Reviews for the Best Car Rentals in Iceland

Go to Iceland. But don’t rent your car here.

1) We didn’t get the car that we rented. We got a way smaller car.

2) The car that we got had to be opened with the key in each door.

3) We had to pay 312 € in insurance when we came to Iceland. This was a huge surprise as we we’re not informed about this anywhere. The guy from Nordic Car Rental Campers couldn’t not explain why we had to pay for this insurance. This insurance we apparently had to pay even though we paid a deposit on 2730 €.

4) The gas can to the stove ran out of gas after one meal and two cups of coffee. We asked the guy at Nordic Car if we should buy an extra from Nordic Car so we wouldn’t run out of gas. However the guy insured us that there would be enough gas.

Mixed feelings! Pick-up at the airport was great and friendly, but the pick-up at the rental counter was without a word and the car had 2 30 cm long (known) cracks in the windshield, which despite having stickers on grew further during our rental. We had also requested a non-diesel car but got a diesel car and no notice of this before or at pick-up. Drop-off was hassle-free and friendly.

We booked Toyota Rav4 with Lava Car Rental via Northbound, as they seemed to have the best prices and pretty good automatic transmission car selection. The contact with Northbound prior to pick up was very good. They promptly processed our requests for changes in renal package. We dropped wifi and gps in the end (we decided to go with Tirewire as their offer has unlimited data and is cheaper). The rental was for 16 days in July 2020, we ended up with Kia Sportage instead of Toyota in the end. The car perfomed very well. We were very happy with both Northbound and their partner Lava Car Rental.

The Dacia dokker was very comfortable and easy to drive . Maybe it misses some horse power on certain road . There is also a little problem with the condentation at the morning but nothing very serious .
Thank you for the car and have a wonderfull life if we dont meet us again .

The car worked like a charm.

We enjoyed using the services of Fara. The customer service, including pick-up and drop-off at he airport were very good. The car was not new, but price-quality ratio was OK. It was big enough for our family of five and no problem to store all luggage.
Next time, I will use their service again.

My experience was very good, somebody picked us up at the airport and we can leave the car directly at the airport by night. I liked it very much and I can recommand Northbound.

We are satisfied with reception, hold and bring us from the airport and the car himself.
When we wil come back to Iceland we come back to Lava Car Rental.. It was a good experience.

Very comfortable van, perfect to explore the island with 2 people. Pick up and drop off without any problems. Tip: provide a cooking plate for 2 pots, that would have been more comfortable to cook.

Excellent

Wir haben ein großes Fahrzeug gesucht - Mit 6 Personen und Gepäck war das noch recht entspannt. Durch die extra 2 Sitze gehen ansonsten je ~40 % vom Kofferraum weg.
Die Aussicht aus dem C4 Grand Picasso ist ideal für Island Reisen. Der Verbrauch bei eingestelltem Tempomat war optimal - ein angenehmes Cruisen um Island herum.

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.

Northbound gave me access to car rental - it was a good service

We enjoyed a lot the country in our Jimmy with roof tent. The responsable from northbound was helping us a lot with the questions and issues regarding to our trip.

We rented a Dacia Duster for 8 days with Northern Lights Car Rental through Northbound. The car was in great condition and we had no issues whatsoever. While driving we got small scratch on the window from the gravel. Since our insurance package included gravel protection it was covered fortunately so no issue at all.
Both check in and check out procedures were very quick and smooth. They also dropped us off at our guesthouse close to the airport, after we returned the car.

Everything went well. Had to wait a bit in the airport as the van became full. But the next came quite quickly.
I missed that it was a standard insurance when I booked. And that it did not include gravel damages. So I had to buy a silver. I alway get very sceptical in such situations as it can then mean that prices is non-transparent. However, everything ok and I would recommend your company. I will also make a (good) review on tripadvisor.

My general and over all experience with the car and Northbound was good. I can recommend this firm and will contact them again myself if renting is needed.

Me and my girlfriend went on a trip around the Ring Road and had no problems at all with the car nor the service from Northbound and Star Car Rental.

