Thrifty Car Rental Reviews

Everything was good - had heard many scary reviews of Iceland but had no problem with Thrifty or Northbound who answered my questions quickly and to my satisfaction.

We had a great experience with our rental! We had no problems, and were able to purchase all the insurances, so we had no hassle. Easy pick up and easy return. Highly recommend Northbound for your rental needs.

Good experience, well staffed for an early morning arrival. Easy to get going right away and very easy return. Car worked great the entire time.

Northbound made it easy to review different car options – Thrifty's ended up being the cheapest, once I added the insurance I wanted (would recommend, as many main highways in Iceland had some gravel). The experience with Thrifty was smooth, and I had no issues.

It was good. We got a Mazda Cx-5. There was a problem about cigar lighter. We drove to Thrifty office in town (not the one we pickup the car), they changed a new car to us right away.

We had a good experience with Thrifty (via Northbound). We took a quick shuttle from KEF to Thrifty and within minutes we were on our way. Clean, capable car. No issues. I would use your services again!

Loved the car. Nice and spacious for all of our needs. Northbound was great to work with -- best prices and extremely good customer service. Answered emails quickly and upgraded the Wi-Fi to our car easily and with no hassle. Thrifty was good to work with, although was disappointed I paid extra for the better insurance only to find that when their tire blew on me, I was responsible for paying out of pocket for a new tire. $300. A bit of a rip off but apparently no one covers flat tires since they happen so often in Iceland. Overall, I would use Northbound again to book my car and Thrifty if it was the best price as it was this time.

Overall a very easy and smooth process with the car and the companies (Thrifty & Northbound). We enjoyed the freedom of having our own car for traveling around Iceland (with very good fuel consumption). No hassle at all with anything when picking up the car and dropping it off. The staff were friendly and helpful with our questions.

Would definitely recommend to family and friends!

Fast and reliable. Please better clarify in welcome instructions for future customers where to rental car shuttle at the KEV airport picks people up, or at least a map would help.

It was a smooth and great experience. The car was clean and ready for us when we arrived.

Pick up and drop off of car was quick and easy. Thought price through Northbound was good value (for Iceland)

We enjoyed using the Berlingo. It performed well and held the luggage of four adults. Drove about 1100 KM in a week. We will certainly recommend you to friends.

I emailed Thrifty to specifically request a Volvo XC90 for our journey, and I got the exact model. Our car was brand-new, having accumulated only 120 km before we rented. Everything works perfectly well. Fuel economy was good conpared to its size. Thrifty Iceland agents were effective enough.

Ford Focus was a great car and good for driving on the main route( golden circle)

I had a good experience. The car was exactly as expected and served well for my Ring Road journey, with lots of side trips that required the help of the 4x4.

Great

good service, vehicle was fine but winter tires had practically no studs left,however we had a good experience.

I rented a Volvo XC60 D4 AWD from Thrifty through Northbound. I found the whole process really clear and easy. The prices from Northbound were the best I could find from a car rental company based at the airport. The booking process was very easy and collection was too. There were lots of Thrifty staff at the rental desk at the time of collection so there was no need to wait, I also got a refund for a GPS system I added on when I found that the car I rented had GPS built in as standard. All additional insurances were explained to us at the time of collection with no pressure to buy. We chose not to add on any additional insurances at the time of booking.

The car was brand new with 5000km on the clock when I collected it, it was very clean and came with a high spec. (GPS, Lane assist, Radar guided cruise control etc.) I did around 1200km in 6 days in the car and it was great, really great to drive, comfortable and stable through a few storms while driving.

I would definitely use Thrifty and Northbound again when in Iceland. As I said, being able to pick the car up directly from the airport was great as many other Icelandic rental services are outside of the airport, the prices from Northbound were the best I could find and the car was excellent. Highly recommended!

Very fast car delivery no problem at all

Had a nice upgrade on the car, nothing to report, all went well. Quick checkin and checkout (quick checkout at 5AM). Thank you

Smooth experience - I originally hired the mazda CX-3 but they brought round a Ford KUGA which was awesome. I highlighted all existing scratches and dents on the car and they had them all noted down when i came to return the car. As such, there were no disagreements and we left very satisfied and happy with the service.

