Reviews for car rentals in

Iceland

The car was fine - a little worse for wear (132,000km on the clock), but it ran well. The problem came when we returned it at the end of the holiday. At that point the Ice Rental rep identified some minor marks on the engine hood/bonnet. We do not believe that these were due to any actions on our part, but we could not prove this. These marks were superficial at most, and could without doubt be polished out.

Despite this, we were given a quote of 90,000 Icelandic Krona for repair (i.e. the cost of a respray or new bonnet), which we were in effect forced to pay there and then otherwise it was clear we would not have been given a lift to the airport. We are now trying to resolve this with our insurers, and I am considering raising a complaint through our credit card company.

Whilst the holiday was otherwise fantastic, this experience left a sour taste in our mouths. I would consider using northbound again, but will certainly steer clear of Ice Rental on our next visit to your beautiful country.

I'm rented a 4x4 in December. My flight was postponed until the next day because Keflavik airport was closed ( weather reasons). I had warned Northern Lights Car Rental.
Tomorrow, the agent couldn't no longer find our reservation. Once the car is in possession, after 15 min of driving, two orange LEDs light up. On the phone, we are told that it's nothing serious. Moreover, the wiper (water jet) didn't work. I'm disapointed especially in severe weather alert. It was the second time i came to island and the first time i rent by northern lights car rental

Our flight had 3 hours delay, so I informed the rental company about it. However, as we arrived, there wasn´t anybody to pick us up. After 2 calls and ca 1 hour waiting somebody came to drive us to the car rental place. I chose the rental company because of the price and free GPS. But the GPS didn't worked at all. The guy showed us our car, but he did not check if the GPS was working properly. I had to return it 5 times!!! Every time he gave me a new one, it work for 2 minutes and then it shout down. It was because the adapter he gave us was not working, not the display. But he did not try it with us at all (after he gave us the keys, he had new customers and did not bother to help us). He told me, if we have problem with the GPS, he could offer us some discount as soon we return the car, so I gave up and we used our mobile phones whole time. As soon as we returned the car (ca 1,5 hours) before our flight there was no time to discuss the discount because there were 2 other customers waiting...

The car was great and the staff were very nice, however there was some confusion with the pickup and we didn't get picked up until an hour after our designated pickup time. This was rather upsetting as it made us late for plans that we had. One, the sign used for pickup did not say northern lights car rental as the main company, but another company name instead, causing confusion. Additionally, the driver only stayed at the airport for about five minutes and did not ensure that all customers, including us, had been accounted for. I would suggest improving this part of the process.

We did not have any issue with the car while we were travelling. However, the car was dirty when they gave it to us. The bedsheets were smelling very badly like they have been left in the car and not being washed. For the drop off, we picked the time 6am on the website but what a surprise to realise, when we arrived there, that the office only opened at 7am. Also, every time we had to call their emergency number nobody replied. Finally, we had to remind them the features we have paid extra for as they did not even check our booking.

Vehicle was OK. It was old and in pretty beat up condition. The front tires should not be in that vehicle as the drivers side was almost bald and the passenger side not much better. Hi nice you got over 85 km it would shake. I never really noticed due to the bad weather until the start of day 3 that was the problem. We had a short period of time to tour the island and I was not going to waste time trying to get a vehicle changes out when we were in the north east. I informed the rental peon when dropping by off and they made a very small concession in regards to waiving a $30 admin fee for missing the tunnel fee but otherwise was not really given any compensation for that part which was a fairly significant safety issue and slowed us down appt.
Keith

Our actual car was a Kia Sportage. It was 4WD and was fitted with studded tyres. An agent was waiting for us at the airport to take us the to the car rental centre and the return trip to the Airport was done as soon as we were ready.

Thanks for reat support we came to the office recive car (They offer us some varanty or they will freez 2 500€ on my bank acount which was quite suprise for me but to be onest when return the car I was happy that we used extra insurence because of Iceland weather and road condition) however guys in office was good sens of humor and I can say if you would like to o to Iceland Northbound and Northern Lights Car Rental is good choice. :)

Our experience was very good, I would recommend to others!

We rented our car from LavaCar using Northbound as the agent. We had a great experience without facing any problem from start to end. They are taking you from the airport with a shuttle to another place where the car rental companies are located (5 minutes drive). And of course they drive you back when you bring back the car :) The only problem was the guy asked me to check the car if there are any extra problems than written in the paper but the weather was awful. Car was covered with snow and ice and it was night. So I said OK without checking the car properly. But at the end, there was no problem at all. Thank you for the service with great price.

We had some issues with the car. Luckily it happened on days where we had some time to spare. So it didn't ruin anything, but it was a bit annoying.
When breaking (on any road) and taking turns on gravel roads, the steering wheel started shaking pretty bad. And on gravel roads you could feel the car drifting off.

