I’m really disappointed with this car and I strongly think that this car should not be available for renting anymore as we are talking about very important safety reasons.
It is true that we are talking about an old car (12 years old) and this is the main reason for this low price. I understand and obviously I can expect some typical things of an old car like scratches, deteriorated paint in external view, tough driving due to not having last advances in driving helps as assisted direction, high petrol consumption, etc… but I have to say that I’ve not been able to enjoy driving this car at any moment as I haven’t felt myself safe any single minute while driving. Let me indicate some examples of my experience.
When I took the car at the arrival, at the very first moment I could felt that every time that I pushed the gas pedal a big sound (a crack sound) came from the engine (it is an automatic car) and each time I passed by a bump the bang was frightening. Moreover, In order to go straight in the road, I had to keep the steering wheel slightly turned into the right (in a 20º angle) but just only when pushing the gas pedal, if I released the gas pedal, direction seemed to take the normal way so the wheels turned to the right and the car started to turn as this was the position of the steering wheel.
Having seen that, after 10 min driving in those conditions I had to go back to the icerental office as I had the feeling that something was going wrong with the car. There, they told me that the big coups (it sounds like if the dumping of the car was broken) and the steering wheel direction issue were normal things that I should get used to the car and drive slower than normal. The said that everything was fine with the car and that it had been revised by a mechanic the previous week and nothing went wrong. However, I had the typical message in the onboard car that maintenance was needed.
I have to say that after 10 days driving this car that is has been the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done. Obviously I didn’t get used to the car, which was completely unstable, unpredictable driving and unsafe feeling. I had to drive always by the middle of the track in order to have enough time to react when the car suddenly turned to a direction, and cannot tell every time I saw a truck coming in the opposite lane (of course they did not reduce their velocity). Besides, I was not able to go more than 60 km/h, what it makes the timing for my holidays even straight because it took me almost the double of time to arrive to each place I went.
Apart from this I have to say that even I can understand that this was an old car (I took it consciously) and I could expect some difficulties (I have a 12 years old car although I know that is not the same a car in Iceland than in other place) or high petrol consumption, the petrol consumption of this car was amazing! I didn’t feel confident of being able to go from Egglistadir to Askja with a full tank so I had to do hitch-hiking to ensure I was going to have enough petrol to arrive to the next gas station. But as I said I could even expect this an nothing would have happened.
Just to finalize, I consider myself a very good driver (I’m 34, so young enough to have good time reaction skills and experienced enough in car driving, 15 years of car license) and I think that mine should be the last trip of this car. If any older person had rented this car instead of me, we could be talking about an accident. I know it sounds exaggerated, I’m reading it and it seems so, but please go there as a ghost customer and try the car by yourself.
I know you are a young company and want to do as better as possible and even your service has been fantastic I would make really sure if use again your company not to rent to irecental anymore in my life.
Rafael
rented a vehicle
in September 2016