This is the preliminary version of the article. We hope to add more insurance providers in the near future, especially for our US-based friends. Share with us what you find to be the best value-for-money car rental insurance for Iceland in the comments, in our FB group, or write us an email!
Me, you, and probably 99.9% of other Icelandic visitors have already wondered, how to choose the best insurance for their car rental in Iceland. The task is not easy, because insurance options vary widely and are not unified across car rental providers. There are, however, multiple common features for every car rental insurance. The same applies to common threats. So let’s summarize all of these and then look at the available options.
Contents
- TLDR – tell me the best insurance!
- What are the risks of a car rental in Iceland?
- What types of insurance are in Iceland?
- Compulsory insurance
- Optional insurance
- 1. The super collision damage waiver (SCDW)
- 3. The theft protection (TP)
- 4. The gravel protection (GP)
- 5. The sand and ash protection (SAAP)
- 6. The undercarriage / chassis insurance
- 7. The tire insurance
- 8. The window insurance
- 9. The door insurance
- 10. The water insurance
- 11. The animal encounter insurance
- 12. The towing insurance
- What insurance should I choose?
- How does RentalCover work?
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TLDR – tell me the best insurance!
To simplify it the most, if you prefer full coverage, I suggest the following:
Compare the price and the content of the full (a.k.a. “platinum”) insurance offered by your Icelandic car rental company to Lotus and RentalCover below and choose for yourself. Personally, we always use Lotus or RentalCover. These two offer the best level of insurance for a price (usually) comparable with anyone else:
- Lotus car rental with their Platinum insurance covers EVERYTHING including river crossings. You can support us by using a 5% discount for Lotus with promo code: epicicelandd5
- RentalCover, a top-notch external insurer insures you against everything except river crossings, usually for a much lower price compared to the car rental companies
Beware! Even full platinum insurance packages most of the time don’t cover water damage / river crossing (we know only of 2 companies that do – Lotus and Blue car), and even many other damage types like undercarriage or doors and windows.
For example, as of 1.6.2022, one of the most popular car rental companies in Iceland offers platinum insurance for a 7-day Dacia Duster trip for 300USD. However, their platinum insurance does NOT cover:
-undercarriage, wind, tires, windows, water damages
You can have a better level of coverage for a lower price with RentalCover. RentalCover’s 4×4 insurance (for non-US citizens) covers everything except river crossings for, in this example, 240USD / 200Eur.
A full picture is not that easy though, there are more things to consider. Don’t want to buy full Icelandic car rental insurance? Or do you just want to understand the details? Well my friend, then read below…
What are the risks of a car rental in Iceland?
- Collision – damages to your car
- Collision – damages to someone else’s car
- Someone steals your car
- Loose gravel hits your car
- Sand or ash damages your car (engine or anything else)
- You damage the undercarriage / chassis of your car
- You damage the tire
- You damage the windows
- You damage the doors (e.g.: wind overthrows them)
- Water damages your car (engine or anything else)
- Animals damage your car
- Car can’t move and you need towing
Yes, all of this can actually happen when you drive in Iceland. Yes, all of this is usually charged separately (excluded from the basic insurance). Is it likely it will happen? Well, most of the time no, but this obviously depends on your driving skills. One thing is certain – there are more threats on Icelandic roads than on a typical American / European road (I said typical, for sure there are some more dangerous roads).
Important: How to choose the best car for Iceland?
So do we just want to scare you so that you buy our insurance? No 🙂 It’s just good to be prepared and set the expectations right so that you can choose for yourself.
What types of insurance are in Iceland?
Rule number one – always check the insurance conditions of your car rental company! Too difficult to understand? Well, obviously… But, what you can generally expect is the following:
- What’s included in the basic price is usually only the compulsory insurance (see below)
- For some of the damages not included in compulsory insurance, you may buy an optional insurance
Compulsory insurance
There are two types of insurance that are compulsory for every car rental company in Iceland. This basically means you will always get these two included in the basic price:
- Collision damage waiver
- Third-Party Liability Insurance
1. The collision damage waiver (CDW)
The CDW covers costs for case (1) – damages to your car if there’s a collision. BUT. Almost always you have to pay as well. This is called “the deductible”, “the driver’s liability” or “the excess”. So the usual example goes like this: there’s a CDW with 300 000 ISK deductible, which means, you will pay ALL damages up to 300 000 ISK (2350 USD). If the damage is bigger, you will not pay the rest.
