Iceland Rental Car Tips - 5 Things to Know BEFORE You Book

if you're planning to rent a car in Iceland there are five things that you need to know before you book and actually number two and number five will help to save you money while the other ones will definitely be helpful in terms of saving you time and just some understanding about how things work here so make sure you watch all the way through so you don't miss out on these valuable tips for people new to my channel my name is Jules and I'm the host of all things Iceland in which I give people the inside scoop on Icelandic nature history culture travel and language so number one when it comes to what you need to know before renting a car in Iceland is of course the process for it so when you're booking online and thankfully it is a fairly simple process in essence you need to have a valid driver's license and if you are over the age of 20 then you can rent a two-wheel drive car in order to rent a four-wheel drive car which I will get into why that would matter later on in this video is the age of 23 or over now I have heard people ask me if they need international driver's license and you only need that if you have a license that is not in English or not in Western alphabetical letters so if it happens to be in another language but in Western alphabetical letters then you just have to show a translation of that driver's license but if it's not in Western alphabetical letters they need to have an international driver's license number two is one of the money saving tips and that is when you actually book your car so the time of the year makes a huge difference in Iceland summertime is when the majority of people end up visiting the country and a lot of cars get rented and so the prices of cars really Skyrocket during that time so if you're planning to visit in the summer make sure sure you keep that in mind and try to budget for the fact that it could be hundreds of dollars more to rent a car in the summer than say in the winter or the fall or even spring so summertime is legitimate peak time for prices and of course for people who are visiting the country in order to help you save money any time of the year actually partner with go car rental Iceland for this video and I have a discount Iceland 10 which will save you 10 on your full booking no matter what time of year you book but just to give you an idea of how useful not only the discount is or possibly coming at a different time year than summer did a press comparison on what it would cost to rent a car so three days in Late July versus three days in October and what I found is that in Late July for the same car which is a Volkswagen Polo automatic because a lot of the people who watch my channel are from the US and possibly only drive automatic the cost for those three days on go car rental icing site was 556 dollars now in October that same car for three days is a hundred and eighty nine dollars and this is not at all unique to go car rental Iceland meaning that every car company in Iceland charges more during the summer significantly because there is higher demand also it's pretty typical that for summer time car rentals get booked out very fast so if you're planning to come in the summertime definitely make sure that you're looking months in advance in order to book your car because then you have the opportunity to choose from a larger variety of cars that are available versus just what's left over that you can find if you try to book it like a week before your trip in June July or August so if you're really on a budget choosing a shoulder season time like the fall or the spring along with that 10 discount which that's in the description you can save a good chunk of change that can go towards doing an other activity or for your accommodations number three is knowing the right type of vehicle to rent for your adventure and this of course will vary on what you're trying to do but the most typical types of cars that are rented in Iceland are two-wheel drive four-wheel drive Camper vans and regular vans so let's just say that you're a person that wants to go driving around the Ring Road of icelands that's all around the country or even just through the Golden Circle these roads are paved you don't have to worry about senses where you have to cross rivers anything like that so a two-wheel drive would be perfect for you however if you're somebody that wants to go into the highlands and see some of these amazing places that I've talked about like then you need a four-wheel drive car because the roads there are in tents and also four-wheel drive cars are the only cars that are actually insured to be driving in the highlands and on what's called f roads of course Camper vans are for people who want to save a decent amount of money and utilize their car as their accommodations maybe even where they cook and their transportation if you're renting in winter time there's one really helpful thing to know and I believe all rental car companies nice and do this which is they put studded tires so nail tires on the cars in order to provide more traction when you're driving out in the countryside because sometimes the roads can get a little slippery due to ice or recent fallen snow number four has to do with insurance for the car now some car rental companies actually come with some form of Insurance included when you rent it however that's not the case for every one of them so make sure you check that regardless of which car company you decide to go with referencing go-kart rental Iceland site and what they include because that's my go-to car rental company when I need to go on adventures and use a certain type of car they include three different types of Insurance in the final cost of your car rental so you don't even have to really think about it and that of