For those who remember, Iceland faced (and is still facing) a severe financial crunch – a do or die situation in which the government and its people try desperate measures to stay afloat. Out of this desperation comes several good things including new business models and in this case, we are focusing on car rental services in Iceland.

The norm is to set up a car rental company that buys cars and in turn rents them out to customers. While this business model still continues to exist in Iceland, the recession kick started a new model; car owners banding together and starting a company http://carrenters.is/ to rent out their cars.

We love this business model because the cars on rent are the very same cars that are actually being driven by the owners themselves. We found that the cars in this case are not only cleaner but are better maintained. If you have an issue, you talk direct to the owner and not as in the former case, fill out some form which in all probability, might never get read.

The setup is as professional as it gets and their website http://carrenters.is/ allows you to browse all available cars and select the one that best suits your requirement during your stay in Iceland.

Booking your car rental through http://carrenters.is/ is quite easy. Simply click on the “Request reservation’ button, fill in the details and it’s done.

Renting a Budget car in Iceland? by the week is obviously cheaper than renting it by the day so a five-day car rental is usually more expensive than a one week car rental. But check it out.

We’ll let you onto a little secret; once you’ve selected and reserved your rental car, you are provided with the contact details of the car owner. Use that information to contact the rental car owner to bargain for something extra. For example, you reserve the car for a week but ask for a two day free extension – you’d be amazed at what a little bargaining can achieve. In fact, when we tried it out ourselves, we got ourselves an excellent deal and there was definitely no way we could have gotten the same from a regular Car Rental Iceland company.

Once you’ve got your Wrecked car rental Iceland deal all sewed up, ask the owner to deliver the car for your inspection at your hotel. This would be your pickup point and also the place where you hand back the car to the owner. Check the car for dents, scratches and the like. In normal course, these would be listed in the contract but if they are not, be sure to add them and have the owner counter-sign the addition. In most cases though, the cars are almost brand new and in peak condition. Still, it would be worth you time to give the car a good visual inspection. Take it for a small test drive. If unsatisfied with the quality of the engine or gearshift or anything else, feel free to reject. The money you paid at time of booking the car rental is held by http://carrenters.is/ and can be used to hire a different car.

We of course did not have any issues with the car we hired. Happy Holidays and have a safe trip.