Secondly, the CDW will usually not cover many types of damages. Usually, all of the bullet points (3) to (12) above are not covered. To insure against them, you have to either buy optional insurance or buy completely different insurance.
2. The third-party liability insurance (TPL)
The TPL covers costs for case (2) – damages to someone else’s car if there’s a collision. You don’t pay anything in this case. These damages are covered by TPL.
Optional insurance
Well, we’ve covered 2 cases out of 12 so far, what about the rest? Car rental companies offer to cover SOME of those as optional insurance. The word “some” is very important here because only very few companies cover most of them and we know only of Lotus and Blue Car.
What are the typical optional insurance options in Iceland?
1. The super collision damage waiver (SCDW)
Do you remember how we talked about “the deductible”, “the driver’s liability” or “the excess”? That’s the money you may pay if you damage your rental car. The SCDW lowers this amount. If you buy this optional insurance, you will pay a lower (sometimes even zero) deductible in case of an accident.
3. The theft protection (TP)
This covers costs for case (3), i.e. someone stealing your car. Usually, there is no deductible, so you usually don’t pay anything if it happens. It’s worth mentioning, though, that car thefts are very rare in Iceland.
4. The gravel protection (GP)
If I had to take just one optional insurance in Iceland, it would be gravel protection. Gravel is everywhere in Iceland. And most of the gravel is on F-roads. Which you should see because they are beautiful! This is the type of damage that happens almost always. So better be insured against it 🙂
5. The sand and ash protection (SAAP)
Although this sounds like insurance against volcanic ash, that is not its main purpose. There are several sand fields in Iceland, most of them in the South. They are mostly exposed to the wind after the snow thaws, i.e. in February, March, and April. Now imagine what happens if the wind blows enough sand into your engine? Nothing good 🙂 That’s where the SAAP comes in. Do you need it in summer? Usually no, but no one can rule out that sand will get into your engine in some cases.
Some car rental companies offer more optional insurance, but for the typical company, the list usually ends here. So, we’ve covered 5 out of 12 cases now! What about the rest?
Important: How to choose the best car for Iceland?
These are the less typical optional insurance options in Iceland:
6. The undercarriage / chassis insurance
Imagine driving over big rocks on some of the F-roads, for example when heading to Askja. It’s not that hard to hit the undercarriage, a.k.a. chassis of your vehicle and to damage it. Most of the insurance packages do not cover this! You have to either buy the optional undercarriage insurance or buy different insurance that will cover that.
7. The tire insurance
Unfortunately, even damage to tires is excluded from basic insurance packages most of the time. This means, should anything happen to your tire (or sometimes even a wheel), you will be fully responsible for that. Unless you buy optional insurance or different insurance which will cover all of these.
8. The window insurance
The same applies to windows. This is usually a separate “insurance item”. That means, anything happens to windows – you are fully responsible for that and will pay for that. Unless you buy optional insurance or different insurance which will cover all of these.
9. The door insurance
Even doors are usually excluded from basic insurance and even many optional insurance packages. The damage to doors is pretty common in Iceland, mostly due to strong wind and people not taking enough care when opening and closing their doors. You may insure against the door damage by buying optional insurance or different insurance which will cover all of these.
10. The water insurance
If you want to drive F-roads with river crossings, this is one of the most important points. Car rental companies don’t cover water damage, not even in their platinum packages! As of now, we know only about Lotus car rental, which does cover water damage. Recently Blue car also joined to become the second company to cover river crossings.
A PROMO CODE epicicelandd5 will get you a 5% discount with Lotus and us a small commission at no extra cost to you.
What does this mean? Well, if you cross the river on an F-road, and let’s say the water gets into your engine, your engine may die. And you may remain stuck in the water. And you will be paying for towing + new engine. How much can a new engine cost? Well, easily even 10 000 USD!
