Hire car on Gran Canaria: excess, deposit and what gets added at the desk

The counter is where a cheap booking becomes an expensive one. On Gran Canaria the picture is unusual, and unusual in your favour — but only if you know which of the two very different rental worlds you have booked into. This article quotes the published terms rather than summarising them, because on this subject the wording is the product.

Nothing here is a quotation for your booking. Rates and conditions change, and they differ between suppliers and between rate types. Read the terms attached to the booking you actually make.

The two words that decide everything

CDW stands for Collision Damage Waiver. It is not comprehensive insurance. It is the rental company agreeing not to charge you the full value of the damage — up to a point. Below that point you still pay, and that amount is the excess.

An excess of, say, €900 means: dent the wing and you owe up to €900 before CDW does anything at all. The deposit is the separate question of how that money is secured — normally a hold placed on a credit card in the main driver’s name, released after the car comes back.

Most of the anxiety about hiring cars in Spain comes from those two numbers. Which is why Gran Canaria is worth a closer look.

What two local firms actually publish

CICAR states in its Canary Islands conditions that “the insurance is fully comprehensive without excess”, that “the price includes taxes, unlimited mileage”, that “the child-seats, booster-seats and roof racks are free of charge” and that “the extra driver is free of charge”. On age: “A valid driver’s license is required, with minimum of two years of experience. The minimum age of the driver must be 21 years old” — and a young driver aged 21 to 25 appears in its list of included services rather than as a surcharge.

CICAR does take a deposit, but a specific one: “When the contract is formalised, the customer will be asked for a fuel deposit for the amount with which the vehicle is delivered. This deposit will be returned at the end of the contract if the vehicle is returned with the same amount with which it was delivered.” That is a fuel guarantee, not a damage hold.

AutoReisen publishes zero excess too, and goes further on the card: “No se requieren cantidades para cubrir franquicia. No requerimos ningún depósito en efectivo ni preautorización en la tarjeta de crédito” — no amounts to cover the excess, no cash deposit and no credit card pre-authorisation. A second driver is included at no charge, as are child seats and boosters.

But its age rule is stricter than CICAR’s: “AUTOREISEN no alquila vehículos a conductores menores de 23 años” — it does not rent to drivers under 23, and requires at least two years’ licence.

Two established local firms, two different minimum ages. That is the reason to read your own terms rather than an article about terms — including this one.

If you are travelling with children, one detail in CICAR’s conditions is worth knowing before you pack: its free child seat is described as being for babies from 0 kg to 18 kg, and the booster as being for children between 15 kg and 36 kg, without a backrest — the seat only. The same page states that the seat is handed over when you collect the car and that the customer must fit it in the car. Nobody does it for you, and if your child sits between the two categories it is worth asking which one you will actually be given.

What zero excess still does not cover

This is the part that catches people, because “zero excess” sounds total and is not. AutoReisen lists the exclusions plainly. Not covered: damage to tyres and wheels; loss or breakage of the keys; misfuelling; driving off-road; fines; and theft of items from the car.

Look at that list next to a mountain road with gravel on it, a rental key fob and a diesel pump, and you can see where the real risk sits on this island. Which is also why the same company sells an optional add-on: its “Super Seguro Comfort Plus” covers lost keys, rim damage, tyre damage, misfuelling and a flat battery from leaving the lights on, at €2 a day up to a maximum of €30. That is a published price for exactly the gap in the headline cover, and at that level it is a reasonable purchase rather than a desk upsell.

One further restriction worth knowing before you book a ferry: AutoReisen states that the vehicle may not leave the island it was hired on, and may not be returned on a different island without express written authorisation.

How Discover Cars’ Full Coverage is different

If you book through a broker, you will be offered Full Coverage. It is worth understanding what it is, because it is not a waiver.

Discover Cars describes it as a reimbursement product: you still pay the rental company, then claim the money back. Their help pages state that “purchasing Full Coverage online does not remove the requirement to leave a security deposit at the rental desk”, that you must present a physical credit card in the main driver’s name, and that the supplier cannot see the broker’s cover in its own system — so the standard hold is taken regardless.

What it reimburses is broad: the excess after an accident, vandalism or theft; exterior parts including tyres, wheels, windows, mirrors and lights; bodywork, roof and undercarriage; hit-and-run damage; towing and roadside assistance; lost keys and lockouts; misfuelling; administrative fees for damage; and loss-of-use charges. The stated ceiling is up to €5,000 in total. Interior damage and special cleaning fees, third-party liability and fines are excluded.

The honest conclusion is a conditional one. If you have booked a local Canary firm with zero excess and no card hold, a reimbursement product for the excess is largely buying back something you already have. If you have booked an international brand at the airport on a rate with a four-figure excess and a card hold, the calculation is completely different. Look at the excess and deposit figures shown on your own voucher first, then decide. Compare what the suppliers on Gran Canaria are quoting.

Fuel: the same-level rule, and a local surprise

Both firms quoted above use the same-level policy: take the car with whatever is in the tank, bring it back at the same level, pay for the difference. AutoReisen adds a detail worth remembering — bring it back fuller and you are not refunded the difference.

The pump prices are a genuine Gran Canaria bonus. In the Spanish Ministry’s hourly national price file, snapshot taken at 1am on 19 September 2026, the 180 filling stations on Gran Canaria showed a median of €1.499 a litre for 95 octane petrol and €1.659 for diesel. The mainland medians in the same file were €1.975 and €1.969.

Note the order. Diesel is the dearer fuel here, which reverses the assumption most European drivers arrive with. A diesel upgrade on the grounds of running costs does not make sense on this island unless you are covering serious distance.

Before you drive away

• Photograph the car all round, including the roof, the wheels and the windscreen, with the timestamp on.
• Note the fuel level against the contract, and keep the receipt from your last fill.
• Check the limit written on your own voucher, not the one in any article.
• Spain’s alcohol limits are 0.5 g/l in blood and 0.25 mg/l in breath; for drivers who have held a licence for under two years, and for professional drivers, 0.3 g/l and 0.15 mg/l.
• Fines are the driver’s responsibility under both sets of terms quoted above, and they follow the car.

For where it is worth pointing the car once you have it, see our route through Fataga and Tejeda, and for whether you need one at all, the honest version of that question.