Reviews for

Car Rentals in Iceland

The car was great and the customer support from Northbound was excellent. They went the extra mile to make sure everything was great. Amazing customer service.

The car and rental process was great. Unfortunately it did leave a bad taste in the end. I returned the car 1 full day early and did not receive a refund for that day. Evan

Great experience with renting the car! Super easy pickup and drop off. We had to change our dates and the reply from northbound was super quick and with no charge.

I was very satisfied with your outfit. The personnel were very knowledgeable and pleasant to deal with. The car however was not exactly what I expected. It looked worn and beat, and frankly I didn’t think it would make it around The Ring Road. But, it did, and so I was satisfied. Unfortunately I had an attack of kidney stones that forced me to cut my visit short and return home ten days early. That resulted of course in returning my rental to you early and the loss of ten days of use of the vehicle. Quite an expense for me. Up to the time of my kidney stone attack I had a great time accompanied by great weather. Thanks Rick

We very much enjoyed our trip and the camper van was a major part of that. It was very easy and comfortable to drive and find parking even in Reykjavik's city center. Overall it was relatively comfortable for camping. The diesel heater was a life saver, even in mid-July. And it seemed to get decent gas mileage. The camping supplies were a bit of a mixed bag. The sleeping bags were great but the pillows were pretty sad. We ended up buying some inexpensive pillows at a discount store and leaving them with the van. The tea pot didn't have a way to close the spout which made heating water a bit of a challenge with the little camp stove in the weather conditions we were in, but not impossible with a little creativity. The camping table was a tad flimsy, and the camping chairs were a mismatched pair, one of which was not particularly comfy. The electric cooler worked well, but couldn't make it through the night with the engine turned off, and I found it worked best to move it into the cab at night so that it wouldn't get warmed up by the heater in the back. As for our experience with Lava- Getting picked up at the airport went quite smoothly, and the driver was very friendly. Unfortunately the staff at the rental office were a little less so. They weren't particularly unfriendly just very minimalist when it came to communication. Additionally we ended up sitting there at the office for nearly 2 hours waiting for our van to be cleaned, with another customer, who had arrived nearly an hour after us, getting their vehicle (same make/model) before us seemingly due to their service agent simply being more attentive than ours. Returning the van was a breeze and the woman who checked us out was friendly enough and got us to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Renting a camper van was the perfect way to experience Iceland as we drove the full Ring Road, followed by the Golden Circle, and a couple nights in Reykjavik. It allowed us a terrific sense of freedom to fully capitalize on the midnight sun not worrying about how late we were out and about as there was always a campground to be found.

Several confusions:. We got emails before we left from both Lava and Northbound. After a few back and forth emails I confirmed they were both talking about the same car. Added stress to our preparation. We were picked up after maybe 30 minutes of wait at the Iceland airport by a Lava van and taken to a Lava building. We had a low tire pressure warning light come on while in Akureyi. We called and were told not to worry about it. But there was a slow leak so we had to stop several times to top off the tire. Worrying about a flat tire is not a positive vacation experience. Finally, the rental agreement said we would return the car at 12:00. I remember putting in 2:00 for our 5:00 departure when I booked, but we didn't catch the mistake when we signed the paperwork so my bad. The Lava agent said they were scheduled to rent our car to the next person at 12:30. Given we had called about the slow leak I was surprised they were planning to send the car out again in 30 minutes. We arrived at 1:15 and they charged us $175 for an additional day instead of an additional hour rate. Seems excessive. I have rented cars all over the world and have not been penalized in this way for 1 hour and 15 minutes late. So overall a bit of a unsatisfying experience.

The car was in fantastic condition and performed even better than expected! Everyone at the company was friendly, professional, and very helpful. I would recommend this car and company to anyone! The Suzuki Vitara was especially fantastic on the f-roads and gravel driveways outside of the city.

We had good experience with renting our car with Northern Lights. No other car rental agency could beat their deal plus a good customer service make them my favorites in Iceland. From their shuttle pick-up to drop everything was smooth. No issues faced and car was in a good condition. I highly recommend trying Northern Lights car rental while in Iceland. You wont be disappointed.

I had a great experience with Go Campers. Mechanically the van ran great and the check in process was easy to get on the road with minimal hassle. I rented the smallest, manual transmission van, it is pretty bare bones as far as the interior build goes, so keep your expectations in check, however the price was very good so it’s about what I would have realistically expected and it did have the cooking/sleeping necessities. If I had one complaint, it would be that I wish they offered return shuttle service to the airport. Airport Pickup was included upon arrival, but not drop off after returning. They will run you back to the airport for 60 euros, but it felt like a basic service that should be included. But having said all that, I would 1000% book with these guys again.

