Lava Car Rental
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Did not live up to our expectations given great reviews
Overall, we were disappointed with our experience with Lava Car Rental, particularly given their high ratings. We rented a campervan, and while the van itself was fine the accessories and service provided were unfortunately not adequate. Shuttle - Lava sent us multiple emails letting us know that their shuttle runs every 10 minutes to do pickups at KEF airport. They specifically noted that there was no need to call for the shuttle, it runs continuously. In the end, we waited over 45 minutes for the shuttle, and we did have to call them to send the shuttle. Other companies' shuttles came by 2-3 times while we waited. Campervan: the good - The van provided by Lava met our needs. It was no frills, but drove well and was in good repair. The heater in the van worked, though struggled a bit on the colder nights (outdoor temperatures hovering around -1 C). Sleeping bags provided were also good, and overall the van was comfy for two people. The wifi we purchased for the van worked great - we had service essentially throughout the south coast and it was fast. The van had a plug for electricity at campsites and an adapter that could be plugged into extension cords. These worked well, though at some sites having a longer cable would have provided a lot more flexibility because if you don't arrive early, there's a strong chance you wouldn't get a spot close enough to an outlet to be able to use it. We never had that issue, but also traveled during shoulder season (late Sept) and did have to borrow an extension cord once and swap spots with a fellow camper another time. Campervan: the bad - Unfortunately, the accessories provided with our campervan did not meet our needs or expectations. We were provided with two chairs which were both broken (one you couldn't even sit on and the other had a broken arm rest); a camp stove (which appeared to be broken, took over 40 mins to heat a small pot of water to not even to boiling, and both me and my partner have used this type of stove multiple times before so do not believe it was user error); and a jug for water (which had a crack that had been taped shut and ended up leaking on our belongings). When we notified Lava of the shortcomings of our experience, they were kind enough to provide a refund on the cost of the wifi (~7,500 ISK). They also let us know that if we had called/emailed them during our trip, they would have worked with us to find a solution (e.g., sending us to a store to purchase replacement gear and reimbursing us). Long story short, Lava would not be our choice on our next visit to Iceland; however, the van itself did work well and we appreciated their willingness to work to remedy the problems to the extent possible.