The battery died after leaving the lights on for 15 minutes when we parked and stayed in the car. It was quite hard to put on the cables right, because the contact points of the battery were corroded.
Then a few days later the cooling liquid was empty and the engine kept overheating. After calling to ask which color liquid we needed to put in, a mechanic was sent to take the car for a checkup. After the checkup we would get a new car the next day. We drove to a camping to stay the night and would meet the driver with the new car the next day. He would be there at 8 but still wasn't there at 9...

The services offered by Fara Touring vehicles was decent, with airport pickup available within 15mins of a call and as early as 5am. Vehicle condition was very good as well. However, I am actually in the process of sorting out a damage claim by Fara as the right mirror was broken. It appears that the Premium Insurance Package that I have chosen was still not enough to cover this, although I was under the impression that this would reduce my excess liability to 0. The company is now charging me 162,000 ISK for a complete right mirror housing, which seems excessive.

Icerental 4x4 was really good. All the staff were very kind and accommodating. They have a shuttle service to and from their office and the airport and are open 24/7. The only reason why I didn't give them an exemplar rating was because of a few reasons. 1) They were about 30 minutes late than the scheduled meeting time -- causing me to text their local number and thus, be charged mobile carrier rates -- and stress out a little bit. 2) The car we rented was in good condition, however in about the middle of our trip, one of the water pipes came out and we lost 2L of water. Thankfully we were at Akureyri (Iceland's 2nd largest town) and they have a service center in that area that solved the problem for me. The Icerental 4x4 staff was very helpful when we had the breakdown and made sure the problem was solved right away. 3) The large deposit required. I was asked to block €2,500 off my credit card as safety deposit for the car...

We did not get the Ford but it was ok to get another car.
Maybe it's a good idea to check the cars more often.
The car didn't have a full tank of gasoline. Both of the gas
cannisters were almost empty, so i had to buy a new one.
The screenwipers are so bad that i had to drive really slow
when it was raining (really dangerous).
But the most annoying thing was that they told us to use
some kind a of a wrench to flip the chairs. The handles to flip
the chairs were gone... If i rent a campervan i don't want an improvised
car. I want everything to work properly. especially the things you use every day!!
they were really friendly on the phone but told me that everything worked and if i wanted another car i had to wait for a day. We had a really tight schedule so we chose to
keep the car. If it all worked properly it was a great camper, but now i don't know if i
would rent here again.

The car went well and easy to handle. The pick up and drop off was quick. But we are not happy with the GPS. We couldn’t find the places we wanted to go. It always said no result was found. We asked for the refund but was rejected. I strongly feel that I shouldn’t pay for something that didn’t work.

Car was a little older and well used than was expected but didn't affect our enjoyment and it got us to the places we wanted to get to. The whole process of booking and collection was hassle free. Will definately consider booking with you again if we return to Iceland.

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

Great service, reliable 4x4 car and close to the airport. Thank you

The car was comfortable and drove well, although there was a problem with the GPS system so we had to use our phones and Google Maps in the end.

Great car and good service! Easy shuttle to/from airport. No problems! (except the weather)

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!

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

the staff are very helpful

The car wasn't great, it was quite different in terms of what it looked like versus what we received for hire. The car was covered in dents and rust as well as it not being very robust. I opened the door for entry and a wind blew the door back which resulted in me receiving a £1,900 invoice for damage. The hire was only £400 for the week, my holiday in total was £2,000!

The services I received were really satisfactory. Starting from the moment I landed in airport, I was picked up shortly after I called for the shuttle to the car park. All details were explained in the office, including what is covered by the insurance, what are the precautions needed for driving in winter, general guidelines and tips about Iceland.
The car itself was as advertised, even though I picked a lower-end vehicle, it had features like 4x4 drive, cruise control, heated seats, built-in navigation etc. and was in a good state, clean and fresh.
When it comes to return process, it was very smooth and took around 10 minutes, after which a shuttle took us back to the airport.
Definately I have to recommend this rental service.

Thanks for the perfect service. The car was really good and reliable. We had a great experience with Lotus Car Rental.

SUBARU FORESTER 4X4 AUTO FREE GPS/4G WIFI BOX 2019 - it was a good vehicle but no instruction manual on how to use the car that would have been helpful, also no snow brush inside the car to clear off the snow and ice. Otherwise the car was great and no issues

We chose to rent our car with Northern Lights Car Rental based on a recommendation from another traveler. We would definitely rent from them again. They were prompt to pick us up at the airport, customer service was spot on during the rental itself, and their prices were better than others we had looked at. During our trip to Iceland we drove out to Jokusarlon and experienced some very snowy/icy roads during our trip. However we never had any issues driving.