A 5% Blue car discount link will save you money on your car rental and earn us a small commission at no extra cost to you. *if it doesn’t work, please copy-paste the link into a different browser or into the private/incognito window of your browser
“So what should I do??” Well, either go for Lotus with water insurance (and, please, even in this case study carefully the river crossings!!) or take special caution and try to avoid bigger river crossings. We wrote a list of all F-roads with the size of their river crossings described (this may change in time though! always check conditions at the time of your trip).
Road 63 Bíldudalsvegur
11. The animal encounter insurance
Yes, this doesn’t happen often, but seldom it does. During our trip, we’d actually met more sheep than tourists 🙂 And sheep often don’t act logically, some being really stubborn getting at the road at the most inconvenient time. This, in the first place, means, take special care not to harm animals in Iceland!
If, in any case, an animal damages your car somehow (hopefully nothing happens to the animal, let’s rather picture a scenario of an angry sheep scratching your car), you will be fully responsible for that. Unless you buy optional insurance or different insurance which will cover all of these.
12. The towing insurance
Got stuck in the river? Stuck on the rock? Stuck in the sand? Is your engine dead? Did you collide and your car can’t move? You will need towing. And towing isn’t cheap. And is charged separately. Unless you buy optional insurance or different insurance which will cover all of these.
What insurance should I choose?
The most common damages
Now, if you read all of this, here’s a little reward for you 🙂 What is in our opinion the most common damage happening to rental cars in Iceland? Well, if I had to pick Top 3, it would be 1) gravel damage, 2) water damage (if you go for F-roads with river crossings), 3) classical collision of any kind.
What happens less often, but still happens are the door damage (due to wind), tire damage (of course tires are under pressure on Icelandic roads, though this isn’t that expensive damage), and damage to the undercarriage of your car (if you aren’t careful enough).
What usually does not happen are thefts, animal encounters or window damages, and sand/ash getting into your engine outside of spring.
Trip scenarios
Reykjavik and south
Going just around Reykjavik, golden circle, and the south? Well, then you don’t need the water damage insurance. Also, gravel hitting your car, you damaging the undercarriage, or animals damaging your car are not very likely. Of course, anything may happen, though.
This means that usually, just basic compulsory insurance is enough. For peace of mind, you may take Gravel protection, Sand and Ash protection, and/or Super collision damage waiver if you feel unsure. Look at RentalCover how much they charge for insurance – it may be cheaper than buying insurance from your car rental company and cover you better.
Usually cheaper RentalCover will cover everything except water damage.
Ring road or winter trip
The ring road is long and winter is more dangerous, so I would generally recommend slightly better insurance. It’s better to have Gravel protection, Sand and Ash protection, and Super collision damage waiver. Some other options like Tire insurance, Window insurance, Door insurance or Towing insurance may be viable for your peace of mind as well, not necessary though. If you are not going for F-roads, water insurance is unnecessary.
Highlands with simple F-roads
Going for highlands, F-roads, and gravel roads with no or just small river crossings? Well, then you probably need to be insured against everything mentioned in the article, except river crossings (water damage).
I suggest you first read well full/platinum insurance conditions of your car rental company. If they include all of the damages I mentioned in the article (usually they don’t), then compare their price against RentalCover. This external provider covers everything except water damage for a very good price.
Want to have covered everything, including water damage? Lotus car rental will cover it with their platinum insurance!
Highlands with more difficult F-roads
Going for highlands, F-roads, and gravel roads with medium river crossings? Get all available insurance, especially the one for water damage, undercarriage, and gravel!
There’s only 1 car rental company which we know about, that covers you against everything mentioned in this article, including river crossing. That is Lotus car rental. You can have a 5% discount for booking with them with our promo code: “epicicelandd5“
Alternatively, you may take special caution, avoid big river crossings and go for an insurance package without water insurance. In that case, I suggest you first read well full/platinum insurance conditions of your car rental company. If they include all of the damages I mentioned in the article (usually they don’t), then compare their price against RentalCover. This external provider covers everything except water damage for a very good price.
How to find out which roads have difficult river crossings? We’ve made a list of F-roads for you!
How does RentalCover work?
RentalCover is, in our opinion, the best 3rd party insurance provider for car rentals around the world, who will insure your Icelandic car rental.
