7 seatercar hireFor the airport run and the motorway · less so for the old towns
Pick-up & drop-off
Dates
Met in arrivalsno counter queueFree cancellationon most carsNo depositon many carsUnlimited mileageon most carsDeposit and covershown before you bookNo hidden feesprices in EUR
Pick-up
Dates
↳ Where the big car winsSeven seats at the airport →
Renting a seven seater solves the airport run and creates a problem in every old town on the island. Both halves of that are true and the second one is the half nobody mentions. If you are six or seven people with luggage, one vehicle is obviously simpler than two. Just know where it will not fit before you commit to it.
The airport run is the strongest part of the case and it is worth being concrete about it. Tenerife South to the Adeje strip is half an hour of motorway; to Los Gigantes it is fifty-one minutes and to Puerto de la Cruz eighty-two. Doing any of those in two cars means two drivers concentrating in convoy at the end of a flight, and doing it in taxis for a group of seven is a serious number. One vehicle, one driver, one set of luggage in the back is a genuinely better start to a holiday.
↳ And where it does notThe old streets →
The motorways are wide and modern and a seven seater is entirely at home on them, which covers most of the distance you will drive. The trouble starts where the roads get old: the centres of Los Cristianos and Puerto de la Cruz, the harbour streets in Los Gigantes, and above all the single-track mountain roads, where reversing a long vehicle to a passing place is a genuinely unpleasant way to spend an afternoon.
It is worth separating the two things that actually cause trouble, because they are not the same. Width is what hurts on the old roads: a wall on one side and a drop on the other leaves you less room to place the car, and every passing bay becomes a calculation. Length is what hurts in the towns and car parks, where the bays were drawn for something much shorter. Height is the third one people forget, and it matters in exactly one place: underground hotel garages, plenty of which will not take a tall vehicle at all. Ask before you arrive with one.
↳ Seven seats, priced liveAll pickup points →
Search your dates and the larger vehicles come back with their luggage capacity, their deposit and their cover on the card before you commit.
Check dates →Live prices for your dates. Free cancellation on most cars.
↳ The plan most big groups end up withThe crater drive →
Take the big vehicle for the coast and the airport, and hire something small for the mountain day. It sounds like an extravagance and it usually is not: a compact car for two days is a small number next to the cost of a scraped flank on a passing bay, and it lets half the party do the narrow roads properly while the rest of the group has the big car for the beach.
The alternative that works just as well is two mid-sized cars instead of one large one. It is frequently cheaper, always easier to park, and it lets the group split during the day, which on a fortnight with children and grandparents in it is worth more than the convoy is worth losing. It does mean two drivers, two deposits and two sets of paperwork, so price it both ways rather than assuming either.
↳ Before you book the big oneWhat the cover leaves out →
01 Read the luggage figure, not the seat count
With all seven seats up, most of these vehicles have almost no boot left. Seven adults with seven cases will not fit in most of them, and the capacity is on the car in the results rather than something to discover in the car park.
02 Book earlier than you think
There are far fewer of these than small cars and they go first in school holidays and over Christmas, which are the busy weeks on this island. Most cars cancel free, so an early booking costs nothing and holds the price.
03 Expect a larger deposit and excess
Bigger vehicles usually carry bigger numbers on both, and the card rules do not change. Some larger cars still hold nothing at all, and the figure is on the car before you book either way.
04 Everyone driving must be named
On a group holiday the driving usually gets shared, and that only works if each driver is on the booking. Minimum age and licence experience are set per vehicle, and the agent can decline at pickup if a driver does not meet them.
05 Fuel is a bigger line than you are used to
A loaded seven seater on an hour of climbing uses real fuel, though Canary prices soften it. Return the tank at the level you were given; nobody pays you for bringing it back fuller, and there is nowhere to buy any inside the Teide park.
↳ Worth knowingCheck dates →
01 Count the luggage, not just the seats
A seven seater with all seven seats up often has almost no boot. If you are seven people with seven suitcases, check the luggage figure on the car rather than assuming.
02 Two small cars is a real alternative
Often cheaper, always easier to park, and it lets the group split up during the day. Worth pricing both ways before you book the minibus.
03 The deposit is usually larger
Bigger vehicles tend to carry bigger deposits and excesses, and the same card rules apply. All of it is shown on the car before you book.
↳ QuestionsWhat the cover leaves out →
The questions below are the ones that decide whether one large vehicle or two small ones is the better booking: luggage, the mountain roads, child seats and where a long car will not fit.
Are seven seaters easy to find in Tenerife?
There are fewer of them than small cars and they go early in school holidays. If your dates are fixed and your group is seven, book sooner rather than later.
Will it fit on the mountain roads?
Physically yes, comfortably no. Masca and the old west coast roads are single track with passing places, and a long vehicle turns an easy drive into a tense one. Many groups take the big car for the coast and hire a small one for the mountain day.
Will seven people and seven suitcases fit?
Rarely, and it is worth knowing before you land. With the third row up, what is left behind it is a shelf rather than a boot, and that is true of almost every seven seater rather than a fault in a particular one. Seven adults with a case each is the combination that does not work. Six and their luggage usually does, and so does seven for an airport run with soft bags on laps. If your group is seven with full cases, price two cars against one before you book.
Is one seven seater cheaper than two small cars?
Not always. Price both: two economy cars are frequently cheaper than one seven seater and much easier to park, though they do mean two drivers and two sets of paperwork.
Can a seven seater get up to Teide?
Easily. The TF-21 is a wide sealed road the whole way and the park roads are the same, so the crater is one of the few big drives where a large vehicle is no disadvantage at all. It will drink more fuel on the climb and there is nowhere to buy any inside the park, so fill up in Vilaflor or La Orotava on the way.
Do I need child seats, and can I book them?
Children of 135 centimetres and under need an approved restraint in Spain, and as a rule they travel in the back. That is the part that catches groups out in a three-row car: the third row counts as the back and the front seat does not, so a booster cannot simply go wherever there is a spare belt. Add the seats when you book the vehicle rather than hoping to find them at the desk, and say how many and what ages.
Is parking really that different from a small car?
Yes, and it is the thing groups underestimate. Spanish bays and hotel garages are laid out for cars the size of a Panda, so a long vehicle means the far end of the car park at best and circling at worst. Blue-lined bays are the paid ones and the free white ones are always the tightest.