Very smooth, good company to do business with.

We were very happy with our Ford Galaxy 7 seat Minivan. It was new, clean and very easy to drive. The gps worked well. It was very tight driving to our airbnb and then back to the airport because we had to put the third seat down in order to accommodate our six pieces of luggage. However, once the luggage was out, it was very comfortable. Thrifty was nice to deal with and the pickup and return went quickly and smoothly. I would use Thrifty again!

Great car! Got me through the mountains, over the highlands, and back to the city in gale force winds. Hello Iceland! No muss, no fuss at the rental counter. Also, instead of waiting for the yellow bus to take you to the car rental place, you can walk across the parking lot in about 5 minutes to the car rental places that are not inside the terminal, they're all in a row.

Staff were efficient and our rental car did not let us down. It had only done a few thousand km and it was clean inside and outside when we received it. Returning the car was a smooth process also.

The staffs were helpful and help us to swap the car when we had an issue.

Overall, the experience was great! People were friendly and efficient. Car was fun to drive since I drive a mini-van at home.

Everything went well with the car. We did not have any issues with the car. The studded tires made the car awesome on the roads. Good experience rent a car through northbound. Would rent again.

Perfect

Northbound did an excellent job with providing our group 2 cars for our Icelandic adventure. We had 2 Ford Galaxies which realistically with luggage can hold 5-6 people comfortably. Picking the car up was very easy and there was staff there at 430 in the AM!! You can take a yellow bus which is out in the main parking lot (there are glass canopies to follow out or you can do a 3 min walk) NOTE, even though my debit card is also a credit card they will not accept it if it says "debit" on the actual card. Also, one thing you might want to consider is getting the windshield insurance, especially if you are driving for any great distance. We ended up driving over 1000km and I know our windshield took some pretty heavy hits. Also note that Icelandic roads are excellent but, with that being said, weather conditions can vary wildly (we experienced rain, sleet, snow, white out conditions, wind so hard it blew over a truck, and black ice) and there is often little to no shoulder on the side of the road. Please have your most experienced drives do the driving! Iceland is an amazing country. The people are welcoming and helpful. Utilize the local supermarkets as food prices in restaurants can be a bit spendy. Also note that the best deal on booze is at the duty free shop in the airport. Its where all the flight crews buy their alcohol. Prices outside the airport can be 70% MORE!!! Enjoy your trip!!

Very friendly staff, rental and return simple.

The car was clean, in perfect condition, and was great on fuel. The customer service we received from Thrifty Car Rental when picking up the car was vey accommodating. They even had a shuttle come and pick us up from our hotel and take us to Thrifty Car Rental so we didn't have to worry about a taxi. We ended up getting the GPS service and the MiFi to have internet access in the car. We ended up not using the GPS and just used the Maps feature on our cell phones connected to the MiFi. Overall, they were great and we would recommend them.

They are very professional and the car was comfortable and reliable. We had no issues or problems during our journey.

Good and smooth process.Thank you.

We had a great experience with Northbound company, nice, new and safe car, great and friendly service, easy to book and free transport-pick up from and to Downtown is a great plus! We'll use this company again! Thanks!

We ended up getting a Peugeot 208 and loved it! The people at Thrifty were super friendly when we picked it up, and same when we dropped it off! The Mifi they gave us worked amazingly. Would definitely rent from them again!

It was so easy to book online,the car Berlingo was a super car for our family of five,so much room in the boot, from the airport terminal shuttle bus to car rental, and staff were very helpful,I have no doubt that I will definitely use this company again

Góð þjónusta allt eins og það átti að vera.

Var að vísu boðin auka trygging up á 15eur pr dag sem mér finnst heldur há.
kannski miskilningur af minni hálfu. vissi ekki að tryggingar af einum bíl væri komnar upp yfir 600,000 isl. á ári.

It was very good, I enjoyed the car and the service.

