Reviews for Nordic Car Rental in Iceland

I was very disappointed ! The car company was really disorganized and they didn’t have the car we rented! We were given a much smaller car for what we paid!

The car had the check engine light on the whole trip and sometimes wouldn't start, the last day of our trip it died and we almost missed our flight. Not a good experience at all.

The car was in good mechanical shape but there was significant mileage and obvious body damage. Thankfully, Nordic did note that there was damage when we picked up the car and was professional in ensuring that we were not charged for damage that we did not cause.

That was disgusting experience!
I was really dissapointed

The Car was 2014, but that does not mean that this car should be like just after a shooting in criminal area:
a lot of damages: front, number, cup of gas tank, left side was like after a shooting
dirty salon, driving this car was extremely uncomfortable, probably there is a problems with wheels, car always moved a little bit left or right even without a wind...
dirty main window and that is never cleaned.
the box under my right hand was opening every time when the car go a little bit up, or when I slooooowly press a break

that about a car..

about a service.

I waited 40 mins while just one receptionist starts to work with me
Me and my wife have a special credit card with big limit to make a deposits on her name.
This receptionist told me, that I can't use this card to left a deposit, and this is the law! But I had a conversation with a layer in Iceland, and there is no this law!
receptionist overcharged me 48 eur for change a booking and make my wife a main driver, and add me like an additional

That is very very bad service! me and my wife have the same surname, WE BOTH WERE THERE WHEN I PICKED UP this car, and the company charged me 48 eur.

I demand to refund this amount! because this is an extortion

Value for the price was good as well as the service.

Car rental staff are amazing ! They allowed me to swap cars as the other driver didn’t get on with the one we were allocated at the start.
Cars are not the most pristine I have ever seen , but the car we had for six days drove perfectly . Be prepared for a long wait when you collect your car . Staff are working as hard as they can be and seem to never sleep.

The car was as expected and perfect for our trip around Iceland. Nordic car rental was a great choice for us at the start of our vacation.

I booked the car for the F-roads only to find out from the provider that the insurance doesn't cover even the road 35. The car was given to me with no gas and I wasn't sure if I'll make it into the nearest gas station. And during return I nearly missed my flight because at the drop off point they prioritized new bookings over drop offs. I waited 50 minutes for the drop off. I feel cheated, cause your website had good ratings, while the actual rental company is terrible. Never again.

Together with my partner, we decided to book a rental car from Nordic Car Rental due to the low prices. However, I would never rent a car again from this company. We arrived at the airport and waited at the meeting point for almost 2h, despite Nordic Car rental claiming that they will wait already 30min there before the aeroplane landed. After confronting the shuttle driver, he claimed he was at the meeting point, and as soon as he was full he left for the rental agency. After this long waiting time, we then arrived finally at the rental agency to pick up our car. However, I had a very disappointing and impolite experience. The person at the desk was more interested in making the display board work rather than taking care of the customers who have been waiting for hours. When this person was finally done, I confronted her about the poor service. She literally said to us: “That is your fault. You were not waiting at the correct meeting point”. However, after 40 more minutes, we received NOT the Dacia Duster, but a Suzuki Grand Vitara. The reverse gear was very weak and in general, the car felt old. To sum it up, we would never rent a car again from Nordic Car rental. We would rather pay more for more friendly and reliable staff and a better car.

This vehicle was just fine for my journey all around Iceland.
It had several dents, etc all around. Rental agent took IPad photos and so did I, there were no issues with returning the vehicle in same condition. No tire issues, yeah!
This vehicle is not intended for gravel roads as most small vehicles it rides low.
It did not have backup camera, this model may not have had that option in 2015
Here's a couple of items that should be watched. The tire warning light was on after the 2nd day, I watched the tires carefully and there were no issues for 10 days of driving.
The yellow check engine light also came on, this was concerning.
A local car expert explained this happens and is not a concern.
Maybe it needed an oil change??
Need more staff at pickup for both prompt airport shuttle & actual hand off of vehicle. The airport wait was VERY long & concerning at 8 AM on Mon.
First : Very good drop off experience, I was concerned after the pickup experience. I arrived at 530 Mon. waited about 5 min and agent reviewed the return. emailed me paperwork. Put my suitcase in large van and soon a small group was delivered to airport by 6 ish.

Pickup was also very long 30 min average for customer signing docs. plus time to review the vehicle.
There were maybe 30 already people waiting when our shuttle arrived.
I'm not sure total checkout time but in excess of 2 hours & maybe longer, had there been other agency vehicles available I'm sure most if not all of my shuttle would have canceled.

Worst rental experience ever. Picked up the car on Friday July 30. Started to drive the Golden Circle at 2:00 PM. Car broke down at Laugarvatn at 17:30. Called 24/7 service number. They said they needed permission from NordicCarRental to do anything. Repeatedly called and emailed NordicCarRental. No response. Ending up staying in a local guesthouse which was within walking distance. NordicCarRental did not call us until 11:30 on July 31-18 hours later. By that time we had arranged a Taxi to Reykjavik which cost $375. We had to rent another car from another company, and because it was last minute ended up spending $4000 for two weeks. No apology for NordicCarRental. I would give them minus stars if I could.

