News
Insurance news from the Canary Islands, explained in two minutes and without the small print.
· Home
Calima, storms and heavy rain: what does home insurance pay, and when does the Consorcio step in?
Autumn brings wind and heavy rain to the islands, with calima in between. Who pays for what is set out in your policy and in the Consorcio rules. These are the thresholds we work with.
· Car
Brought your car over from home? How long you have to put it on Spanish plates
Every October the ferries arrive full of cars on German, Dutch and Italian plates, and every October the same question lands in our office: how long do I have to put it on Spanish plates? The short answer comes in two halves. If you are here for the winter and your home address stays abroad, you have months. If you have registered as resident here, you have days, and the clock is already running.
· Home
Your home in Tenerife stands empty for months: what does home insurance pay?
Many of our clients spend only part of the year on the island, so the flat stays closed for weeks or months. Two clauses in the policy matter here.
· Home
Volcano, earthquake or storm: who pays in the Canaries
Look at your home or car insurance bill and you will find a small line marked 'Consorcio'. Most people who move here have no idea what it is. Yet it is exactly what pays when something big happens: a volcanic eruption, an earthquake, an extraordinary flood or an extraordinary storm, for example with gusts above 120 km/h.
· Car
Broken down in Spain: what the first two minutes decide
Warning triangles are gone. Since 1 January 2026 the connected V-16 beacon is the only legal way to mark a vehicle stopped on the carriageway in Spain. What keeps you safe, though, is not owning one but the order in which you do things.
· Car
From today Spain requires an emergency corridor in traffic jams
It came into force today, 1 October. As soon as a jam brings traffic down to walking pace or to a standstill on an autopista or autovía, cars have to move aside and leave a clear lane for police, ambulances and fire engines. It is called carril de emergencia, and how you form it depends on the number of lanes.
· Car
Does my no-claims discount count in Spain?
We get this one almost every week. Short answer: bring the certificate and we will try. Here is the longer one.
· Health
Eating well here is easier than it looks
Almost nobody changes how they eat because an article told them to. But moving changes habits on its own: different hours, a different shop, different fruit at the market. That moment is worth using, because afterwards the new habit settles and then it gets hard.
· Home
Connected home: what actually helps if you're away half the year
Plenty of homes here stand empty half the year. For those, home automation isn't a gadget: it's the difference between hearing about a leak the same day and finding the floor lifted in March.
· Health
In the Canaries, sun protection isn't a summer thing
People arriving from northern Europe bring a rule they learned there: sunscreen in summer, the rest of the year doesn't matter. That rule doesn't hold in the Canaries. Radiation here is high for most of the year, and a January day on the beach does the same as one in August.
· Car
The blind spot — on roads like ours
The blind spot is the strip you see neither in the mirror nor out of the corner of your eye. On a straight motorway you barely notice it. On a TF-1 slip road, in a roundabout or on a mountain road with a narrow lane, you notice it a lot.
· Home
Storm season is starting: what to check around the house now
On Tenerife water isn't a problem until it is: it arrives one afternoon, comes down all at once and finds its way in where nobody expected. These are the months when it happens, and almost everything that prevents trouble is done beforehand, not after.
· Travel
Flying from the Canaries with children: what always gets forgotten
Flying from here to the mainland or to northern Europe with children has one part that prepares itself and one that always gets forgotten. The first is the suitcase. The second is the paperwork — and what happens when something goes wrong two thousand kilometres from home.
· Health
Your Allianz health policy changed in January — and it does more than you may realise
There was a letter, a new card and a new app. And still, most people file the policy away and never look at it again. Here is what changed, in two minutes.
· Home
Your home insurance now protects you against illegal occupation — at no extra cost
If you own a place here and spend part of the year away, this is probably the best news of the year — and almost nobody knows, because there was nothing to sign and nothing to pay.
· Car
Do I have to exchange my EU driving licence when I live in Spain?
This is one of the questions we hear most often in the office, and nearly always with the same misunderstanding behind it. No, you do not have to exchange your European licence. But a deadline may be running that nobody tells you about.
· Car
Spanish motor liability now covers up to 70 million — and what happens if your insurer fails
The reform of Spain's compulsory motor insurance is in force and almost nobody noticed. It does not change your premium, but it does change what you can demand when something happens. Four points we think matter.
Information without obligation. The policy and the Allianz information sheets are binding.