Car hire recommendation: how to get your rental car delivered quickly in Alicante, Gran Canaria, Tenerife or Malaga Airport

Low cost car rental companies in Spain often turn out to offer only marginally lower prices than the cheapest regular rent-a-car providers. While most people are interested in saving money, the saving is often minimal when choosing the cheapest offer.

This does not discourage budget travellers though, especially in the busy tourist destinations as Malaga, Alicante, Tenerife and Gran Canaria, where a long queue to the rental desk is usually the flip side of a very appealing price.

The new Mini Clubman, also available as a rental car.

With a little planning, however, it is possible to avoid frustration queuing at the car rental desk. Here are some recommendations for a quick pick up of your hire car.

1. Avoid the cheapest rent a car companies
For as appealing as a rock bottom price of a rental car may seem, often  £10-20 extra may buy you an incomparable quality of the rental experience, especially when it comes to the waiting times at the counter. In addition, the fees for optional services are usually lower in offers with a ‘regular’ price, compared to low-cost deals.

There may even be money to save if you consider the price of a baby seat rental or the fee for additional driver into the total cost of the rental. Always check the prices for optional services in rental terms & conditions before booking.

2. Choose a car with the ‘meet & greet’ service
Very few small (and cheap) car rental companies in Spain can afford having a counter in the terminal of a major international airport.

The off-site rent-a-car agencies either provide a shuttle bus to their offices (which is a time-consuming and a major hassle for travellers with a large amount of luggage or, for example, families with small children) or offer ‘meet & greet’ service. In the second case, the company’s representative awaits the customer in the arrival hall to accompany him/her to the rental car parked at the airport parking.

The rental contract is signed, the paper work completed and payments made via portable terminal on the spot. The meet & greet service may save you a lot of time, provided that the employee shows up at the airport on time. On occasions a phone call to the car rental company announcing the customer’s arrival is required, but usually the procedure woks fine.

3. Send the driver ahead
Groups of travellers may shorten their journey time by sending the person indicated as the driver to the rental desk immediately after getting off the plane and into the arrivals terminal. This way, and with some luck, by the time all the luggage has been collected, the driver has also been handed the keys to the rental car and the whole party may proceed with their journey to their holiday resort.