You need to buy insurance any day BEFORE the trip. If any accident or damage happens during your trip, this is the procedure to follow:
- Create documentation of the accident (photos, notes)
- Notify your car rental company immediately
- Pay for the damages to your car rental company – require confirmation for that!
- Send the documentation (photos, notes, your written communication with car rental company, confirmation of your payment) to RentalCover
- RentalCover will pay you for the damage
The main advantage of a third-party provider like RentalCover is most of the time the better price and better insurance coverage.
The main disadvantage is that you have to pay for the damage first, and you will get the money back afterward.
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EPIC article. thanks that was exactly for what i was looking for when researching about renting a car at Iceland. now i can rent a car and enjoy my holidays without fear.
Thank you very much, Jan 🙂 Words like yours give us the energy to continue writing articles like these. Enjoy your holiday!
great information. We are travelling in Summer 2022 and would like to get a vehicle for 3 adults (with 3 suitcases). We hope to go to the Westfjords but will not be taking the car into the Highlands. Do we need a 4X4 in your opinion?
Hi and thank you 🙂
If you stay on normal roads and don’t drive on F-roads, you can do Westfjords with a normal 2wd car between 15th June and 15th September.
Good article! However I just had an awful experience in Iceland and I think it is important for readers to know: the GRAVEL PROTECTION INSURANCE does NOT cover damage caused by gravel to the inside of the car. We didn’t do anything wrong, but unluckily a little stone from the road hit the radiator and pierced it. We had to pay for the radiator and for the towing. We argued with the car rental manager, but the contract specified that only damages to paint, bumper and windshield were covered.
@Sabrina, so sad to hear that 🙁
Unfortunately, no matter the part of the World, most of the insurance sellers are crooks — if on purpose or not– and since most car rentals make most money on insurances … well, that makes them crooks too. Sorry to all folks that actually care, but this business is just like that.
So, yeah, thanks for this great article. I have used RentalCover in Namibia and fortunately have not needed their service. I am quite sad to realize a modern western country like Iceland falls under the same principle: never EVER trust your rental company and always insure elsewhere.
Hi,
I visited your Rentalcover link and tried to get a quote for a 4×4 in Iceland for an upcoming trip. But when I select Iceland as the country, it will only allow me to select “car” as my vehicle?
I’m interested in a plan that would cover dirt tracks, if I can find one.
Hi, visitors from certain countries, like the USA, are unfortunately not able to take the 4×4 RentalCover insurance..
Related to the question posed by Josh above, I am also a U.S. traveler intending to travel to Iceland in July 2023. Was looking into rental cover as an insurance solution, but I am confused about the language here.
Simply picking “Car” on the front page shows some small print saying “Does not cover commercial or offroad use or exotic cars.” Does driving on F-roads count as offroad use?
When I get a quote, I see more small print saying “You are not covered for: 4x4s that are used on unsealed roads.” Are unsealed roads counting F-roads? Thanks for any commentary…
Hi Arthur, yes, unfortunately, if you are a US resident RentalCover will cover only normal roads, not F-roads. That’s why it is impossible to choose a “4×4” option.
Appreciate the clarification. That’s disappointing. I have found very few third party insurers that will insure for Iceland/unsealed roads. I may re-post here if we end up finding and committing with one.
Definitely let us know if you find anything useful either to our mailbox: [email protected] or here in the comment! Thanks in advance.
Going off of this – are non-F roads that are gravel still considered unsealed? I want to use rentalcover.com for my SUV 4×4 rental, but not if it doesn’t cover dirt roads that aren’t even F-roads.
Gravel 3-digit roads should be covered (even for US residents and non-4×4 version of the insurance), because this is a normal road in Iceland: https://epiciceland.net/icelandic-road-system/#The_3-digit_roads
If you are asking about the 4×4 insurance for non-US residents, and coverage of dirt tracks: https://epiciceland.net/icelandic-road-system/#Dirt_tracks then these are covered if you are allowed to drive them by your car rental company in your car rental agreement
Thank you thank you thank you 1000x for this article! Excellent in so many ways. Information. Details. Explanations. Your article has been very helpful in helping me select the car rental I need and the insurance. THANKS!
