Reviews for Lava Car Rental in Iceland

It was a perfect fit for our journey. Functional and versatile. Plenty of room for the two of us (and our too much luggage). It would easily accommodate another persona and their luggage or four people who are more efficent packers than my daughter and I were.

On the whole the 2017 Dacia Duster is a spacious, good value car and was an ideal choice for the variety of road surfaces found in Iceland! There was more than enough room for four occupents plus baggage. The only slight criticism with the car was a lack of lumbar adjustment for the drivers seat. Lava Car Rental was extremely efficient and helpful with the pick up and drop off process.

There were a few cosmetic remarks, but overall the car was perfect for its age. Technical problems with the sensors. But apparently this model has this weakness. I traveled nearly 2500 km. And everything was fine.

The experience with LAVA could have gone way better; the vehicle had multiple issues and ultimately LAVA also admitted that they should have checked it better before handing it out to me. The refrigerator was not working properly, the backdoor did not open/was blocked, the gas stove can was almost empty already, the electricity ports in the back of the van (usb and 12V) were not working well, the water tank was leaking and the inside of the car smelled TERRIBLY: probably they painted the wooden plates in the van very recently and did not let the air inside the van change or just breathe, so it really felt like toxic fumes when I first got into the car. Eventually after 3-4 days the smell situation was better, but still not ideal. On top of it, on my first night, when it was time to go to sleep, I tried to make the bed and only then I realized that the 2 mattresses in the car were not matching in size, meaning I had to sleep on only one (there was no room to align them together). In my case, this was a "small" issue cause I traveled alone. But in the case this had happened to a couple, that would have been a huge problem, making it not possible for two persons to sleep in the van.
On my second day I went back to LAVA office and asked for another mattress and to check everything else, cause I had to spend 15 days in that car. Martin, the employee who took care of me was really kind and helpful, and also very sorry for all the issues. They offered me to change car but honestly the one they offered was even worse (refrigerator and water tank were not "fixed" and at every turn they would have fallen on the ground), so I declined this offer.
I have to mention, when the mechanic guy came out and I asked to check the backdoor and fix it, he answered with "I have to go to lunch now". It was 11am and I was already there waiting since almost 90minutes. He took a hammer and "fixed" the backdoor. I then apologized, thanked him and said I would leave. Worst icelandic experience of my 2 weeks.
All around, I knew the Nissan NV200 was the cheapest option, and in all honesty I have to mention that the car (engine, tiers etc.) worked smoothly; but it is BY FAR very different from the pictures on the Northbound website. If I had known that, I would have gone for a different model.
LAVA then tried to make it up for it and refunded me with 250€ at the end of my trip, which was nice even though it is not much at all. At least they appeared to be sorry and apologized for all inconveniencies. I am also sorry I had to go through this, I am a very easy going person and I don't like to complain etc., but in this case it was all just too much.
Regarding Northbound, you guys offer an amazing service and what I value the most is your customer support. I have been in touch with Thordis for weeks and she always found the time for replying to my many emails. Simply awesome!! I know that in Iceland the competion in the car rental field, with camper van and so on, is very tough; nevertheless, opting for the cheap solution and selling it as a "great offer" when it really is not so great, might work as a boomerang. So my suggestion is either to lower the price for this old models with huge amount of km (my Nissan had more than 140.000 km when I picked it up) or to offer better solutions for newer models.

Thanks again,
Luca

Car was ok, but with lot of scratches. The arrange thing for me is that Lava Car Rental didn't give me any documents after car returning. They Just said that everything is ok.

We enjoyed our experience with the van rental. The van had everything we needed for our trip and drove very well. It was also very good on fuel which kept our fuel cost down so that was a plus! When we picked the van up it did already have some superficial damage but these defects were recorded by a member of staff so that didn't bother us at all. Overall our experience with Lava was a great one, when we mentioned that the offer we chose on the website stated free GPS, we were actually upgraded to wifi due to the GPS holder being broken so that was very kind of you. Only reason I have given 4.5 stars instead of 5 was because our cool box in the back of the van unfortunately stopped working half way through the trip. Also, I think it would be a great idea to include a jump pack in all rentals just in case, especially for Iceland travelers due to the periods of time which can pass on the road without coming across another car or village for help. Luckily we didn't need one but like I said, I think it would be a good idea for future reference. Thank you!

