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Car Rental Review – AutoReisen (Grand Canary Airport, 12/2020) – Renault Clio

Florian Buechting Other Transportation No Comments

AutoReisen Las Palmas Airport

21 EUR / day (super coverage)
AutoReisen Las Palmas Airport
3.9

Rating

 3.9/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Very kind staff and efficient check-in / check-out
  • Good claim handling
  • Superb pricing, CDW with full coverage included

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Comparably old cars
  • Minor damage on the car (windshield wiper)

During my trips to Tenerife, I had cars from the local Canary rental car dealer AutoReisen (which is a German word simply meaning “car travel”) a couple of times. During my first time in Gran Canaria / Grand Canary, I thus decided to opt for them again – and also introduce a new kind of review to the website: this is my first ever car rental review. Hope you like the idea.

 

AutoReisen Las Palmas – The Rental

I booked a car with GPS from 6th to 10th December 2020, rental and return station Las Palmas office. The rental price was 76 Euro (refundable rate) and already includes a CDW without any own liability. In order to be protected against tire damages etc., I paid two Euros per day. Even though I received the car at 11:00 hrs and scheduled to return it at 13:00 hrs, AutoReisen just calculates with a four day rental, so that the total price was 84 Euro with all coverage. Car rental on the Canary Islands is generally quite budget-friendly – but still that price is outstanding. There is no mileage limit, an optional second driver is for free.

 

Autoreisen Las Palmas – The Rental Office

The AutoReisen office at Las Palmas airport is located at arrivals level of Las Palmas Airport. Their office typically features two desks – one facing towards the baggage claim area and one landside (non-secutiry control), but due to the current health checks in December 2020, only the landside-facing window was used. They also have an alternative office, which is only used in peak times.

 

AutoReisen Las Palmas – Receiving The Car

The rental process was very friendly. As I went for a car with GPS, I had to wait some ten minutes at rental before I received the car – all potential upgrades did not feature navigation assistance. The process is very efficient – also due to the high coverage included. “We know our cars” was the only comment on existing damages – and the full coverage made the rental as well as the return very easy. The cars are located in a parking garage right opposite the terminal building. The AutoReisen parking lots require a comparably long walk. As the queues at other rental offices (esp. Hertz) were very long, I likely still had a very quick and efficient car check-in process. The car was fueled with 3/8 full tank – I had to return the car with the same amount of petrol (95 fuel). You pay the full amount at rental – there are no additional deposits.

 

AutoReisen Las Palmas – Returning The Car

Returning the car was as easy as renting it. The staff again was very kind and also handled my claim that I had to service the car very well (see below). The return location is practically the same as the rental one (just different parking lots in the same section of AutoReisen parking lots.

 

The Car – Renault Clio

The Renault Clio had some 80,000 kms and a couple of minor scars and dents. That’s just what you buy in when you book AutoReisen: you might not get the most modern car – but I personally prefer that keeping in mind that some Canary Island roads are really narrow and tricky. The gear shift was a bit of too run down, but did not really lead to problems driving the car.

Unfortunately, there was one major damage, which made me a bit of angry: driving up the Gran Canaria hills (which is typically a bit of rainy), I recognized that the clip holding the windscreen wiper was broken. I needed to head back downhill and grab a new one. This costed me some one hour. As said above, the office was very kind and accepted my claim to receive the money for the replacement (some 8 Euro) without any issue.

 

Renault Clio in Gran Canaria – My Thought

Technically, the Renault Clio feels like a perfect car for this part of the Canary Islands. Especially the roads at the inner part of Gran Canaria are often quite narrow – having a wide car can be quite a disadvantage. On the other hand, the Clio still has sufficient power to still be able to quickly take the steep uphill sections on the island.

One thing, however, has been really negative: the GPS. There were two things which really made me angry:

  • You may in general discuss if a built-in GPS with its lower possibility to be updated and the high costs for it is a better choice against a mobile GPS device or Google Maps. At least, there is that “Hey, I know where you left me last time” advantage of the build in navigation compared to the “Help me daddy, where am I?” of (some) mobile devices. I just don’t know what is wrong with the GPS receiver – it partially took about five minutes until the had good track of its position in Las Palmas. Not acceptable
  • The device is not too user-friendly on Gran Canaria. The touristic center of the island, for example, is Maspalomas. This is also what is signposted on the GC-1 motorway. The political name is however San Batolome de Tirajana. Similar examples occur in many places – I finally pointed on Puerto de Mogan on the map itself to start navigation. The map was also not too up-to-date – you see that there are a lot of roadworks on Gran Canaria.

Apart from the the GPS, my thoughts about the car do not influence my rating of the rental.

 

Autoreisen Las Palmas – My View

Even though there was the technical issue with the car, I still absolutely tend to recommend AutoReisen. After some really good bookings with them on Tenerife, this might have been their weakest performance in my experience – but it was still a really good one. The car was a good option for a trip on the island. I typically rather go with the major car rental brands, but on the Canaries, I just feel best with this local company.

 

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