Thank you so much for your very kind comment! Very are glad our articles are useful for you 🙂
Hi Igor, thanks so much for all the information you provide on this site. It’s so usefull when preparing our 2nd visit to Iceland. The 1st time we drove the ringroad. This time we will go into the Highlands with a 4×4 Jeep. Based upon your advice, I decided to rent our car with Lotus and go for the full option insurance. Preparing the rest of the holiday is so much fun with all the details you provide. We will be driving a 4X4 for the first time, but feel very comfortable thanks to all the information you provide.
Keep up the good work of providing all of us with so much useful, practical and detailed information 🙂
Kind regards from Belgium,
Elke
Thank you so much! You can’t even imagine how we value and appreciate your kind words! Have an amazing trip in summer!
Hi Igor, Thanks for the wonderful blog. I went to the Rentalcover website but couldn`t find insurance for gravel or sand & ash. Their full protection insurance didn`t mention that they cover gravel and such things. Only the below language is mentioned. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks!
You are covered for the following (most are not covered in the waivers sold at the rental desk):
All types of single & multiple vehicle accidents & vehicle repairs including body damage, windscreen, tyre, roof & underbody.
Key loss/replacement.
Expensive accident-related fees such as loss of use and administration fees.
Provides coverage for theft, fire & vandalism.
Hi Pankaj and thank you!
I believe “all types of damage” includes gravel, sand and ash. We’ve once asked this and they confirmed. We recommend you contact their support if it’s still valid but I believe it is.
Based on your feedback and advice we rented a car at Lotus Car Rental. Very professional and friendly car renting company. We rented a 4×4 car (Jeep Renegate 4xE) and took the platinum insurance because we wanted to to visit some places for which we needed to drive on F-roads with river crossings. We did the whole tour of Iceland clockwise and visited via F-roads amongst others Askja (F88 – F910 – F905), Laki (F206), Markarfjotsglufur (F261) and Hveravellir (F35). Top experiences !!! Although we drove carefully, we were happy to feel well protected. When we suffered a flat tire, we experienced the top service of Lotus Car Rental (and the platinum insurance). They advised us to the closest repair shop and we even didn’t need to prepay the bill. The bill could be directly sent to Lotus Car Rental. Really a very good rental experience. Thank you Epic Island for the good advice for car rental. In addition, the Epic Island website was one of our main sources of information (on F-roads, hotsprings, waterfalls, etc). Especially the Google Maps overviews were extremely helpful. Also a big thanks for that.
Hi David, thank you very much! We’re glad to hear that you had a wonderful trip, and even an unpleasant situation like a flat tire has been solved well! This confirms to us even more what we’ve already tried ourselves several times – that Lotus with Platinum insurance is most likely the best choice in Iceland.
Hope you’ll come back some day and explore even more!
Hi Igor,
Thanks for all the great information! Next week I will be in Iceland and am planning to drive to Hofn and back from Reykjavik (over 4 days) and am wondering if you would suggest a 4×4 vehicle? Since the drive will be spread out I am hoping to make good use of the time but am wondering if I will be limited with a 2WD vehicle. I also am planning to decline all insurance and use the car insurance benefit on my credit card– I’m assuming this is essentially like using a 3rd party service like RentalCover and it should be fine? Thanks so much!
Hi Ben and thank you!
4 days is quite short time when it comes to Iceland, so I assume you will mostly have to stick to the main attractions around Ring Road. For that, 2wd will be totally alright. 4×4 will be necessary only for Highlands (or winter), but exploring Highlands requires a lot of preparation and additional time.
When it comes to insurance – there are about 10 to 15 types of damages (and insurance) – we list all of them in this article. Your credit card may cover some of them, all of them or none of them (you have to check this with your credit card company). So there’s no universal answer – the insurance by a car rental company may or may not be better and the same applies to RentalCover.
Hi Igor,
First of all, thank you for your amazing blog!
It is very useful for anyone who want to visit Iceland.
We will travel between 28.09 and 06.10, hoping to see Aurora Borealis.
Can you help me with the best places to watch it?
Also, after I read your description, I am determined to follow some F-roads.
