Automaticcar hireWorth it on the climbs · and still the harder half to find
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 it actually mattersThe climb to the crater →
Spain rents manuals by default, and on this island that default is worth arguing with. Not for the motorway, where it makes no difference at all, but for the hour of switchbacks up to the crater and the single-track roads over to Masca. That is where an automatic stops being a preference and starts being the difference between enjoying the drive and managing it.
There is a second reason, and it is the one that actually applies to most parties. If only one person in the group is confident with a manual, the whole holiday of driving falls on them, and on Tenerife that means every hairpin, every hill start and every descent. An automatic turns the driving into something two or three of you can share, which changes the shape of the week far more than a few euros a day does.
↳ Getting oneWhat the difference costs →
Two thousand metres of climbing does something to a small petrol engine: it thins out, the gearing gets busy, and a car that felt fine on the TF-1 needs working hard. An automatic takes that away entirely, and on the descent it lets you hold a low gear without thinking about it, which is what keeps the brakes cool over an hour of hairpins.
The other place it earns its money is the one nobody puts in a brochure: hill starts. The old roads on this island are single track in places with passing bays, walls on one side and a drop on the other, and being stopped mid-gradient with a local van waiting behind you is a normal part of driving the west coast. In an automatic that is a non-event. In a manual, on a strange car, on a slope, with an audience, it is the moment people remember from the holiday for the wrong reason.
↳ Filter it, do not hope for itAll pickup points →
Search your dates and every car in the results says whether it is automatic or manual, with the deposit and the cover on it too.
Check dates →Live prices for your dates. Free cancellation on most cars.
↳ Booking one without being caught outCollecting at the airport →
01 Book earlier than you would a manual
There are fewer automatics than manuals and they go first in the winter weeks, which are the busy ones on this island. Most cars cancel free, so booking early costs you nothing and holds the car at today's price.
02 Read the car, not the class name
Transmission is listed on each car in the results and class names are not a reliable guide anywhere in Spain. An "or similar" group can contain both, so the car itself is the thing to read.
03 Expect a small premium, not a large one
Usually a few euros a day against the equivalent manual, which over a fortnight is a smaller number than most people assume. Compare the whole booking rather than the daily rate, since the deposit can move the total more than the transmission does.
04 Everyone driving has to be on the booking
The point of an automatic is often that more of the party can share the driving, and that only works if they are named as drivers. Minimum age and licence experience are set per car, and the agent can decline at pickup if a driver does not meet them.
05 The card rule does not change
Bring the licence itself as a card, not a photograph, and a physical credit card with raised numbers in the main driver's name for the deposit hold. Your voucher says whether a debit card is accepted. It is the single most common reason a pickup fails, whatever the gearbox.
↳ When a manual is the better buyWhat it costs to hire →
If the week is the coast, a manual is the sensible choice and the cheaper one. A base in the southern resorts with a couple of trips down the motorway and an evening drive along the front asks nothing of the gearbox, there are more manuals and they cost less, and the money saved is better spent on reducing the excess if the mountain roads are only a maybe.
The line is roughly this: if the crater and Masca are firmly on the list, or if only one person in the party drives a manual, take the automatic. If neither is true, do not pay for it. That is a real decision rather than an upsell, and it is one you can make from home once you know which roads you actually want.
↳ Worth knowingCheck dates →
01 Fewer of them than manuals
There are plenty of automatics on the island and they are still outnumbered, especially at the cheap end. Filter for it rather than hoping, and book earlier in winter when choice is thinnest.
02 Expect to pay a little more
Usually a few euros a day against the equivalent manual. Whether that is worth it depends entirely on whether your week includes the mountain roads or just the coast.
03 Check the car, not the class
Transmission is listed on each car in the results. Class names are not a reliable guide, so read the car itself before you book.
↳ QuestionsWhat the cover leaves out →
The questions below are the ones that decide whether to pay the difference: which roads it matters on, how hard they are to find here, and what an automatic actually changes on the climb and the descent.
Do I need an automatic in Tenerife?
Need, no. Ordinary manuals drive every road on the island every day. But if the crater and Masca are on your list and you are not used to hill starts on a single-track road with a queue behind you, it is money well spent.
Are automatics harder to find here?
There are fewer of them than manuals, particularly among the cheapest cars, and they go first in the winter season. Filtering for transmission and booking early solves it.
Is an automatic better for the Teide road?
Yes, noticeably. The climb is long rather than steep and the descent is an hour of continuous braking; an automatic held in a low gear handles both with less effort.
Which roads is it worth having one for?
The TF-21 up to the crater from either coast, the old road over to Masca, the Anaga ridge, and the climb out of Los Gigantes. All four are long sequences of bends and gradients where a manual asks for constant work. The TF-1 and the TF-5, which is where most of your kilometres will actually be, make no difference either way.
Can I hold an automatic in a low gear going downhill?
Yes, and you should. Every automatic here has either a manual mode or an L or 2 position, and using it on the descent from the crater is the difference between arriving with cool brakes and arriving with a smell. An hour of continuous braking is what cooks the pads.
Can I hire one if I am under 25?
That depends on the car rather than on a rule covering the whole island. Every car states its own minimum age and the minimum time you must have held a licence, and two cars that look alike can ask for different things, so filter the search to the ones you qualify for before you fall for a photograph. Take the licence card itself when you collect, not a copy and not a licence on a phone: the desk is entitled to refuse the car if the age or the experience does not match what that car asks for.
Does an automatic use more fuel?
Marginally, on paper, and it is not the deciding factor on an island where fuel is cheap and the distances are short. What decides it is whether the mountain roads are on your list and who in the party is comfortable driving a manual on them.