Lagoon Car Rental — Local services in Reykjavik

In summary: I am thoroughly disappointed with my experience renting with Lagoon. They charged us nearly $2000 for minor (probably clear-coat only) scratches they could not unambiguously demonstrate were our fault, and customer service was sluggish in reassessing the charges down from the self-risk charge, just under $4000. Their services are somewhat less expensive than major car rental companies, but I encourage you to avoid Lagoon.

When we picked up the car, it had several scratches on multiple surfaces, as noted in the rental car agreement. After our trip, Lagoon charged us for scratches on one side of the car. While the scratches on one of the panels appeared to be new, the rudimentary damage documentation used by the company allowed them to blame us for scratches on the panels that were already damaged. The customer service agents were not able to demonstrate that these scratches were not on the car before we rented it, as was marked in the rental agreement we signed. We were charged the self-risk amount (nearly $4000) and were told we would receive a CABAS reestimate of the charge in a couple of days. After more than a week, a phone call, and an email, the damage cost was finally reassessed to just under $2000. We still have been presented no proof that most of the scratches were not pre-existing.

It’s clear that Lagoon is not using the damage fees to replace the car panels each time they are scratched—they were scratched before we rented the car, and I’m sure they charged the previous driver the same exorbitant fees. It must be lucrative. Please take care to avoid this scam.

If you choose to rent from this company, document the state of your rental car meticulously. Take pictures. Ask the employees to point out pre-existing damage listed in the agreement you sign. Be advised that scratches are hard to see when wet; we picked up our car in the rain, and most damage was nearly...

We booked a car for Mid-May with Lagoon Car Rentals. When we arrived at the airport we were told that someone would be waiting with a sign with our names on it. Initially, we couldn't find anyone, but a short time later we noticed the driver. It was a short bus ride to the rental office. The company is rather small, so there's only a small desk for checking in one person at a time, so you may find yourself waiting for a bit if there's a large number of people getting a car at one time. That being said, we were fourth in line and we were in and out in about 30 minutes--very reasonable.

We received a free upgrade from a VW Up to a Toyota Rav4 due to low stock on vehicles. We had hoped for a little fuel efficient car, but couldn't complain with the extra room. The staff were very friendly and check-in and had already marked all of the existing damage to the vehicle on the form. They were happy to answer all questions before leaving.

The last day of our rental our vehicle broke down just outside of Reykjavik. Fortunately, we were only about a 40 minute drive away. A driver was dispatched right away to pick us up. The driver even offered to take us to all our remaining destinations before going back to the rental office. Upon returning we did the paperwork for a replacement vehicle and were in and out in less than 30 minutes with a new Rav4!

The following morning we dropped our vehicle off at 5 a.m. and got a shuttle ride back to the airport from Lagoon Rentals and were on our way.

Overall, a great experience, even with the vehicle breaking down. I suspect that previous drivers were quite hard on the manual transmission (I'm looking at you North American travellers and your automatic transmissions), because the car didn't have many kilometres on it at the time of break down.

Would definitely book again if we returned to Iceland! As well, they're very prompt with their responses to...

Lagoon Car Rental is an EXCELLENT car company. We've used them on 2 separate trips to Iceland and they have been completely upfront about all charges all the way through the process.

On our first trip, we had a piece of gravel shoot up from the road and hit our windshield, cracking it all the way across and the charge was a flat 98 Euro just like they said it would be with the gravel protection and it only took about 10 minutes to process during the return.

On our second trip, we actually used them for a large group coming for our destination wedding. The 2 women working when the first 35 people arrived were SO friendly and welcoming. As they checked us in, they dissuaded us from getting insurance/add-ons they thought were unnecessary at this time of year rather than trying to upcharge everyone. When there was a weird sound with our vehicle when we drove it around the lot, they immediately switched it out for a free upgrade in just 10 minutes. I also like that they give you an emergency contact card for someone that can be reached 24 hours a day.

BE WARNED: this is a very small company (only 1-2 people working at any given time) so if there are multiple rentals or returns at once, the process may take a little while. I would say the customer service and the transparency in costs and charges are worth adding in a little extra transitioning time. It did end up taking about 2 hours total to shuttle everyone from the airport to the car rental and get everyone set up with their cars (9 cars total...