13 2-Star reviews for Northern Lights Car Rental
Verified reviews from our customers that rented a car from Northern Lights Car Rental
Voilà bien la pire voiture qu'il nous a été donné de louer! Et nous n'avons pas payé peu cher. Une vieille Dacia qui a un stop and go qui ne fonctionne plus et qui s'arrête donc à chaque stop et à chaque feu rouge. La consommation s'en voit donc augmentée ( 500 km avec un plein de 70 euros...). Le bruit du démarrage équivaut à celui d'un camion, etc. Très mauvaise affaire. De plus qu'un 4x4 n'est pas forcément nécessaire même en novembre. Le service ça a été par contre (rapidité, politesse, explications), sauf qu'il n'ont pas écouté les commentaires sur la voiture, estimant qu'on ne savait pas faire avec le stop and go, ce qui est faux.
Anthony
rented a vehicle
in November 2021
Disappointed from the overall experience. We had to wait almost an hour in the airport to get picked up (we were seeing constantly people from other car companies picking other travellers way faster than ours).at the end they took only me(the driver),then i had to drive back to pick my friends,they were almost alone at the airport at that point!
Worst part was when in the night of 31th October our battery died. We were calling more than 45minutes at the service telephone and we couldn't find anyone,we were always getting connected with the primary office,the guy there was trying to find the service guys,even in the private telephones and still couldn't find someone.after that we managed to tell our problem (we couldn't get in the car,electrical key wasn't working, probably dead battery).at last a guy showed up at least 2 hours after we first started calling only to bring a manual key,then he had to drive back to bring the cables,he came after one extra hour.considering that for the first 45 minutes we couldn't even share our problem made the experience unpleasant.on top of it we had to pay for him coming although we paid the top premium level of insurance.
Our trip in Iceland was amazing,we are totally visiting again but we will most certainly book a car with another company
Dimitrios
rented a vehicle
in October 2021
Not very much. There were a lot of problems.The car had over 150,000 miles on it and a lot of basic things weren't working. It wasn't a safe car to drive and it took me a while to understand the scope of the problems. Unbeknownst to me at the time I rented the car, it was nearly out of engine coolant. Then, as I was driving near Myvatn I ran into a swarm of flies or gnats. No wiper fluid was coming out and I wrongly assumed that the car was out of wiper fluid (which was irritating because the car should have been rented with adequate wiper fluid for basic safety reasons). However, the problem turned out to be that tubes/ducts were blocked which isn't surprising because there was no cover on the windshield wiper fluid holding tank so dust and debris could easily get inside. Three days into my trip the car ran out of engine coolant and started beeping. Twice the car had to be looked at by a mechanic. In addition to the above the horn did not work. This car had not been properly maintained and I feel my safety was put at risk. Problems with the car aside, Northern Lights Car Rental was very responsive when I called their roadside assistance number. My calls were answered immediately and I was able to see a mechanic quickly. Northern Lights had a replacement car delivered to me in Akureyri. However, I feel they should not have let a car off their lot that was not safe to drive.
Sarah
rented a vehicle
in June 2021
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.
Julie
rented a vehicle
in July 2020
Our original flight was canceled I sent an email regarding the change. The rental (Northern Lights) apparently did not recieve the message.
When we arrived, we had to have the help desk call to have us picked up.
The man that transported us from the airport to the car rental location was VERY rushed, did not help with luggage. We had to chase after him.... were instructed to "C'mon, C'mon let's go. Put the bags in ... get in". There was NO conversation on the way.
When we arrived, he said "the keys are in it, go!"
We went in, signed agreements and left.
On returning vehicle, the person who so rudely picked us up from the airport was more conversant, NOT helpful with luggage, but delivered us to the airport alive.
The vehicle was less than expected ... never used on "F" roads (I don't think it could handle them ... regardless)
The Jimny struggled to make it up most hills, specifically Route 1. However, it did get us to where we wanted to go.
So, my rating is judged on personnel related to pickup and drop off.
Sophia
rented a vehicle
in September 2018
Hi,
Our experience with the car itself was not as good as we expected. The car was pretty old, it had 155.000km on the clock and was not comfortable to be driven at all, brakes clutch, transmission, direction control, suspension, everything has to be checked and repaired in that car prior renting it. Icelandic roads are rough and sometimes can be dangerous in a car like that.
The rooftent was in the same condition as the car, pretty old with holes everywhere (we had to buy duct tape to repair it).
Although the pick-up at drop-off with NL was really easy going, and the staff was friendly as well.
We are coming back to Iceland soon (hopefully) and we will try another car rental company and maybe a different car also, but we will most probably use Northbound again as the website and customer service is good.
Alberto
rented a vehicle
in August 2018
If you can find a comparable or better deal with another company, go for it. These guys were not particularly friendly nor helpful. We were told we were "crazy" for visiting Iceland in October and listened to our pickup driver disparaging tourists all the way to the office to get our car. After seeing the condition of the Jimmy camper we switched to another car rather than risk staying in the tent. If we had know this we could have gotten a better car from a more established company for less and just stayed in hotels which we ended up doing anyway due to not having a camper. Our vehicles wiper blades were worn to a point of not effectively cleaning the glass and the spray jet on the passenger side did not work. Had it been the driver side there were times we would have had to pull over to clean the glass, a safety hazard IMO. Beware also that they will also push you very hard to get several insurance add-ons that will greatly increase the cost of your rental by 50% plus and that the deductibles for any damaging (even "covered" items) is $3500 to $7000 US, so it is not really insurance at all. To cap things off, although a minor point, they will just stand around with folded arms watching you load and unload your bags into their shuttle vehicle rather than being helpful. I am sure that with a bit of effort you can find a better option than Northern Lights. That said. Iceland is a beautiful and amazing land! Unless you plan to go onto some truly backroad places the roads are very good and we drove on many unpaved roads, none of which even remotely required 4WD.
David
rented a vehicle
in October 2017
Mediocre unfortunately. The pickup in the airport was delayed ~30 minutes. We were wandering around looking for our ride. He was helpful in pointing out the dropoff point and going over the rules during the shuttle which enabled us to get out the door quickly. During our trip, the car battery died on us and we had to go to a garage where they told us the battery was old and since they didn't have the right replacement on hand, we'd just have to baby it the rest of the trip. It died after the lights were left on during re-fueling. (10 minutes tops!!).
If the car had performed as one would expect, (having a new battery), and if the pickup had been prompt, it would have been 5 stars.
Gabriel
rented a vehicle
in October 2017