Booking through Northbound was flawelss and without any complications. The car itself could use some maintenance, but nothing serious, so overall it was a very good experience :)

Car was a bit old but did its job perfectly, staff is very friendly and professional, clear information and no problems at all. Highly recommended.

We had a brand new Hyundai Tucson and it was PHENOMENAL!

Everything was good.

Awesome experience with Lava Car Rental. They were helpful and everything went well.

We will visit again in 2 years and for sure will rent an electric car. If Lava / Northbound could provide it by then, we will use yout services again.

We rented the lava camper for 8 days! It was wonderful. It was a great way to see Iceland and complete the ring road! We were able to see so much more while using this camper van! Service was fast and friendly! My only complaint about the lava car would be there was no window curtains, which made changing in the van quite difficult. We ended up having to make a make shift curtain with a blanket but all other similar camper vans we noticed while at campground had a curtain which would have been convenient. Also there was a few times some dash lights came on (on and off) for our 8 day trip but they went off eventually and didn’t affect our driving at all. Overall I would recommend lava car to anyone looking for an affordable way around Iceland’s ring road!

We liked the price and how everything you needed was included. We had a couple of problems with the van, the passenger window never rolled down. Didn’t know if it was stuck or frozen? Also, found it strange that there was no handle to open the side sliding door from the inside.

Using Lava was fine pick up and drop off from the terminal worked well.

The Duster was OK but well used and gave no issues.

This rental was cheaper than most and perfectly acceptable.

Perfect car for touring on Iceland. Simple, sturdy, did the job.

We had a great experience! Communication with the team was very easy, they were waiting for us at the airport to take us to the rental site which is about 5 minutes away. The car was as described, in a very good condition and prices were the best we could find.

Rezerwacja samochodu była łatwa, odbiór oraz zwrot przebiegał sprawnie . Obsługa bardzo miła i pomocna. Profesjonalne podejście do klienta. Samochód Dacia Duster czysty i świetnie sprawdza się na Islandzkich drogach. Polecam.

Car booking was easy, pickup and return were smooth. Staff very nice and helpful. Professional approach to the client. The car Dacia Duster is clean and performs great on icelandic roads. I recommend.

Lava Car Rental is a good car rental company. The pickup to/from the airport was excellent.

The car however Dacia was old and was very bulky around the Icelandic roads. Maybe it was the car itself or the roads which are very potholed in some places because of the weather. You need a 4x4 car in Iceland in Winter because of the icy roads.

However the car did what we needed for the time we were there.

Nice people, very good car, reliable service

I'd highly recommend Lava Car Rental. The vehicle was as planned and very clean. The staff was extremely friendly as well.

Une découverte pour nous de voyager en van et une expérience super . Tout était bien . Le seule point négatif c'est que nous avions pas pris l'assurance gravillon sur le van nous avons croisé un camion sur la route 1 qui nous as projeté un cailloux sur le pare brise = fissure facturation du pare brise qui fait mal !! Sinon dans l'ensemble super . La personne que j'ai eu par mail tout le long de mon voyage de chez Northbound super répond tout le temps et attentive à nos questions même avec la barrière de la langue rien a redire .

Smooth experience with Lava, booked via Northbound. We were easily able to amend our booking via email when we wanted to upgrade our insurance and add wifi. We were collected at the airport and after a short wait driven to the rental location. Car was fine and we liked having the option to hire a slightly older car to save money. Drop off was OK too, albeit the staff on duty at that time barely even spoke to us except to mutter we could go and we had to ask about getting a lift back to the airport.

