints documented across our piece on pushy add-on tactics generally.

What does each company’s review pattern actually look like?

Genuinely different enough to matter, once you read past star ratings into what the reviews specifically describe. Cicar and Autoreisen both show consistent, specific praise — no deposit drama, no fuel disputes, straightforward pickups — the kind of pattern that reads as a company living up to its own stated terms. PlusCar splits fairly evenly between very positive (fast pickup, same-day refunds, particularly for credit-card payers) and genuinely concerning (unexplained post-return charges, slow contested refunds, a handful of “shady agent” accounts) — worth reading the full breakdown rather than assuming either extreme. Europcar’s pattern centres on desk upselling and post-return charges that weren’t clearly flagged at handover, though generally without the more serious escalations reported for Goldcar, whose reviews describe the most consistently aggressive desk pressure of the five, including contingent deposits at the very top of the range and, in a minority of cases, more serious disputes over declined cards and refused pre-purchased insurance.

Does a lower price always mean a worse experience?

Not automatically, but there’s a real pattern worth being aware of. Autoreisen and Cicar both manage to combine competitive pricing with consistently strong reviews, which shows that “cheap and good” genuinely coexists in this market — it’s not purely a price-quality tradeoff. Where the pattern does hold is specifically around PlusCar and Goldcar: both can be genuinely cheaper on headline price, and both carry a documented, higher risk of a difficult desk experience compared with Cicar or Autoreisen. The honest read isn’t “cheap equals bad,” it’s that the very cheapest quotes in this specific market are more likely to come from companies whose pricing model depends on desk-side upselling to make up the margin.

How do the international brands compare with each other?

Europcar and Hertz both come across as steadier than Goldcar — a higher excess and a stricter full-to-full fuel policy than the local operators, but without the same volume of the more serious complaint patterns that show up in Goldcar’s reviews specifically. Hertz’s distinctive risk is a specific, repeatedly documented “pre-existing damage claimed as new” dispute pattern at return, where Europcar’s centres more on unexplained post-return charges — worth knowing which specific risk you’re weighing before you choose between them. If you’re picking an international brand purely on Tenerife-specific review pattern rather than brand recognition alone, both Europcar and Hertz read as meaningfully calmer than Goldcar, even though all three structurally rely on a high-excess-plus-optional-waiver model rather than Cicar and Autoreisen’s zero-excess-as-standard approach.

So which one should you actually book?

If minimising deposit risk and desk friction matters more to you than anything else, Cicar or Autoreisen are the clearest choices, and the decision between those two comes down to whether you’d rather avoid any deposit hold at all (Autoreisen) or work with a larger fleet (Cicar) — covered in more depth in our direct comparison of the two. If you specifically need an international brand for availability, loyalty points, or a route not well served by the local operators, Europcar is the steadier of the two international options covered here. If the absolute lowest price is your priority and you’re willing to actively manage some risk — paying by credit card, documenting everything, booking direct — PlusCar can work out well, but go in with eyes open. Goldcar is the one name across this comparison where the documented pattern is consistent and serious enough that it’s worth a genuinely deliberate decision to proceed, not a default booking made on price alone.

FAQ

Which Tenerife car hire company has the lowest deposit? Autoreisen takes no deposit at all. Cicar is the next lowest at €200–€400, both well below the €800+ typical of the international brands covered here.

Is Cicar or Autoreisen better for a Tenerife rental? Neither is objectively better — Autoreisen suits anyone who wants to avoid any deposit hold entirely, while Cicar offers a larger fleet with a low, low-risk deposit. Both consistently outperform the international brands on review sentiment.

Is PlusCar safe to book for a Tenerife rental? It can be, particularly if you pay by credit card and book directly — but the review pattern is genuinely mixed, unlike Cicar or Autoreisen’s more consistently positive record, so it’s worth reading the specific risks first.

Which is the safer international brand to book in Tenerife, Europcar or Goldcar? Based on documented review patterns, Europcar generally shows less severe desk-pressure complaints than Goldcar, though both carry a meaningfully higher excess than the local operators.

Do all Tenerife car hire companies charge a deposit? No — Autoreisen is a notable exception, taking no deposit and no card details at booking, which is unusual compared with most companies operating on the island.

Is it worth paying more to avoid the companies with worse reviews? For many renters, yes — the price difference between, say, Goldcar and Cicar is often smaller than the potential cost and stress of a high contingent deposit or a disputed post-return charge.

Where can I read the full breakdown of each company mentioned here? Each has its own dedicated page: Cicar, Autoreisen, PlusCar, Europcar, Goldcar, and Hertz.