How Canarias.com manages 1200 vehicles on Europe's most in-demand island

Canarias.com is Tenerife's leading tourist mobility company. It offers vehicle rentals, private transfers and excursions, with 30 locations operating in tandem and a fleet of 1200 vehicles. When tourism demand surged after the pandemic, the company needed more than just cars, it needed control. Partnering with Geotab transformed the way Canarias.com manages its fleet and led to direct improvements in operational efficiency, maintenance and service quality for tourists.

The challenge: Airtight operations

Tenerife is no ordinary tourist destination. Welcoming 8.5 million tourists a year—out of 14 million visitors to the archipelago—there's an intensity to operations on Tenerife that few European markets experience. For Canarias.com, this means huge peaks in demand, non-stop arrivals and departures, and a fleet that's always moving between locations and needs to operate with precision.

The turning point came with the post-pandemic recovery. All of a sudden, the market bounced back. There were more tourists and fewer available vehicles on the island. The demand was there. Canarias.com could see that. The challenge, then, was operational.

Before Geotab, the main problem was that the company lacked real-time visibility. Locating a specific vehicle, confirming that a return had been completed and checking which units were actually available all required time, phone calls and manual checks, which exponentially increased in the peak season. Maintenance was another critical issue. During peaks in demand, some vehicles would clock up extensive mileage in just a few days, and planning interventions without reliable data meant a greater risk of unexpected breakdowns at the busiest times.

"Wasting time locating a car, confirming a return or checking which units are actually available, significantly complicates operations." Juan Daniel Vallecillo, Director, Canarias.com.

Why Geotab? Going beyond dots on a map

When Canarias.com weighed its options, it was not just looking to locate vehicles. There were already solutions for that. It wanted a tool that would allow it to make decisions based on real data, which would increase its control, improve its responsiveness and be of practical value to its teams in their daily operations.

Geotab met all three of these needs. The portal provides near real-time visibility across the entire fleet, accurate mileage data for maintenance planning and the ability to manage incidents before they become a problem. For a company operating across 30 locations on an island where response time is a key part of the service, this made all the difference.

"We needed a reliable, straightforward and practical tool for everyday use, not just dots on a map. Geotab was a great fit for us because it gave us that visibility, helped us streamline our operations and worked well for a company like ours, where every minute counts." Juan Daniel Vallecillo, Director, Canarias.com.

The operational transformation: The numbers behind the service

Geotab's impact on Canarias.com's operations can be measured in terms of time saved and breakdowns prevented.

The time spent locating vehicles was reduced by approximately 30%. Incident management improved by around 25%. Coordinating internal transfers between locations, one of the most complex aspects of a 30-location network, became 20% more efficient. And unscheduled maintenance dropped by 15–20%, ensuring fleet availability during periods of peak demand.

In practical terms, this reduces uncertainty for the team managing the fleet. It means fewer calls to confirm a car's location. Less time resolving late returns or vehicles that aren't where they're supposed to be. More time for anticipating instead of simply reacting.

"We now spend less time locating vehicles, less time verifying incidents and less time coordinating internal transfers between locations. The team doesn't have to spend as long searching for information, giving them more time for solutions." Juan Daniel Vallecillo, Director, Canarias.com.

Preventive maintenance is where the most strategic impact has been felt. In the peak season, an unexpected breakdown doesn't just mean repair costs, it also means that that vehicle isn't generating revenue when demand is at its highest. With Geotab, near real-time mileage tracking per vehicle allows interventions to be planned with great precision, reducing the risk of faults and maximising availability.

The impact that can't be counted

The tourists arriving in Tenerife, often exhausted from their trip and expecting high-quality service, don't see the dashboards or fleet data. Their experience is whether the car is ready, whether the transfer is timely, whether the operation actually works. Canarias.com has used fleet management to benefit its service.

For the management team, the most valuable change has not been any one piece of data, but rather peace of mind. Working with real information reduces blind decision-making and the operational stress that comes with uncertainty. For Juan Daniel Vallecillo, it all comes down to visibility, peace of mind and efficiency.

"With Geotab, we've stopped wasting time searching for answers and our work has become both faster and more precise. For operations like ours, this ultimately means better fleet availability and better customer service." Juan Daniel Vallecillo, Director, Canarias.com.

Time to get ready for the next 15 million

The Canary Islands are getting ready to welcome over 15 million tourists a year. Tenerife is introducing an eco-tax to manage the pressure of overtourism. The operating environment will remain challenging and the ability to be proactive, not just reactive, will become increasingly key.

For Canarias.com, the way forwards is clear. It aims to streamline inter-location operations, improve fleet planning and leverage data more effectively in decision-making. In a market where tourism demand is booming and there is little room for error, near real-time information is no longer an operational advantage but a competitive necessity.

"On an island like Tenerife, where tourism demand is booming, having access to near real-time information will prove increasingly important. We see Geotab as a tool that will continue to support us as the industry evolves." Juan Daniel Vallecillo, Director, Canarias.com.