We've rented a Volvo XC60 which we also got as they are the nationwide dealer for Volvo. :-)
I got to say that everything went very smooth at the rental station. Runar was very friendly and helpful. For my next trip to Iceland I would defiantly go through Northbound again. Not only because of great pricing but also because of support and people that you can trust. Thanks guys! You are great! Roman (Switzerland)

We used Northbound to book a car with Thrifty car rental as they quoted the best price. We were booking the car for a week in Iceland. Since our hotel was very close to Reykjavik airport and we already had booked our two way flybus service, we chose Reykjavik airport as the pickup and drop off location. Cancelling flybus service is a pain, so if you are going to be renting a car (which is a good option), please dont book flybus sevice.
Anyways, from the start Thrifty car rental was bad. We had to sit and wait at Reykjavik airport for 30 mins before someone came and gave us the car. We had a flat tire on the 4th day and when we called Thrifty, their service was horrible. They just left us in the middle of nowhere and said we were on our own or pay approx $100 for someone to come and change the tire. We just changed the tire on our own and fixed the flat tire for $40 in a show nearby.
Finally during the return, as per our rental agreement, we went to Reykjavik airport and there was no one at Thrifty counter. We called them, they asked us to leave the car there and leave the keys in the dropbox. We did as advised. Sadly there is no pickup and dropoff option. We walked back 2 mile to our hotel. Took the flybus and returned back home.

Story does not end there. After 2 weeks, I see an additional unknown charge on my credit card. I contacted Thrifty and got no reply. This is where Runar Thor from Northbound comes. He jumped in on top of this issue. He was very quick in replying to my emails, contacting thrifty. Finally after his persistence thrifty paid me back the money they had taken from my card. The reason thrifty gave was, we returned the car at Reykjavik airport and they "THOUGHT" it was a different location from where we picked up the car.

If not for Runar and his amazing customer service I would have $50 more in my Iceland trip. More than the expense, the feeling of being robbed by Thrifty would have stuck to our wonderful Iceland trip.

Use this review to decide on your own whether to go with Thrifty for car rental or not. However I would highly recommend everyone to go with Runar Thor's Northbound services. You wont go wrong and will have an excellent service.

The Check-in Check-out was a breeze. Car was in great shape & very close to the airport. Highly recommend them.

Hired a 4x4 from Thrifty for 3days picked up car and was made welcome and everything explained well, our plans changed mid holiday so hired the car for another 3 days everyone was very accommodating and when we gave the car back we were given a lift back to our hotel.
I would throughly recommend Thrifty to friends and family.

The service was great, arranged a car for the morning that we decided to hire a car and collected us from our apartment. The car was much better than a Ford KA. The staff were very helpful. We decided on the last day to extend the hire and drop off at the airport and we were only charged the extra £25 drop off fee, cheaper than the bus transfer.

Had absolutely no issues getting to the location (except that Thrifty doesn't open nearly as early as google says they do) and it was great to have the flexibility of returning the car at Keflavik Intl. The Ford Fiesta was impeccably clean and reliable and by the end of the trip, it had grown considerably on me. But that may just been the vacation goggles.

It was great! The thrifty staff were very accommodating! Would recommend to others.

We traveled to Iceland mid-January 2017, and rented a Peugeot station wagon with Thrifty. The service was excellent upon pick-up; they were quick and thorough, and the rental office has a hot beverage machine. They also provided informational brochures, as well as a gas discount card, which was helpful. Everything about the rental itself was very comprehensive in terms of insurance and additional costs, and the whole experience went smoothly. Returning the car was just as easy as picking it up. We would definitely recommend exploring car rental options through Northbound to friends and family traveling to Iceland, and would use this platform ourselves for our next trip back.

It was great! We were in and out (both picking up and dropping off) in no time. I was actually surprised how smooth everything went. Thanks!!

Everything went well with our reservation. Our exact car was ready when we needed it and the staff was friendly and helpful.

We got a Ford Kuga, which was a small upgrade according to them since they did not have the Mazda available. We were very satisfied! The service to pick up the car was cordial and efficient; in fact the only bad part was waiting for the shuttle to arrive to take us from the airport (which had nothing to do with Thrifty). The car itself was a dream, honestly. I loved driving it and had no trouble, even when it came to "off-road" conditions. It came with studded winter tires, an ice pick and brush (which came in handy when we woke up to snow one day), and was very spacious for the three of us with our large suitcases and backpacks. Beware that gas in Iceland is incredibly expensive! Our car ran on diesel and took around $70 to fill up. Anyway, overall we really enjoyed our rental and it was a great deal for the price.