Overall we would recommend both Lava and booking via Northbound.

Easy service to use, personal service, professional staff. I would use these guys again above others, they made it so easy and affordable to hire a car.

The car had some issues, only noticed later on when i was already far to go back to change the car.
The reverse gear was jumping off, some gearbox problems were making almost impossible to reverse the car in a slow speed.

The back wipers was so bad that was not cleaning, just making the glass more blurry.

Tire pressure warning on the second day. Solved after putting air and reseting the system by myself.

The reverse camera was not showing a proper image, even after trying to clean it, clearly a camera problem.

The 3rd gear was scretchy, also a gearbox problem.

The car was all beaten up when delivered, clearly the worst look dacia on the road, compared to same car from other rentals.

All in all i was expecting a better car analisys and test before delivering it to the client.

This car was very nice with the 4x4.
Unfortunately the navigation system wasn't working.
In addition to this the car wasn't in good conditions. Many dents, leaking wheels and one part of the headlight was defective.

Best regards
Chris Richter

Everything was great, the car worked well. The only remark that I have is customer support. Yesterday on Monday I called the car rental a couple of times during working hours and nobody picked up.

Perfect experience with Lava car rental, really good car, efficient staff

For its age and the weather in icelend it’s great.perfect!

Our full-time 4WD Duster carried us around the entire Ring Road comfortably & handled the winter roadway conditions very well. The backup camera was continuously (internally?) fogged, as it gave only blurry useless views despite clearing it of ice & snow. Pick up, drop off & the shuttle services were easy & smooth.

Nada mas salir a carretera salió una alerta de neumático deshinchado o pinchado, por lo que volvimos, comprobaron los neumáticos y nos dijeron que con este tipo de neumáticos ocurría
El último día nos aplazaron 24h el vuelo y nos dejaron alquilar 1 día más el coche, aunque el precio pagado es superior al del resto de días

El coche no nos ha dado problemas ni en nueve ni en hielo

A very good experience! Thankyou

The car was clean, prepared for winter, ran smoothly. Basically what was described was what we got. We did not encounter any issues.

Well, it was my choice to go for a 2017 model, but I was not expecting a car with more than 200.000 km of life; the driver seat was slightly moving when hitting bombs and the front wheels were not at all what you were expecting when you have to face Iceland winter, as too much used and with a small number of spikes (back wheels were much better). One wheel was visibly low pressure when we rented the car and we had to ask to be fixed, and they forgot to mention we had discounts on the fuel provider (one lady at a counter of N1 mentioned it to us).

Great car and amenities

Great service.

From start to finish the car rental was seamless and made our trip to Iceland fantastic. We knew we didn’t want hotels and tour companies and hiring a van gave us the freedom to move from place to place at our own rate. I’ve never slept in a van before and was worried campervanning in Iceland would be miserably cold but our van was wonderfully cosy and warm and we slept so well each night! I was so grateful for the overnight heater! We had no problems on the road whilst driving. We both have Volkswagens back in the UK so were familiar with the inside of the van. Definitely a cheaper way to see Iceland and great if you love driving and seeing some insanely beautiful scenery. The ability to hand the car back at the airport was also a huge help as our flight home was very early. This made our lives a lot easier. I couldn’t recommend this company more and if we return to Iceland we’ll be using them again. I will definitely recommend this to friends and family.

good shuttle service, very friendly employees and in our specific case the car was very comfortable and well prepared for the trip, totally recomendable

the car did its job except that it had some damage to the exterior of the car, otherwise it behaved as expected. on the other hand the transfer has been correct both from the airport to the office and vice versa and fast

Lava Car rental employees we’re easy to work with, the car was perfect for winter driving. Felt solid on the road when there was ice /snow, the studded tires and 4 wheel drive were perfect. I would definitely use this company again.