The easiest ones are still open in this period?
Thank you in advance and, again, amazing blog!
Hi Cristian and thank you very much!
F-roads are already starting to close, so I would guess even the easy ones will be closed by first week of October. But be sure to follow http://www.umferdin.is for the most up to date info on roads.
With Aurora it’s not so much about the best place, but more about When and How. Our Guide about Maximizing your Aurora Chances may help.
Hi , leaving on 13th Oct to Iceland. Yet to decide on which companies on insurance coverage on the rental car. Any suggestions on reliable car insurance companies in Iceland? Thanks on the information on different types of coverage on vehicles.
Hi Tracy, as far as we know you can’t use an Icelandic Insurance company separately – you either have to buy the insurance coverage directly from the Icelandic car rental company or you can buy it from an international 3rd party like RentalCover
Hello Igor
I live in the UK and have been using Questor Car Hire insurance for covering excess on car rentals. They have a special extension for Iceland, however it does NOT cover consequential damage such as to a radiator. (This event was mentioned in an earlier post) I have never made a claim so I don’t know how good they really are….
Iceland Extension
This option only applies to vehicles rented in Iceland and provides cover for risks typically excluded from Your Rental Agreement excess.
We will provide cover for weather related charges arising from the incident for damage to the Rented Vehicle’s exterior that are specifically not covered by the collision damage waiver / insurance provided under the terms of Your Rental Agreement. The damage cover is limited to:
1. Windblown doors
2. Damage caused by sand, gravel, ash, pumice, or other earth materials that are blown onto the vehicle or thrown onto the vehicle by another vehicle, machine, or person. Consequential damage to the radiator, engine, or transmission is not covered.
Please note that if this option is purchased then the maximum recoverable under this section of the policy which You can claim during the Period of Insurance is £10,000.
Hi Raymond, I don’t know this company, but it’s important you are covered also for:
These two are a game changer for the Highlands and F-roads. For the ring road only they don’t matter that much.
The only company offering insurance for these two in Iceland is Lotus car rental. That’s why we decided to partner up with them, because they are the best thanks to this.
Hi. I found Blue Car Rental (Zerocar is the same). It looks like their insurance cover water damage too. Do you know this car rental company?
https://www.bluecarrental.is/useful-information/terms/terms-and-conditions/
Hi Gregory, Blue car rental is a well-known and reliable Icelandic car rental company. However, their insurance does NOT cover water damages. This is explicitly stated several times in the terms and conditions you link in your comment. For example in 8.b.:
“no compensation will be paid by the vehicle insurance. This includes damages to the vehicle and/or injury to passengers on account of:
Driving in or across rivers or any kind of water course”
The same is written in 12.o..
That being said, the only car rental company in Iceland with a river crossing insurance is still just Lotus
Hi. Thanks for answer.
The first part of terms is only about car – the second part is about insurance…
For example point 29
29. The accident insurances mentioned in Article 28 do not cover:
o. Damage to the vehicle, its electrical system, accessories, or engine caused by water when driving over rivers, pools of water or in lakes, UNLESS the renter purchases the Liability Waiver.
The same is with underside of car – 29.n
Can it be, that they have introduced such insurance? I wrote to the this firm and they answered me, that water damages will cover if you have Liability Waver… What do you think about it?
I looked at their terms again, and it seems you’re right. It seems like Blue has changed their terms just recently and now they cover river crossings. I’m gonna double check that with them.
That being said, we now offer a 5% discount link for Blue Car rental as well! 🙂
Unfortunately RentalCover does not include 4×4 cars used on unpaved roads
They do but only for customers from some countries. They’ve changed this just recently, we will have to update the article.
Thank you for the excellent info.
I just took out Rentalcover from Australia for 4×4 camper in Iceland but in the fineprint it states that “You are not covered 14. Where you have driven the rental vehicle off-road or on an unsealed road, except for unsealed roads which you are required to use to access your accommodation venue.” I have queried Rentalcover about driving on F roads but have not received a reply.
Hi David, as I replied to your email – yes, Australian residents may not be covered for F-roads. You always have to check the insurance wording. It may change over time and for particular residents. As of now, European residents should be fully covered as we write in the article.