Awesome! We caught the shuttle from the airport; you have to walk outside and down the bus stop to catch the bus. Super quick check in, we rented insurance the recommended once we got there but had no issues adding that in. Check out was quick and easy, and we walked to the airport afterwards. We rented the WiFi and I highly recommend it. It was strong WiFi, and we could take it with us anywhere we went - even in the hotel room at night. Thanks again!

Everything was as expected. We were delayed due to the weather so we had to return a bit late but Thrifty was nice enough to give us a slight extension. Thank you!

Car was clean and ready to go when we arrived.

The car was ready when we got there and really was great. I would say that it is difficult to understand the relationship between Northbound and Thrifty and I am not sure I was receiving the same coverage that I thought I was. It is very unusual not to receive any type of documentation after you returned the car. I think the representatives could mention the walking option to/from the rental car site to the airport. There were a lot of people waiting for a shuttle and we discussed should we walk for a while. We ended up walking and via the parking lot it was a much better option then waiting. You should let customers know it is an option. Overall great experience and we really enjoyed our trip to Iceland.

We were happy with the service and car. We got the Ford edge (although we booked 2014 Volvo XC60 AWD). The car was in the good condition. Our experience with Thrifty Car Rental was fine.

Very quick and easy. Thorough check of the vehicle before and after the rental. The car itself was very nice. Spaceous and comfortable. Overall a very pleasant experience.

Our experience was excellent! The reservation process was easy, Runar or others at Northbound were readily accessible when we had questions, and our car was waiting for us at Thrifty - all at a great price. So glad we found Northbound!

Car was quite new, very comfortable and super clean.
Rental process quick and friendly, to recommend.

In general, the experience was good. In only problem, we have to call to Thrifty Car Rental Iceland because they forgot to pickup us in the mcrent office in keflavik. Ten minutes later, we called to thrifty and they arrived to pickup us ten minutes later. The car was great (mazda CX5), and the rest was great. thank you very much.

Everything was ok.
The employers were very kind.
The car was clean and had all the necessary for our trip around Iceland.

Really enjoyable car to drive across Iceland.

The car and service was very good. However, the initial reception was very unfriendly and the person who processed our papers at the beginning was not helpful at all.

Very nice car in Iceland. The staffs are quite straightforward and provide support for questions

The vehicle offerred lots of space and was very comfortable. We did lots of driving as there was so much to see!! .Your employees were very helpful.

The pickup and return service was very good, easy and fast.
The only recommedation which I have is to get the car with a full tank and return it also with a full tank. This will make the life of your company and customer alot easier as they do not have to play during refueling the tank e.g. to 5/8 or so.

There's a good 5 reasons why i chose Northbound for my car rental , i just picked one out of the list because i could not select more ! A big thank you to Runar for his attention to my needs !
I chose a car from Thrifty , the staff were a friendly bunch , of note their flexibility in helping me find the best car for the job , i also appreciated the agency's choice of insurance options which in my opinion is the best on the Icelandic car rental market . I can forgive the staff for the extra time i spent at check-in , a crowd gathered in the office , a busy day i reckon ! My wife and i had a great time on the road thanks to their low mileage Ford Fiesta 2017 , the only glitch is the tire pressure lamp stayed on in the dashboard all the time... i followed the clerk's instructions not to bother with it and just check the tires as i would normally do with my own car ...fortunately did not have to inflate a tire in the whole trip . If the price is right i will certainly rent through the excellent Northbound a Thrifty car next time Iceland calls us , i have this feeling that our next Icelandic journey is not that far away ! All the best ,
Carol Dorion
Canada

the car was good in condition and great, i satisfied with the service of northbound and thrify car rental.

but if mountain tie could be used instead of the highway one may be better for my usage, as some road condition and raining weather.

Using Northbound.is was definetively helpful as I could compare easily different rental companies. Also they were kind and supportive when I had to change the booking twice. Would repeat again. I booked a small car from Thrifty, everything was fine and the experience overall was good. The 4/5 rating is because the car I was given was not particularly good or comfortable, and it was lacking the boot tray.