When we arrived in the airport in Keflavik at 00.30 AM Star Car Rental were ready to bring us to our car, and provided us with good information according to the different rules about driving in Iceland as well as where to camp around the Ring Road.

Your service for pick up and bring back to Air port was excellent. Very friendly people and easy doing booking. Quick reply and easy copmmunication. Highly rcommented to book via northbound.

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.

4- The passenger window was not working properly. I brought it down once and when I wanted to close it the button was not responding properly. I thought I was not going to be able to bring it up again. This was quite inconvenient for me since I was not able to use this window at all for the whole trip. Lava rentals should warn the customer about this before taking the car.

5- The gps available in the car was utterly useless. I was very annoyed by this. The map was quite outdated and they didn't include F roads. Once I asked for a direction to get to a place about 100Km from where I was, on normal roads and not F roads, and it was sending me around the whole Iceland to get to that point. I could not trust it's directions so I had to use my personal phone and phone connection and data to be able to navigate.
You should not advertise this car as having gps since it is useless.

6- The usb sockets available in the car were not powerful enough. I plugged my phone to charge it but since I had to use my phone to navigate the socket was not powerful enough to navigate and charge at the same time. All the battery that was loading was being used to navigate so I was not able to charge my phone when driving. I found this extremely annoying.

7- After a couple of days driving I got a warning sign in the car dashboard. I found out it was related to the pressure of the tires. I got quite worried and went to a petrol station to check the tires. They seemed to be ok. When I called Lava rentals they told me the sensor on the tires doesn't work properly and this problem happens all the time. If this is the case they should warn the customer before taking the car so you don't get worried and had to deviate from your route to solve the problem.

8- Last thing is, the car seems to lock all doors after a few seconds of closing the driver's door. I got worried that if I went outside and the wind closes the door when the key was in the ignition it will lock me out and I won't be able to get in the car. I guess there is some kind of sensor that prevents this but they should also warn about this or how to disable it. I could have also called them to find it out and I didn't so it is partly my fault as well.

regards,
Enrique

Everything was super nice, from the car itself to the customer service. Only minor complaint was the sleeping bags (which were otherwise great quality), they had a strong unpleasant smell of detergent the first couple of days.

I got a Dacia Duster, because a Vitara wasn't available. I had some trouble with that car, 2 days different failures were shown in the pilot monitor which removed the next day again by itself. Who knows why...
The first failure was worst...because it wasn't possible to blink left and right. The renter was informed about these failures. Besides that I was very satisfied with the Service of Icelandrental4x4. Also tue roof tent was great and so I had an amazing trip in Iceland.

Good car. The only one problem was the doors from the luggage- unfortunately not very good and all our luggage on the finally very dirty... The mirror from the left was broken from the beginning.

Thanks for the good service and help, when I needed it. Everytime again.

Because i am too tall, we upgraded to a Suzuki vitara which was great. The car was amazing and had everything you need for a 13 days roadtrip through Iceland!

My experience with My Car Rental and the Toyota RAV4 GX was excellent. They picked us up at the airport and drived us to the car. The contract was correct as expected) and we were not forced to take extra insurances (what often happens in the US). The car was also the car that we had choosen on the internet.
The car was new (5000 km) and luxurious. We had no troubles during our tour.
The drop off was also easy, just give the keys at the hotel check in and that's it. We received a reduction of 10% on the rates of the B&B hotel in Keflavik. (The last hotel before returning in the early morning).
We were happy to have choosen MyCar Rental.

Good service and no problems with the driveability, but the car was a bit worn from many years on the icelandic roads. The windshield wipers couldent wipe off the water from the windscreen and the doors couldent hold them selves open. When the roof tent was popped up and it was raining the inside foam in the top was getting wet, which caused the sleeping bags was getting wet too. I will deffitnetly not recomend this tent in bad weather.

Everything was great. The people at Lagoon were very friendly and promptly picked us up and dropped us off at the airport. The car itself worked great and was in good condition. We had no problems with it. I would be happy to rent via Northbound and Lagoon again. Also, we had to change our plans a few times due to the airline changing our tickets from COVID. Northbound was very understanding when I needed to change our rental dates because of this and didn't add any hidden fees or rate changes because I needed to change dates. To me, this is a sign of a good company that I would be happy to use again as not all companies are so flexible. Nothing is more frustrating than having to argue with a company to change reservations for reasons out of your control (like flight changes from the current COVID pandemic).