We booked a Nissan X-Trail for 7 seaters from Lava Car Rental through Northbound during the week of Thanksgiving. First time of using both companies, in general the experience was really good. Booking process with Northbound was easy and clear. Received email confirmation right away after booking.
On November 22, our flight arrived 30 minutes earlier than scheduled, we were picked up within one hour by Lava Rental rep and were driven to the rental office, which is not far from the airport. The office appeared well set up, no waiting line and the check in process was smooth. At the first, the car appears to be smaller than the typical 7-seater SUV at home, and we struggled a bit to consolidate all the bags and settle 6 people in it. I did ask if there was another bigger car available and was told that was the last one. It was dark outside, we used the iPhone flashlight to check the car around and found two dents on both side of the door, we notify the office that they said a note was made for that.
For the next six days, we drove the car in the southern part of the island, it worked very well, no complains. There was some snow and ice on the road, but with 4X4, no issues at all. We stopped at N1 gas stations for diesel, there is a discount card on the key chain, but somehow it didn’t work properly. Maybe we should’ve asked about how to use it.
The return process to the rental office was quick and easier too, we were able to fill the gas tank full before returning it and make it to the office one hour earlier.
Overall, the experience was much better than expected, comparing to some scary stories heard over internet.
We plan to go back to Iceland again in a different season and would like to use the same service again.

Great experience, friendly staff.

Dear northbound Team,

thanks for the opportunity to comment.

The land and the people were fantastic. I really did enjoy my time in Iceland, even though the weather wasn't always kind during the trip.

Unfortunately I have to raise a few points regarding my rental. From a riding perspective the car was doing more or less a fine job, even though the rainsensor for the wipers was broken, so the wipers only knew stop or full throttle. In a little bit of rain this was very infuriating, as you had to manually adjust all the time. Additionally the breaking pads in the front were faulty and were gone after a few hundred kilometers which made the onwards journey not only a bit nervewrecking, but looking back also a bit dangerous.
This was also a big part, why I ended my trip two days early and gave the car back on the 18th of November and not as booked on the 20th.

Overall the condition of the car was not completely as I imagined.
In the windshield there was a gravel damage which if it was not properly handled beforehand, could have easily damage the windshield further. Additionally the car had on both front doors damages from overextending the doors from wind, as well as different other damages on the chassis. Considering the overall condition of the car, looking back I would not choose the same insurance package again...

Also:
The lighting in the back was not working. Not the two small booklamps and not the light on the ceiling, which was supposed to be the main light in the back. The only light working was the one for the back door which was linked with the car main battery, which always runs the danger of depleting the main battery.

Also the interiour was very dirty and moldy. This did have an impact on breathing. And I never fully felt comfortable.

The camping gear provided with the rental was in parts faulty or broken. Case for the gas stove was broken, one chair provided etc.

I am not an overly picky person, but all in all I expected something a bit different.

As I was already a few kilometers into my journey when I noticed all these things, I decided to keep going, but with faulty breaks during the challenging weather on a roundtrip of whole Iceland I did no longer feel safe. Therefore the earlier return.

I raised these concerns very early to Lava Car Rental, but never got a reply or a comment. When I returned the car and raised my points again in person the clerk in charge assured me, that he would have his boss look over my concerns. Until now, I did not get any amendmend from their side.

Also the interiour of the car was very spartanic and not at all as I imagined it. As it was functional this was no great concern, but there was a only a cheap fitout of the car with wooden boards with no insulation whatsoever, which made it necessary to run the heating system the whole time and to position oneself away from the outside walls, which were blank metal.

Summary:
- The car was functional, but faulty in parts; maybe even dangerous with faulty breaks and also with the mold an health hazard

Best regards
Bastian

The car was great and the experience with Lava Rental too.

Excellent

Really enjoyed our ten days with this car. Never once had a problem, went over snow packed roads, sleety roads and rain slicked roads like a champion. Would recommend this car to anyone visiting Iceland and it’s unusual weather changes.

Friendly service, no nonsense. The car was well equipped for traveling along the roads of Iceland.

The car bring us to the final destination - we had couple of issues because the car need service