One look at that depressing waiting room after an international flight was enough to make us consider walking out, but for the lack of cars elsewhere. So we waited, and waited, and waited for over two hours. Rejected the first car: it was filthy inside with over 165,000 km. Second car offered was clean, but equally worn.
Electric warning light came on after first day, but didn't affect the drive. The car worked fine, as promised. Drop off was threatening to be another hour+, but a VERY sweet man hurried it along. In the end, all worked out, but we'll spend a little more and go with BLUE next time.

Thank you for checking in, Nordic Car Company was by far the worst business I have ever dealt with. Checking in took well over 2 hours, not counting the hour and a half we waited for transportation. Everyone that was trying to get their car was surprised by a $3000 (refundable) deposit that could only be given on 1 credit card, which had to be the drivers and also had to be one of 2 specific banks. This was not reasonable for most, if not all, travelers and we all spent a long time figuring out other options. If you couldn’t pay the deposit, your alternative was to spend around $500 in non-refundable insurance. We took the insurance route and then not even 2 days later our car completely broke down. They told us it would take until the next day to get it serviced and that we would need to front the money to pay. After 5 hours of calling and fighting that, they finally paid for our repair. Then, on our last night there we got a flat tire. When we called roadside assistance, we were told we would have to pay to have it changed, despite paying for insurance. We do not have that kind of money, so instead we spent 2 hours, in the rain, in the middle of the night, changing a flat, rusted tire that also had a missing bolt (extremely dangerous). The h fortunate events listed do not even include the many other mechanical issues we had and many other comments on the incredibly poor customer service.

This rental company runs under many different names and is a complete scam.

I rented a camper van the week before renting a car with Nordic Car Rental through a 3rd party called Northbound. The check out took about an hour. They are understaffed and always seem to be way too busy. I asked about adding the mobile wifi but the guy said they don't really work and ton just get a SIM card at the gas station, which I though was a terrible comment from an employee. When I finally got the car it was in a little rough shape. There were a lot of dents, scraps, and wind frame damage with one forward day time running light out, but I guess it was okay because its only needed during the winter time. I got the car on empty and had to immediately take it to the gas station that is thankfully one minute away to fill up. When I tried to fill it up I couldn't find how to open the gas tank, so after 10 minutes I drive back to ask the guy how to open it and it took him a minute to find the lever hiding under the floor mat. The car I had took Petrol 95, which is way more expensive than diesel and burns way more gas. I spent 9,000 Kronas a day to fill it up, but only maybe 3,000 a day in a camper van. after having the car for a day I found out I needed to go home a day earlier and tried to email them and call them, with no response ever to see if I could change the return day and still get a 7:30 am van to the airport because my flight was at 9:30. I decided to arrive at 7:15 and there were 3 groups of people already there, one returning and 2 picking up. Again they are understaffed so I couldn't get checked in and get the shuttle to the airport until past 8 am. I was freaking out because I didn't want to miss my flight but thankfully the shuttle drive was nice and said he wouldn't leave without me! During my wait I witnessed the man being awful to the couple returning the car because they had 600 km limited mileage, but they didn't know that and they also were never told that upon picking up the car. I though it was a very shady thing the care rental company did. I started freaking out that the same thing happened to me but I couldn't look up my agreement because their wifi wouldn't work. All in all I would defiantly advise to just rent a camper van instead, in the long run it'll be cheaper and a WAY better experience.

Northbound seems like a great company though to find what you need.

The i10 was fine for city and golden circle but was a little light for the hwy 1 winds in the south. My rental experience was excellent with fast response from the staff, great price with everything included and no high pressure upsell like others.

We are very satisfied with the service and the car.

The car was excellent.

Great customer service and prices are very affordable. We did not get the Dacia Duster but a similar car which was equally reliable. Pick up and drop off process were smooth also.

The welcoming was rather harsh and stressed but the car was nice and the drop off also was very easy and kind.

Is always short of staff. There was one particular staff that could not handle working along and had to wait for a long time to get my vehicle.

Very friendly pick up, smooth transfer and quick paperwork and pick up of hire car.

Never had a Duster before. Good car, which was perfect for our drives/tours.

Only one point was disappointing. We needed two times jumper cables to restart the car. Luckily we always found friendly locals to help. Was the battery aged and not strong enough anymore to withstand the cold? All potential power users were switched off carefully every time.

nice people, nice car, every thing was oke. we will come back to you to rent a car.

Hello, I was rented from your company as I am advised to. But unfortunately the car was very old and used much. It did not make us feel good. And we had to wait in the airport, it is so unprofessional. My advise to you to find a way to renting without keep people waiting and get some new cars.

