Reviews for car rentals in

Iceland

Hi Thordis,
I will be direct to the point: the experience was below terrible. I think 3 cars in 10 days is really not a good ratio, to be honest. The first Dacia, the screws of the wheel got loose while driving - not 1 but 3 of them - and the other was completely lose and about to pop. Imagine if this wheel pops out, hit another vehicle at 90km/h while I lose control of my car? Doesn't look good right? Bonus: the car had NO TOOLS (no car jack, no screw key, no TRIANGLE!) Second Dacia: everything seems normal. We are driving, the car dies mysteriously. So what was wrong with this one? Well, apparently the sensor to measure the diesel level is somehow broken, and it tells us that we still have diesel when we don't. The car died on the highway, in a foggy day, again no triangle, and we could only hope that nobody would hit it. Bonus: we had a snowmobile tour scheduled for just before the car broke but all plans for that day had to be canceled...

When we arrived at the airport we waited a bit before the guy from the company showed up, but disappeared very fast, so had no chance to go with him. Ended up calling and had to wait for him coming back, so all in all a wait of 1 hour.
The car we had was very damaged. We understood that it is normal with the roads in Iceland, but this seemed a lot more than other cars we met on the road and that our friends had leased at other companies, and this made us doubt the safety of it. Furthermore the window in the front right side did not work, USB port was destroyed, and generally the car was just old and in a bad shape.
Luckily I took photos of each damage and scratch, cause some damages were questioned when we came back, and I could document that there was no new scratches.
The personal was not very service minded - they were short in their replies, and made you feel a bit more like a problem than a customer...

Finally we didn’t rent a toyota rav4 because company hadn’t any available. Instead of toyota they gave us a suzuki t cross. So we are very disappointed about this. Northbound was an excellent company though.

Good service but first car had a broken windscreen, which we refuse to take. Friendly service and rather bad communication. They didn't tell us in advance that the office wasn't open when we should return the car. They should have informed us, we shouldn't have to ask.

We had a great experience renting through Northern Lights car rental. The whole process went very smoothly, and when we had to modify our dates (because of plane cancelations), we had no issues at all, they were very accommodating and helpful.
I will definitely use their services next time we come back, and would recommend renting through them!

Although the car wasn’t that new , 200.000 km, we didn’t have any trouble during our 3,5 week tour. Seats were good. The only thing was that the engine started to smell after going uphill for a while . That didn’t give any problem. Highly recommended .


any troubleshooters

Very positive experience, friendly staff, dependable rental. I was hesitant to rent from a smaller company as it is a bit more of an "unknown", but my experience was overwhelmingly positive. The staff was friendly, helpful, and the car was great!

Free upgrade for Hyundai Tucson. Thank you!
Come again twice next year and will book a car from northbound. Sorry about some changings before because of canceled flights. Hope you will come through this bad times and wish you many new bookings.
Kind regards
Gabriela

Excellent Service and support.

The car was very low. For me it wasn't enough for F-roads. I expected a higher car. We had a breakdown during our trip. We crossed a river and the car stopped due to water damage. When I called the Mycar hotline, I learned that water damage was not covered even though we had selected a fully comprehensive insurance package. While we were picking up the car, we were not told that, although we asked several times whether everything was covered. The employee said only the underside of the car was not covered. And said nothing about water damage. This is not a good service. Mycar obviously tries to hide this and does not provide any information about such damage. After it has happened and the customer finds out something like that, it doesn't help. In the end we received an invoice for almost 11,000 euros. And threatened to pay us immediately before we leave the country...

everything fine

Very positive experience. Free upgrade to automatic. No problems with the car whatsoever

A few days before our rental we informed if an upgrade to a 4WD would be possible but unfortunately we didn't receive reaction before our rental pick up time. When we showed up at the address were we would pick up our car it turned out the office had moved to the domestic airport (due to corona) and after a few calls we got a ride there. Geysir said this was Northbounds fault but Northbound said this was Geysirs fault. The Dacia Duster now wasn't available so that was a bummer. I must say things didn't start great, but we received a compensation from Northbound which we appreciated. I think we just had bad luck, but it wasn't quite what we'd expected.