Concernant Rental Cover, vous indiquez qu’ils le font pour certains pays, est-ce que la France en fait partie ?
Yes, they do it for France
hi there,
Great article, very helpful.
our plan is to cover Reykjavik + main spots on the golden circle + drive down to Vik. based on your suggestion basic insurance + credit card insurance should suffice. can you please confirm? we will be there for 5 days with a toddler in August. also, are online reservations guaranteed? I read somewhere sometimes companies will not honor online reservations due to non availability. I booked through Enterprise
Hi Hamza, yes basic insurance should be OK if you don’t cause any serious accident. The roads you mentioned are well paved.
The car rental companies we recommend always guarantee your online reservation. I can’t speak for Enterprise
Hi Igor,
I found an affordable possibility to rent a Jeep Compass Trailhead for my upcoming Iceland trip. However, the insurance (Gold package) with that company is super expensive and even the Gold package has some self-deductible left to pay in case something happens.
Is it possible to use RentalCover to insure a car that has no Gravel Protection, no tire Protection and a very high amount of self-deductible for Collision Damage Waiver, Third Party Liability and Windshield Protection?
Or is it only possible to use RentalCover to insure the car that already has a Gold package? (I am talking about Konvin Car Rental, by the way)
Hi Chris, first of all, I would be cautious about renting a car with a company that has two Google reviews, while other companies have hundreds or thousands.
We recommend rather renting with http://www.lotuscarrental.is (5% discount code: epicicelandd5) or Blue Car (5% discount link) where both companies offer zero-deductible full insurance covering everything.
As per RentalCover – it depends on your residency. You can try on their website how much and what is covered for your country. The best coverage is for European residents. Even then, though, there’s a maximum coverage limit (e.g. 8000eur), which they unfortunately introduced over the past years.
Hi Eric,
Firstly, thanks for all the value info in your web. I finally determine to go with lotus with your discount code. Thank you! But I saw their terms of towing cost deductive to 35,000 ISK under platinum plan. Does that means I need to pay at most this amount? Or they covered at most this amount?
Also, cos lotus didnt covered road assistance. I’d like to go with rentalcover for 100% zero payment from myself. I’m from China and I can choose 4*4 cars from the web. There’s no other options to choose like total coverage amount but only open the “edit quote” function, I can see one option to choose limit amount of excess from min to max range. I saw in my quote the min excess is ISK 342,400. Is that enought for road assist and addtional towing fee from my side? Does this mean the max cost that rentalcover would pay under this quote/contract?
Hi Ray, I’m Igor, not Eric, but that’s OK 😉
Yes you need to pay at most 35 000 ISK for towing, which is really a very low amount compared to what you could possibly pay for river crossing damages with other companies.
With Lotus you are fully covered for any damages, you just need to pay for towing (35 000 ISK). What do you mean by road assistance? Like calling the tow company? As far as I know, Lotus covers everything, you just have to call the towing/mechanic company yourself – that’s what’s meant by road assistance.
Hi Igor,
Firstly, thanks for all the value info in your web. I finally determine to go with lotus with your discount code. Thank you! But I saw their terms of towing cost deductive to 35,000 ISK under platinum plan. Does that means I need to pay at most this amount? Or they covered at most this amount?
Also, cos lotus didnt covered road assistance. I’d like to go with rentalcover for 100% zero payment from myself. I’m from China and I can choose 4*4 cars from the web. There’s no other options to choose like total coverage amount but only open the “edit quote” function, I can see one option to choose limit amount of excess from min to max range. I saw in my quote the min excess is ISK 342,400. Is that enought for road assist and addtional towing fee from my side? Does this mean the max cost that rentalcover would pay under this quote/contract?
Hi Karen,
Yes you need to pay at most 35 000 ISK for towing, which is really a very low amount compared to what you could possibly pay for river crossing damages with other companies.
With Lotus you are fully covered for any damages, you just need to pay for towing (35 000 ISK). What do you mean by road assistance? Like calling the tow company? As far as I know, Lotus covers everything, you just have to call the towing/mechanic company yourself – that’s what’s meant by road assistance. So if you take a full coverage with Lotus, I personally don’t see any reason to take also RentalCover.