We appreciated the simplicity of the formalities before taking the car AND also when delivering it at the end, your reactivity to answer to all our questions on internet.
The car was well adapted to our travel.
Thank you

Hello experience feedback for car rental. We waited 1 hour for our shuttle to the airport the evening we arrived. And the car we had was relatively older over 190,000km which is perhaps normal in Iceland? And the full was not done which forced us to calculate for our return level. It was a little caught up by the free loan of a wifi box so our appreciation is pretty correct. Thank you

Hi.
The Dacia Duster was just fine. The whole trip went great. The thing that bothered me was the deposit that is as high as the price of the car. That was a bummer when we arrived in Iceland. We had to pay additional assurance to be able to go with 720 euros deposit. So i have to add that issue to this review.

It was just perfect for my friend and me. Just a nice small car to drive is through the south of Iceland

My girlfriend and I had an awesome all around experience with Northbound. They thoroughly educated us on the things to look out for while driving in Iceland during the winter (January specifically). The Duster was in great condition and didn't have any trouble with the weather conditions which included a lot of wind and snow. The pickup and drop-off process was very easy with a shuttle to and from the airport. Definitely recommend!

Le Jimny Super, l'accueil Northbound superficiel, retard pour venir nous chercher a l'aéroport et pour finir un tarif élevé

The Suzuki Jimny we had booked wasn't available so we were upgraded to a Dacia Duster which was great - heat seats are a definite perk in the middle of winter! We had no problems with the car and everyone at the Rental Company was really friendly and helpful. We would definitely rent from the same place again when we return to Iceland.

We can highly recommend Nordic. Our car a Toyota Rav4 was nice to drive and very clean. The staff were very friendly and helpful.

Dealing with Northbound was fantastic, easy to deal with and very good communication. Fantastic service.
Nordic was also quite good to deal with and provided a quality service.

It went really well! The car was in decent condition and we were fine driving with the Icelandic conditions. Didn't expect the deposit but at least we got it all back as we were careful with the vehicle.

We actually had a Dacia Duster. It was good.

It was a great little car. Good fuel milage. Had no problems.

Staff were helpful and friendly, upgraded our vehicle free of charge to save us waiting an hour for our original car to be ready, shuttle drivers were friendly and safe. Would recommend to anyone I know looking to hire a car if travelling to Iceland and would use again if I returned.

Not very good. We were returning the car in Reykjavik and went to the address circled on the rental form. Hours on the door were posted that it opened at 8 am. No one was there. It was extremely windy and after the second attempt we dropped the key in the tube.

All perfect, fast check in and out, friendly staff and car was good.

Easy check in process with friendly employees. The car performed as expected, however, we were no able to use the GPS that I added because it would not charge. I tried both power ports. Also, a map with directions on where to turn the car in at the airport in Keflavik would have been immensely helpful. Yes, I would rent a car from Northbound in the future.

Dear Nordic Car Rental,

My experience with Suzuki Grand Vitara was more than great!!
The ride was smooth, four wheel drive was awesome.
The staff was friendly and whatever I needed they where avaliable.
I sincerely recommend it...Nordic Car Rental.

Greetings,

Rok

We did very well with our 4X4. The car was great, and reliably got us across many gravel roads. Both the price and the support from Northbound were great.
Price: I looked at many, many different rentals before deciding on Northbound. We were in Iceland in October, so it was off-season, with a risk of bad weather. Northbound was the perfect choice because we got a comfortable 4X4 that could go anywhere, and paid less than most people paid for two wheel drive sedans. We drove around Iceland for 13 days, and the car went everywhere.
On Service: Before we rented the car, I had two interactions with support, and they were both excellent. While confirming my rental, the Northbound representative informed me that I could get a much better car for the same amount, which was great...likely more paperwork for them, and no cost to me, for a better vehicle.
Also, we had a minor problem while on the road, that had nothing to do with the particular vehicle, or Northbound. We were able to solve it on our own, but Northbound was willing to drive a replacement vehicle to the opposite side of the island, if need be.

All good good.

Easy service for pick up and drop off. Friendly and helpful staff. No issues.

It was really good. The service and people were excellent. The car was fine, the only thing to consider is the alignment of the car, you should check that up. I general it was a very good experience.

Everything with Nordic Car Rental was great. An easy pickup in downtown Reykjavik not far from our where we were staying. The drop-off was very convenient as well with a shuttle right to the airport minutes after dropping off the Toyota. All the staff at Nordic were great and for sure I would use them again.

Our car rental went wonderfully. Very easy check in and out. No problems. The car was just what we expected and worked exceptionally well for us. Thank you Nordic.

I hired a car from northbound for about 10 days with some friends. The car had some issues (a faulty window and door from a previous accident that wasn’t repaired, and an unrelated faulty wing mirror ). The tyres and engine seemed to be in good shape.

The price was reasonable and pick up and drop off processes easy and convenient. I would use this company again. Would have preferred a full to full tank policy as much easier to estimate that 5/8 of a tank when filling up (seems to be common around Europe though).

My experience with the customer service at Nordic car rental is excellent. Staff is very thorough and prompt. However, I did not like the Suzuki SX4. We even doubted if it’s even a 4x4. It’s probably the brand/model but I would be more confident driving my Toyota RAV4 in the ragged roads of Iceland.