Car rental insurance
in Los Gigantes,
and what it leaves out.

What does standard car rental insurance leave out in Los Gigantes?

Four things, and they are the same on every booking on the island: the standard insurance does not cover damage to the wheels, the undercarriage, the windscreen or the interior of the car. Everything else about the cover is chosen per car, and the cover levels on a Tenerife rental are listed and priced on each car before you book.

Say “standard” when you read it, because that is the level the exclusions belong to. A car may offer up to four levels, and what a higher one adds is written on that car, so read it there rather than assuming a level closes every gap.

Where does each car show its excess?

In the car itself, not in the list of results. Open a car and its comparison of insurance policies has a row for the deductible, the most you pay towards damage, at each level: Minimum, Basic, Full and Full Plus. Each entry is an amount, “No franchise” or “Not available”, and it differs from car to car and from level to level.

The deposit is a separate figure, shown on the listing before you book, and a car that holds no deposit sits in the same results as the rest. How the deposit is held and refunded is set out during booking and in your voucher.

Why do those exclusions matter on the roads around Los Gigantes?

Because the parts most at risk on a narrow mountain road are exactly the parts standard cover leaves out: a kerbed wheel, a scraped underside, a chipped windscreen. Rental cars may only be driven on paved public roads, which rules out the tracks in Teno, and the insurance is void for deliberate damage or neglect.

Masca is about 24 minutes and 21 km away without traffic, on the TF-436. That road can be under daytime access control, 09:00 to 16:00 while it is activated for wildfire risk, with control points at Las Lagunetas and Santiago del Teide and an information point at Los Pedregales. Vehicles driven by visitors for purely recreational purposes are refused; residents, owners, people travelling for work, public transport up to 7.5 m and emergency vehicles pass. It switches on and off, so check before you set off, and bus line 355 is the alternative.

Tour coaches in Teno are limited to 10 m and run one way: in from Buenavista on the TF-42, out on the TF-436 and TF-82. Driving the TF-436 south you travel with them; driving north you meet them.

What do you do if something happens to the car?

Notify the rental agent immediately and get a police report, unless the agent agrees otherwise. If either step is missed, the insurance on the car is cancelled and you are fully responsible for the damage. Keep the phone number on the booking reachable for the whole rental, since that is how the agent reaches you.

How do delivery, fuel and parking work in Los Gigantes?

City delivery is the only handover offered for Los Gigantes: the car is brought to the address you give, and whether delivery is included or adds a charge is shown per car. Have the licence card itself and the card in the main driver's name with you at the address.

There is no fuel station in Los Gigantes or Puerto de Santiago; the nearest is the DISA on the TF-454 above the resort. Return the car at the fuel level it had at delivery, since the difference below it is charged and nothing is refunded above it. Parking El Mirador is open 24 hours and has a 2.10 m height limit.

How far is it from Los Gigantes?

Costa Adeje is about 27 minutes away without traffic, Playa de las Américas about 28 and Tenerife South Airport about 51. Teide's Parador is about 54 minutes, and a Teide day from the west coast needs the tank filled first, because there is no fuel station inside the national park.