Northern Lights — Local services in Reykjanesbær

My wife and I decided to visit Iceland and do all the ring road. Everything was booked, except the most important thing - the car! Neither of us ever drove abroad, so we were at a lost about which car to book; how to book and from where to book. I got some useful tips from relatives and friends who are experienced drivers abroad, but I was still mixed up. Luckily, while searching rental cars on Google, a pop-up window appeared. It was a chat, asking me if I needed any help. At first, I thought it was just an advert, but I risked replying to that question... I got an immediate answer. So the chat was real, I thought! The Northern Lights Car Rental experience all started from there! The person on the chat was very helpful, explaining to us from scratch how the rental system works, showing us real examples. We then entered their website and booked the car we liked: a DACIA DUSTER 4X4. At Keflavik Airport, we spent few minutes waiting for the agent. There were other persons who booked our same car rental company. Our agent Marius, a smart, tall guy, greeted all of us and directed us to the van, where we packed all our luggage. We left to the rental car office, a 5-minute trip. At the office, there were other people being served so we were invited to get seated. Free coffee and water was also offered to us. My mobile battery had just went flat and the staff let me charge the battery while waiting. I really appreciated this fact. The guy who served us, a blonde guy (unfortunately, I didn't get his name) explained to us all the procedures of how to get and to return the car. Since we booked the 'Platinum' package, this procedure was shorter than usual. We paid, signed the contract and went for the car. We inspected it thoroughly, and even took photos of the car. The car was ready for us! I started to get used to its feel, and immediately we started our journey. I can say that the car was simply in perfect condition, and never gave us any trouble during all the trip. We drove in almost all weather conditions: showers; strong rain; strong winds; heavy mist, sun - day and night - and on perfect, gravel and not-so normal roads. All went well, thank God. I also did my part. I obeyed all the driving rules to the best I could. Driving in Iceland was a real pleasure. It seems that all the other drivers (including tourists) care for each other. Even drivers of heavy trucks and slow, big tractors do their part and guide you accordingly when to overtake them. Impressive! The GPS provided by the rental company was vital. Although we had two occasions where we lost the road (maybe it was our fault of programming it wrongly), the rest was quite fine. After 11 days of driving all across Iceland, we returned the car at the office. The agent (happened to be Marius again!) checked the car with us, and then gave us a lift to the airport. Well, we are really satisfied with the impeccable service offered by Northern Lights Car Rental during our Iceland trip. We also fell in love with Iceland, and intend to visit it again in the near future. Now we have one problem in less – as we already know with whom booking the car! We definitely recommend NORTHERN LIGHTS CAR RENTAL. Keep up the good work, guys! Thanks for everything! Mark and Natalia...

We rented the Suzuki Vitara AWD car for seven days from May 29 - June 5. After using the car for only 1.5 days (driving a total of 7 hours), we discovered a loud rattling noise and noticed a piece under the car was hanging loose and leaking. We brought it to a local car mechanic the next morning and it turned out, the rear differential broke. He said we must’ve “hit a rock.” The only somewhat “uneven” road we drove on was a gravel road that tons of other cars were driving on, and we drove at 50 km/h at most, when 80 km/h is the speed limit for gravel roads.

Because we did not purchase any additional insurance upfront when we signed the rental agreement, we had to pay a security deposit of 350,000 ISK (close to $3k USD), which they said we’d get back if the car was returned in its original condition. However, it wouldn't have mattered if I had purchased any of the additional insurance packages, because none of the insurance options cover undercarriage damage. In other words, any undercarriage damage cost/responsibility falls solely on the customer.

The car mechanic deemed the car undrivable due to the leak and since we were already in East Iceland, we had to wait 5+ hours for Northern Lights to come tow the car and bring the replacement car. The NL guy who brought the car slid under the car and looked at the rear differential and said “Guys I don’t know what to tell you. This is an expensive repair job. What road did you guys drive on?” in a very accusatory manner. Why are you assuming it’s our fault and not due to lack of maintenance on your end?

Ultimately, Northern Lights ended up charging us an additional 150,000 ISK, on top of the initial 350,000 ISK, totaling 500,000 ISK = $4000+ USD. Outrageous. Two days after we returned to the U.S., Northern Lights sent me their receipt (in Icelandic, so I can’t even understand it) of the cost of car repair. However, I followed up via email requesting maintenance records for the car, pictures of the damage, and proof that the damage was my fault, but they completely ignored me.

I don’t know who was at fault for the damage ultimately. However I do know that the second car they gave us worked fine (although even that one seemed a bit iffy, but no major problems), and we drove on similar road conditions/gravel roads. Iceland is half gravel roads. The first car should’ve been able to handle a commonly used gravel road at 50 km/h.

I don’t think they maintain their cars well and when the cars just “happen to” break down on customers, they charge them an insane amount of money for “repair costs." I'm honestly not even sure they spend that money fixing their cars. I would not recommend using this car rental company. You might think you're saving $$ and you might get lucky with a decent car that will last you the whole trip, but it’s a gamble. This was the worst car rental experience I've ever had and it's ridiculous that I ended up spending more on the car "repair costs" than I spent on the...

This car rental company, never again!! Before arrival, I had sent an email to the company asking if it was possible to be assigned an automatic vehicle. They said they would assign the vehicle corresponding to my reservation (so far, so good). We arrived at the airport, waited about 15 minutes for the shuttle, and half of the people had to wait another 15 or 20 minutes because it didn't have enough space for everyone. After that, another line to pick up the car, but the worst part was yet to come. They assigned me a manual car from the year 2000 with around 155,000 km, which looked like it came from an African country, surreal!! Still at the counter, I asked the employee if it was possible to exchange it for a newer vehicle because it wasn't normal for companies to have cars with so many kilometers. But he insisted that this one was very good and ideal for the Golden Circle! When we reached the side of the vehicle and started loading our luggage into the car, we decided it would be unthinkable to trust the safety of this vehicle. So, I went to the counter and said I wouldn't take this car and wanted the same one I had reserved, a Hyundai i20 or i30. The employee came outside and continued to insist rudely that I take the car until he said, "If you don't want it, I'll take you to the airport and rent a car from another company." After that, I indicated that I was being robbed and deceived and wanted a vehicle according to the reserved category. We went back into the counter area, and since the employee was helping other people, I waited for about 20 more minutes. Given this, I continued to insist that I wanted the reserved vehicle and nothing else. Until he told me (at a point when I began to get upset with the abnormal behavior of this employee and the absolutely incorrect policy that was happening) that he still wouldn't exchange the vehicle. Then, another colleague came, realized the level of agitation, and asked me to sit and wait for another 20 minutes, promising to resolve the situation. In summary, after another 20 minutes, I realized that they didn't have the car in the category I had reserved because they were fully booked (I said I didn't mind paying more for an upgrade), and they told me they didn't have cars. It was almost 2 am, and the only solution was to accept an extremely old Hyundai i10 with about 160,000 km, which was immediately evident to have a misaligned steering and a burnt-out light... I have traveled dozens of times around the world, and I never thought such a situation would happen to me in a developed and westernized country like Iceland. Unfortunately, everything that happened shows a lack of education, respect for customers, and even worse, they put their safety at risk with vehicles in circulation that clearly do not guarantee their safety! I also want to inform you that in due time, this situation will be reported to the competent authorities of...