Car hire in Iceland

May 11, 2022 2:13 AM

I'm heading to Iceland for a week in late September. What's the best way to price compare and advance book a car for pick up from the airport at Reykjavik?

Main crux of the question is do we go direct to the standard Hertz/Eurocar operating from the airport or are there other options?

posted by freya_lamb to Travel & Transportation around Iceland (7 answers total)

I visited about five years ago and used a broker website called Holiday Autos. I'm a budget traveler, so the price must have been compelling at the time.

(Word of advice, I rented the tiniest possible compact car - a Suzuki Swift - and was super comfortable driving the ring road. As long as you're not driving on the F roads, you likely do not need a big, expensive rental vehicle.)
posted by toastedcheese at 4:14 AM on May 11, 2022

A few years ago I rented from SadCars - very competitive prices and good service, though our vehicle reflected the price (200K kilometres on the odometer, some trouble with opening the boot and rear wipers). It got me safely through a week on the ring road with some side trips and with a non-pristine car I was much less worried about damage from the ever-present gravel. Since then I see they've upgraded to cars "no older than 5 years".
posted by I claim sanctuary at 4:47 AM on May 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I went last summer to drive the ring road and we rented a car from Blue Car Rental, the local company. I don't think we had any particular comparison process besides looking up offers from a few companies and on Kayak one by one, but I'd definitely recommend Blue; the process was very smooth and the rates were better than the international companies. And we were able to get a hybrid, which helps with the fuel costs if you'll be doing a lot of driving.
posted by egregious theorem at 6:57 AM on May 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

was chatting to an icelandic friend the other day and she mentioned a rental car shortage in iceland this summer- every car has been rented and they're working on importing more but it's slow going.
posted by wowenthusiast at 7:41 AM on May 11, 2022

Less than a decade ago, we rented from sixt in reykjavik.
One poor decision later (with literally no way to turn around), and we were proper stuck.
One evening of fruitless, painful digging through sharp rocks followed by an after-dark stumble across a rocky field in the direction of some headlights, and we managed to call the rental company.

They sent somebody to drive us back to reykjavik (in the middle of the night!) and the next morning they had our stuff out of that car AND a replacement ready. There was only a fee to top up the gas tank in the first car.
I have literally no idea how they got that car onto a trailer.

All this to say - try those guys!

it wasn't an f road. It was marked as paved on our map.
posted by Acari at 10:19 AM on May 11, 2022 [2 favorites]

If you pick up at the main Reykjavik airport, we waited 50 minutes for the shuttle bus because there are so many early morning arrivals. Turns out the car rental center is about a 5 minute walk from the terminal.
posted by foodmapper at 12:57 PM on May 11, 2022

Response by poster: Chiming in months later to say thanks, egregious theorem - Blue were fantastic. We had a great trip despite various car-based snafus (of our own making!). Great service, excellent vehice. Good times.
posted by freya_lamb at 4:51 AM on October 11, 2022