Benidorm
Centauro started right here in 1973 with six yellow Seat 600s and is now one of Spain’s biggest rental chains — its Benidorm office is still open. That said, Benidorm is the one town on this list where a tourist probably doesn’t need a car at all.
What it costs
There is no public per-class price list for this town: the big companies price dynamically by date. As a Spain-wide benchmark, expect around €90 per day off-peak and around €175 in August.
Where to rent
- Centauro Rent a Caroffice in townchain
Good to know
- Flat terrain, long promenades, Llorente buses and the TRAM line to Alicante and Dénia — in town a car is more of a burden than a help.
- Renting makes sense for trips inland: Guadalest, the Algar waterfalls, the mountain villages.
- The centre has a paid blue zone that expands in both area and hours during the summer.
Rental terms in Spain
- The deposit (fianza) is blocked on a credit card: usually €800–2,000 depending on the class. Major chains often refuse debit cards. Buying out the excess at the desk costs €15–30 a day; a third-party policy bought in advance is cheaper.
- Minimum age is typically 21 with at least a year of driving experience. Drivers under 25 pay a young-driver fee of €10–25 a day, and some classes are off limits to them entirely.
- Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are parties to the Vienna Convention, as is Spain, so national licences are legally valid. But they are in Cyrillic, and in practice both rental desks and traffic police expect an International Driving Permit alongside the national one — bring it.
- Choose full-to-full: pick the car up with a full tank, return it full. Full-to-empty schemes almost always mean overpaying. Refuel within 10–15 km of the drop-off and photograph the dashboard and the receipt.
- Add a second driver when booking: at the desk it runs from €2 a day with some companies to €12 with others. The desk is also where you will be offered “super insurance” at a higher price than the same cover bought online.
- The AP-7 along the whole Costa Blanca and up to Valencia is currently toll-free, including the Alicante ring road. Paid sections remain only south of Crevillente.