The rentals was both very good. We rented two Volvo XC90s. Although we only got one. We was also given a Ford Expedition which was a little thirsty compared to the diesel Volvos but overall the service was very good.

Over all very good

We wound up receiving a Ford Expedition instead of the Volvo. It was a great, safe truck but I would've liked another choice or at least a little heads up considering the fuel efficiency of the Expedition is a lot different than a Volvo. However, the car was easy to book. Shuttle service to bring us to the car rental facility was on time and efficient. Once we got to the facility the service was quick and the staff very helpful. I had a few wuariotns for he staff prior to booking and they responded quickly via email in English. They made it very easy letting us leave the car at the hotel once we were done (for additional price), but I never received confirmation that they came to pick up the car, in fact, it was still there the next day and I still haven't received confirmation even after emailing the staff. But overall good experience and I would recommend Northbound/Thrifty Car service again.

The Mazda CX-5 was clean, comfortable and pleasant to drive. Although the small mirrors, windows and tinted windows made it difficult to see rearward.

Overall very good, no real problems. The hand over time I'd requested was 8am at the hotel but we didn't get collected until 8.30 to go to their main depot so it was actually 9.30 -9.45 before we left their premises but the staff were very pleasant and efficient.

Renting a car was super easy. The clerks were not pushy with 'add on' sales or insurances, which is a huge plus. Picking up and dropping off is a cinch.

I was going to do a lot of winter driving so I opted for a 4x4 and chose a Mazda CX-3 because I knew it got upwards of 32MPG. Unfortunately, they didn't' have my reserved vehicle (which happens a lot as I understand it) and I was given a Ford Edge, that even with its eco boost, still only got around 23MPGs or so during my trip. With gas prices being OUTRAGEOUS in Iceland this ended up adding about $40-$50 dollars to my trip.

I think next time I will demand that I get the car I paid for by calling and emailing in advance multiple times.

Other than the car swap issue I would 100% recommend and very likely will do business with again on my next trip.

The car was great, but it wasn't the car that we wanted to rent originally. I had reserved the Mazda CX-3 AWD, but when we arrived we were given a Ford SUV instead. The vehicle was fine anyway and was good to drive. The prices of the cars in Iceland are pretty expensive. I rent often in the US with rates that are far lower. When we returned the car early in the morning the staff was nice and invited us to wait for the bus to the terminal inside. Only problem is that you have to be outside to catch the bus and the bus drove right by without picking us up, so we had to walk to the terminal.

We thought we had selected a car rental that included adequate insurance cover, but were told by Thrifty that we only had basic cover and had to pay extra for more comprehensive insurance - that was a disappointment

We had a pretty good experience with Northbound. The car ran well and we enjoyed driving the vehicle. Staff was courteous and professional. There was a slight mix up with the reservation address so we were delayed being picked up, but Northbound was responsive and quickly fixed the issue. We felt the prices were fair. I would recommend this agency to a friend and would book with them in the future.

Thrifty car rental was alright. Nothing fabulous or too bad. They didn't force us to add extra insurance but they didn't offer advice either. They have free coffee and free discount card for OB and olis. Make sure you grab them before leaving Thrifty.

Overall we were pleased with the booking experience through northbound, we found the website easy to use and a great selection of hire vehicles.

Unfortunately we were left disappointed when we arrived at the rental office, after finding the 2016 XC90 had been subbed for a much older Ford Expedition which neither myself or my husband felt was a satisfactory replacement. When my husband raised it with the sales person we were told quite abruptly that we were being given the Ford as there were no Volvos.

The condition of the car inside was quite unsatisfactory, and our first task was to clean out the rubbish left by previous drivers.

Based on our experience we would not deal with Thrifty again.

Car was nice and booking process was easy. We had issues with the pickup and return of the car, therefore the low rating. They came late to pick up, couldn't accommodate all of us (despite previous alignment via eMail) and there drop-off instructions were not complete (closing time not mentioned).

Very easy

Nothing! It all went very well.

Excellent

No complaints

Efficient

.

Very professional

:)

Can't fault anything

Tres bien

As it should be!

Great staff