course is see CW which is collision damage waiver scdw which is super collision damage waiver and then gravel protection so of course the first two are really important if there's ever an accident but gravel protection in Iceland is very important because there are often little Pebbles on the road and of course you might actually drive on a physical gravel road but a lot of the Ring Road in Iceland that goes all around the country is paint however there can be Pebbles on the road and a car can of course accidentally kick that up and crack your windshield or crack the headlight so it's nice to already have that included in your insurance if that would happen so you don't have additional costs that you need to pay now there is one type of insurance that is an additional cost in Iceland that is very important for people to understand and that is sand and Ash protection I know that might sound like okay Iceland sand Maybe Ash you understand because of volcanoes but there are a lot of deserts here actually and it is not unusual for us to have wind storms some of those windstorms have gusts that are hurricane gale force winds insane it can mean that if you're driving out in the countryside that the wind could pick up some of that sand or the ash brush it up against the car and that rips the paint off the car yeah this is real or even like damages the windows things like that unfortunately it's not that rare for it to happen it can happen to people who are living here of course and to those that are just traveling and so the sand and Ash Insurance in my opinion because I like to err on the side of caution is something that I would absolutely put on the car just because you can find yourself a situation where something like this happens and it could be even the fact that your car is parked where you're staying and there had been a windstorm that night and some damage was done to the car due to wind but this is something for you to consider and it's completely up to you if you want to add it or not one thing that I often recommend to people on my one-to-one Iceland trip planning calls and and of course that's of interest to you can check that out in the description is for you to check out let's say if you have a credit card if your credit card actually covers car rental insurance when you're traveling so in another country or wherever else because maybe you can save money in this way of being able to utilize that insurance I don't know just to be honest if sand and Ash is something that credit card companies would cover in Iceland but it doesn't hurt to ask and if you're already using your credit card and paying you know whatever fees for that it could be a way of you saving money if you do decide to use the credit card insurance as opposed to the insurance that is provided by the car rental company then you waive any ability to claim under the car rental insurance that would have originally been part of your total cost when you booked the car number five is one of my money saving tips I talked about and that has to do with mileage limits so most car companies have it written somewhere look in the fine print definitely as to whether or not they include unlimited miles when you're driving in the country or if they cap it at some point because I know in the summertime I'm trying to go everywhere Possible having limited mileage makes a huge difference and if you are planning to travel around the country especially around the Ring Road that is something to make sure that the car rental company that you're using includes unlimited miles because when you drop your car off you don't want to end up having an extra charge that is for Miles that went over the amount that you were allotted because you weren't even aware that there were mileage limits in the first place just know that short-term rentals meaning cars that you're renting for under a month when you book having unlimited miles makes a huge difference in costs if you want more insight and tips on what you should do when you say pick up your car in Iceland because that's a whole other story driving around the country because there's a lot to consider there how to avoid a speeding ticket which can be astronomical price wise just as FYI and much more definitely check out my Ultimate Guide to renting a car in Iceland you don't have to download anything it's just a simple link is in the description below and I went through everything that you need to consider including some traffic signs that might be unique to Iceland driving in roundabouts and things of that nature so I tried to hit on every possible aspect of renting a car and of course driving around the country so that you feel prepared when you come so that you can enjoy being on the road and seeing all the beautiful sights don't forget that you can save 10 by using my discount Iceland 10 with go car rental Iceland they have great rates awesome customer service and a large variety of vehicles to choose from if you've enjoyed this video definitely make sure to give it a thumbs up and share it with someone who you think would find it useful for planning their Iceland Adventure as always thank you so much for watching and I will see you in the next one [Music]

Channel: All Things Iceland

Views: 58,106

Keywords: Iceland rental car, iceland car rental, renting a car in iceland, iceland tips, first iceland visit, first time in iceland, iceland advice, iceland for beginners, visiting iceland, going to iceland, advice for iceland, tourist iceland, travel tips iceland, visit iceland, getting around iceland, iceland travel guide, renting a car in iceland tips, iceland tips travel, iceland tips and tricks, visiting iceland for the first time, iceland car rental insurance

Id: f02scrYLP80

Length: 11min 40sec (700 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 15 2022