I rarely leave reviews, but those guys deserve one. In a nutshell:
1. Exceptionally friendly customer support. Our flight home was cancelled and we had to return the car good 10 hours later than the agreement time. They okayed that on the phone and didn't charge extra money.
2. We got two flat tires. Yes, day after day. We split the costs with LCR even though our insurance didn't cover tires.
3. They don't care for minor chips or dust.
That's the way to do honest business.

I had a great time in Iceland, driving around with my three children. The car was perfect for our needs, and with the roof tent we could all sleep in or on top of the car. The service from both Northbound and Camping Cars was excellent, and when going back to this beautiful country I will use your services again. With love, Christina

Var was overall as expected, except transmission did not shift up before +4000 rpm
Service was great, and choosed you bevause of Price and good rewievs

We had a brand new car with. Everything was perfect. The pic up was very fast - we got the key and could drive away. The Toyota was great - strong and comfortable, no problem at all in the highlands. Very good tieres It was fun to drive. The return was also very quick. We could hand over the key and could take the shuttle to the airport.

We enjoyed very much our experience with the Dacia Duster. Comfortable for two, versatile, a good drive overall.
As a little tip: nights can be rather cold without an overnight heated cabin: 2 sleeping bags + 1 blanket is required
Northbound was of great help even when we changed our reservation 4 hours before arriving.

Awesome! Nice & clean - perfect for Iceland. And comfortable on long journeys - Thor and all at Star were super helpful & communication was quick & concise. Will definitely use them again!

General experience was very good.
Booking via the website was straightforward and easy; prices were very good.
There was some mix-up when picking up the car (in the confirmation it said we had to pick it up at Harpa, but it turned out that we were meant to pick it up elsewhere), but that was all sorted very well and quickly. Also the initial car had a problem with starting, but that can be understood after the covid-19 period where it may not have been used (much). That too was sorted very well.
Contact on the road was also immediate and helpful. Pick-up at the end went smoothly.

Instead of the Toyota, we got an Honda CRV 4WD and automatic transmission, the car itself was ok. When starting our journey, we got a warning, low tire pressure. We returned immediately. Icerental was aware of it and told me, it is a false warning and simply reset it, the warning will come on again after a while. Indeed next day same warning after a drive of more then 200km, but by precaution I checked the tire pressure and found one tire at 20psi i.s.o. 33psi. Contacted the company and they proposed to get it repaired. Since than, no more warnings. Icerental just repaid the invoice and offered me a return trip downtown Keflavik. They could have been a little more proactive, a lot of people would end up with a broken tire and got an hard time to repair it.

Smaller than expected, but finally big enough for my trip.

Positive : My land cruiser is new and very confortable, is a good choice.
Transfers airport are ok
Price is ok
Negative :
We wait more than 1h for prepare the car.
I send SMS because 1 tyre is broken on the way, never answer.

Everything from start to finish was excellent. It was an unusual time (in COVID June 2020) but also a great time to drive the wilderness and meet Icelanders. The car and roof-tent were in good condition and everything was explained clearly by friendly staff. I managed to cross the Koljur route with Midnight Sun and 4 days of sunny weather (rare in Iceland!) and swam in many hot-pots too. The midge screens on the tent worked very well at keeping out the wee beasties and the Suzuki Jimny coped very well with gravel roads. Takk fyrir allt !

We enjoyed our trip with this Suzuki Jimmy and slept well in the rooftent on top of it!

Suzuki Vitara it's a perfect car for road trip on normal roads (paved) and not too bumpy mountain roads. The car is not very high to face real mountain roads
The car was recent and well equipped as an option.
the checkin and checkout were easy.
I recommend and would try to use the same company again on a future trip

We had a Great Time, the car was very good and the service from icerental was super.
I would always recommend northbound and icelandtravel

very good car. very good service