Yes 342 000 ISK (or 2500usd) would definitely cover “roadside assistance” and towing. I’m just not sure what you mean by roadside assistance? I don’t believe RentalCover will be calling a car mechanic for you 🙂 You just have to pick the phone and call it yourself. The same for Lotus, but they will definitely help you with that a bit.
Hello Igor.
One word : EPIC! Your website is GOLD. I was excited and scared to go to Iceland, but now thanks to you… I’m only excited. I just started to scratch the surface of it, but I’ve never seen such Iceland encyclopedia. I subscribed to your YouTube and try to help you as much as I can, your work needs more rewards !
I’m going to Iceland from 18 sept to 2 Oct. I was planning do to a part of F road (with 4×4) and a part of ring road (2WD). Based on your feedbacks, I know plan all with a 4×4.
3 questions :
1) in other articles you say F road are closed outside summer (July August). Does it mean that mid sept they are closed (because no winter service outside July August on F roads right?!…) and it’s illegal to drive on it? Or the definition of open or closed just depends on their condition on the website umferdin.is ?
2) Most of the accessible/unaccessible definition of the trips are based on summer/winter… what about mid-late sept, it’s already hard weather and road conditions (I mean in average)?
3) you said you will keep us advice regarding rentalcover (thanks a lot for referencing them… they are indeed impressively competitive). You said they cover us for : GP, SAAP, SCDW, Tire, window, undercarriage and towing… right ? all except water. But recently you said they changed their policy and they don’t cover on F road ? Or only for British? I’m confused as it’s not clearly written in their terms… Can you confirm… I’m French and was planning to use their policy on F roads this September…
Thanks again for all what you’ve done for us!
Dear David, thank you very much for your beautiful words!
If you like what we do please leave us a testimonial / review on our Google profile and our Facebook Page, it would help us a lot!
Additionally you can support our work by buying our map: https://epiciceland.net/map/
As per your questions:
1+2: We write more about differences between “Closed” and “Impassable” here: https://epiciceland.net/icelandic-road-system/#Impassable_vs_Closed_vs_No_winter_service
Generally speaking, F-roads start gradually becoming impassable sometimes around early September and typically most of them are fully impassable by early October. Sometimes all this happens as early as beginning of September, sometimes as late as into the October. The roads are impassable due to deep snow. It’s legal to drive there but only locals with super jeeps: https://epiciceland.net/how-to-rent-super-jeep-iceland/ and a lot of experience do it.
If anything happens with you on an impassable road, you are not covered by any insurance and you are fully liable for yourself.
3: I just checked the current insurance wording for RentalCover. If you choose “4×4 car insurance” as a French resident you will be covered also for F-roads, except river crossings up to 7 300 Eur. This means, this insurance covers max 7 300 Eur of damage.
Have a great trip! 🙂
Hello Igor
First congratulations, your website is GOLD. Since I found it, never had to open any other ones in the browser. I subscribed to your YouTube and hope I’ll make it more visible, because your work deserves a prize.
Just to confirm, do you have a written proof or an personal experience that RentalCover actually covers us for Gravel (GP), sand and ashes (SAAP), undercarriage, tires, mirror, windows, doors, and even towage (except water)… and on F-roads ? There is no limit to the damages? I’m French.
So we can rent any 4×4 from any car rental companies (technically even the cheap ones with bad reviews) and deny all their insurances… And risk nothing except an oppressive speech/look when we pick up the car and potentially an attempt to scam us with fake damages when we drop off the car… But we are covered for all their potential scams… that’s it?! You tried it ?
Dear David, thanks again! 🙂
You can check the coverage from RentalCover yourself, just try to buy the insurance package on their website to see their Policy, and don’t enter any payment details yet. This is what you will see: https://rentalcover.com/pds/8CUS-UDW9-INS
Long story short – yes you are covered for everything you mention, but up to the limit of 7 300 Eur max.
Not sure what happens if a rental company tries to scam you for made up damages. That may be a difficult situation where both RentalCover and rental company may refuse the coverage. Personally I would always avoid such rental companies and go for reliable ones only.