Perfect for our needs! Easy to drive--probably the easiest manual I've driven and the clutch has a hill-holder, so no issues starting out on a hill. The mattresses were surprisingly comfortable. I brought an inflatable just in case and never blew it up. I'm 6'0", so the bed is a little short. However, we figured out that if you sleep with your head in the rear, you can slide the front seats forward and then I had enough room. If you're 6'2" plus, then you might have length issues. We drove the Ring Road with several detours (Seydisfjordur, Dettifoss, Hvitsekur, Stykkisholmur) and spent around $240 USD on diesel fuel, so less than the $300 I was planning on. Stereo has a USB, so you can charge your phone and play music from your phone if you bring a cable. Wish it had cruise control, but that was my only complaint. No A/C, but we didn't really need it. We only needed to roll the windows down on one day and only for a short time (10-15 minutes). Nights didn't drop much, so no need for a heater unless you plan on using in the wintertime. We spent 260 kr a day on ice, so the cooler is not a big deal. I'd happily rent again if I ever return to Iceland.

The rental process was easy to do online, the price was good, no hassles at rental company when picking up car. My only complaint would be that we were given a different car with worn tires and of course we had a blowout about 23kmh outside of Reykjavik on our way to Vik. Called and they told us to put spare on and come to town to have tire fixed. Opened trunk....no spare, no jack, no lug wrench! They sent a man to us and he had to make three trips back to town to get right tools. He had us follow him to have four new tires put on ( no charge to us, thank goodness). After four hours we were back on the road to Vik!

Nice, small, easy to park and operate. But because of the short wheel base and width you need to be careful when driving a highway and on a windy day. Great little car but next time I might go bigger.

Car was pretty comfortable to drive all around Iceland including Westfjords however for highlands I'd recommend something with bigger wheels. Star Car rental is a really professional car rental company. Everything was good and on time. I highly recommend them.

Unfortunately, the vehicle needed maintenance on the radiator leaked. We called Blue Car Rental they wanted us to stay put until they could find a mechanic to look at it. When they could not locate a mechanic, they authorized us to move on with our plans. We had to refill the radiator regularly during our trip to avoid overheating.

2017 Suzuki Vitara Automatic is very reliable. Staff is helpful and accommodating when I had to change the date of my reservation. Shout out to Óđinn for helping me with my reservation. You guys are great! Thank you.

Excelent

Absolutely stellar customer service from Northbound throughout, despite several changes to our booking due to Covid etc. Thordis could not have done more to make sure we were set up for a great trip. The Dacia Duster from Lava did just fine too :) Thanks again Northbound.

Getting a 4 year old car ended up being a great decision. That car had a few scratches and dents, but they weren’t picky that the car had to be perfect on return. The diesel got great fuel mileage and this is important in a place where fuel is expensive. Saved so much money over getting a guided tour. Highly recommend getting the wifi hotspot and if you have American Express, see if that covers your insurance. They were a bit slow pickups up from airport and took an hour to get car ready. Overall a great experience and excellent value for the money.

Vehicle worked great for highways and mild 4wd roads

Excellent customer service from the staff at Hotel Asbru in Keflavik. Very clean and well maintained vehicle as well, would highly recommend renting from them.

Our rental car treated us well.

We traveled to Iceland on a family vacation and rented two cars: a Mitsubishi Pajero and a Dacia Duster. We were unsatisfied with both cars. The interior of our Mitsubishi Pajero was dirty, the windshield was full of scratches and cracks, it had worn shock absorbers .The car was supposed to be model year 2017, but the documentation that was in the car showed it was imported in 2016, made for the Eastern European market. The car looked more than 5 years old as rust was visible everywhere. We have at home a VW Sharan, 16 years old, and looks better than 4 years old Mitsubishi Pajero. If the car is really 4 years old, it means that the car has been maintained very poorly. At pick-up, we pointed out that the Duster 's display indicates: the car needs to be taken to a car repair shop. But it was claimed that everything is fine with the car. While driving, it turned out that the car could not drive uphill at normal speed. We lost a day while we were waiting for bring us a new car. The new car had a flat tire after two days. The tire was not punctured, probably the tire valve was leaking or the tire was too old. We have been visiting Iceland almost every year since 2009 and I must say that this year was the worst as far as car rental is concerned. Best regards Family Dalla Valle

When doing the reservation there was no indication that the car has no aircondition. Had we known this we would not have reserved this car. This is something Northbound should have clarified in their site. When the need for the AC first arrived and we realized we have none we contacted Lava. We recieved an evading answer and that was the last we heard from them despite a follow up letter we wrote them. Regrdless of the above, the personnel at the site were very kind, nice and efficient, during both pick up and drop off. Otherwise the car needs a front weel balance- it pulls to the right (from the first day we had it).

The Duster performed fine and Lava communicated well. For a 2017 vehicle, it had a surprising amount of km on it (nearly 200K), cosmetic body damage, and tires that needed patching during the trip. None of this proved a serious problem, but it would have been nice to know when renting, and better tires on the vehicle would certainly have alleviated some problems on the trip.

Quite an old car, but did the job. Had no problem getting us to Landmannalaugar and Askja, crossing several rivers on the way.