I would say it was not so good, not so bad.
First of all, we went to collect the van, and the one they gave us was not the one we asked. We asked F. Transit Connect with a special distribution in the back and they wanted to give us a Docker without the space more than the bed. The Docker was very new but the back space was less. As far as we told them we asked about the Transit 2006, they showed us the van... it was so old!! This van cannot be for rental any more!! It has problems with the gas deposit...So, we told them that if we have any problem, I will claim and show it in their web. At last, they reconsidered the subject and give us a newer F. Transit (for 3 people) that they have available so after the fight they do it ok.
During our trip, the front wiper stopped working and we called to 24h service. They told us they agency will call us but they never did. We wait one full day more, calling again to 24h...

The communication and the retrieval of the van went smooth.
Northbound is highly recommended!
I just wouldn't chose the Dacia Dokker again, because of the interior noise we experienced. Every night our ears and head hurt due of the constant noise.
I suggested to pay a little bit more and chose a more "silent" car.

The car was in poor condition. Halfway the journey the battery went dead. Northern lights told us that we probably left the lights on, which is not true. They would look for someone who would be able to give us a jumpstart but we were ofcourse on the other side of the island. There were no starter cables present in the car so after looking for a long time we found someone willing to help who also had starting cables. Since northern lights had not yet reached out again. Later that day the car wouldn’t start again, we bought our own starting cables and found someone willing to help.
I told northern lights and they told us to go to a repairshop in Akureyri. There they could tell us that it was a cable which was connected poorly and got loose and disconnected the battery from the car.
Furthermore the cooling fluid was empty. As in totally empty. We had to refill it with water while traveling...

All over it was good. But the car had some warninglights on. Engine, inspection, air pressure in the tired. We always checked. The could be in better condition. It is not really able to go on f-roads with it because of the tired. They were down and should be replace. We didn't go to all places we wanted to go.

Hae Thordis.
I know this is simply a standardized form, and that you already know about the issues we experienced with Fara. We didn't end up with this vehicle (the Hyundai), but they swapped out for a Subaru instead which has been better. In the age of COVID travel and people's plans changing unexpectedly, it would be helpful for the rental agencies to allow early returns and at least partial refunds (if not full) of days left on the contract. I understand the problem this may cause them, but it definitely causes problems for the customer and can also cause future customer loss if someone chooses not the rent from them anymore because of this inflexibility. If they do not want to allow early returns, there should be specific language in the rental terms and conditions stating so to avoid confusion and so that the customer can make a choice about whether to rent from them because of it...

Before arrival in Island I was asked to look at a shuttlebus schedule and tell wich departure i would like to be on. I told that i would like to be en the 16.20 departure.

When I arrived at the meeting point there was no sign of the driver. When I call the driver I was told that he would be i the airport shortly, but he had to take another family to the car rental facility before us and we had to wait for another 20 minutes.

This is really bad service and I don't understand why they have a timetable if they do not use it. It is a waste of my time to ask me to look at at timetable, if it is not in use. We had to hurry trough the airport to be at the meetingpoint on time and then being told to wait for 20 minutes.

I cannot say much about northbound since it forwarded me to the final company where I rented the car, in this case Lava rental.

My review about Lava rental is a bit mixed, some good things and some other ones not so good:

1- When I arrived at the airport there was no one there to pick me up. I called them and they arrived in something like 10 minutes. I understand this since they are taking customers back and forth all the time.

2- When I arrived to their offices they treat me well and was attended quickly which was good. The whole process took about 15 or 20 minutes. The car had a few bumps but I guess it's more or less normal for a 4x4 car.

3- The Dacia Duster 4x4 was quite good for driving in roads and F roads but inside cities and towns the first and second gears are two short so it makes driving a bit inconvenient. This is just related to the brand and model and not at all about Lava rental cars but next time I will choose a different car...

The service was very good, including picking up and returning the car. The car we got was not in the best shape, but worked fine. However the door broke, so we got a new one with really good service, but this car could also use a small helping hand, so it was in a better shape, fx the lamp inside was hanging, the breaks-lamp was lightening in the display, the heat in the car only worked sometimes and the doors was not in the best shape either. But all in all the car was very fine and worked as it should, and lava provided good service, so we are satisfied. The transporter in general was a very good choice for driving in Iceland, and sleeping in.

The car was clean inside, and ran well, no difficulties with the rental process; booking, recieving and returning the car.

However I had some general concerns about the service:
- the website was unclear regarding the deposit required. The first time I saw mention of a deposit was after we had booked the car and it was part of the information attached to the confirmation email.
- similarly it was unclear whether I had to pay a deposit when taking out insurance. I had to email the company to explain this.
- the driver that picked us up from the airport (he explained he was new) didn't know all the companies he was collecting customers for.. we had to wait over an hour at the airport for him to return (a second time) when I had to point out to him that "Northbound" was on his sign.
-the free GPS was impossible to use. Having been notified that we would have a GPS I opted against renting the in-car WiFi...

We didnt got Jimny we specifically were looking for but got Dacia Duster which was disappointed. Also because we saw Duster 10.000ISK cheaper at your site and 20.000ISK cheaper at other sites so this was definitely downgrade for us. Also the car wasn't in good condition.

I have got a well maintained Jimny, especially tires, brakes and windshield wipers worked very well, what is essential when driving on F-roads or in hard weather conditions. Thank you for receiving a clean car with clean equipment and roof tent as well. I have to mention the reliable and quick response from the northbound staff, especially Thordis, when having any question. In total, the booking experience and customer support from northbound.is was outstanding! My best experience in Iceland after already 15 visits!! TAKK FYRIR FROM ISLANDSVINUR NICO!!

wonderful experience, excellent service and more than a car, the ideal partner !
thanks so much, in particular Thordis for her availability and relevant advices , without you this amazing trip wouldn’t have been so fabulous !

We did not get the guaranteed model but a Suzuki Grand Vitara. I think it was a higher category but used a lot of gas and the car seemed really old and noisy. Some things were obviously broken or worn down.
The camping box included what was described but could have been better quality i.e. the thermos didn't keep the heat, the pan was dirty and there was no sharp knife to cut.
Sleeping bags and roof tent were okay but no high quality, they weren't warm enough for the cold nights and the roof tent didn't keep the rain out for long.
We had a great trip and the car with equipment was okay, it enabled us to go relaxed on all roads.

I used the services of Northbound by renting from Lava Car Rental for my trip to Iceland.
I strongly recommend their services for the value for money and they are very serious. I rented a dacia duster in very good condition much cheaper than with international companies.

Excellent experience! Best prices, easy booking and handover processes, friendly people. The car was in a very good condition and we did not have any issues during our entire stay. Thank you for everything! Next time we come to Iceland we will surely choose Northbound and Star Car Rental again.

It was good, on the whole. We had to start our trip early at short notice and Nothern Lights were flexible in being willing and able to provide a care a few days early. The first car we drove off in had a bad rattle so we went straight back, the guy agreed and swapped it. Nonetheless, the second car had a (lesser) rattle which we put up with for the trip, but the car functioned well.
At pick up, we had to prompt them to give us the sat nav (we had been offerred the choice of free sat nav or free additional driver). Unfortunately after the first day the sat nav stopped working correctly - the touch screen stopped working. Lucky we had our phones.
At drop off, they had barely sufficient capacity to transfer to the airport. We had to (just) squeeze in to the minibus with two other families - not great in COVID times. The guy at Norther Lights at drop off was grumpy to the point of being quite unpleasantly rude...

Very good service and friendly people. The rental is really very expensive (about 280€ per day), but campsites are cheap.
Volkswagen Transporter was comfortable, although cooking facility was minimal. Heater was very pleasant.
Unfortunately we had a converter which caused a shortcircuit, so we had to find the fuses and replace them. Otherwise we couldn’t charge our mobile devices. Happy Campers was easy to reach but didn’t / couldn’t tell us right away where the fuses were to find.
Most important: the country is amazing and the feeling of freedom so wunderfull in a campervan.
Overall we were really pleased with the van and the people from Happy Campers