Never rent a car with Hertz Iceland
I had the worst experience cat rental with Hertz Iceland.
We have rented as a group eight Land Rover Defenders from Hertz Iceland for 6 days between June 25, 2026 and July 1, 2026 for the price of €1,860 per vehicle (i.e. the total cost of nearly €15,000 for all 8 vehicles).
We have also purchased all the possible insurance coverages to be fully covered.
Unfortunately, when my vehicle suffered a mechanical failure over the weekend, and its engine didn't start, Hertz provided zero support. We tried several times to contact Hertz to get a replacement vehicle, but surprisingly the answer that we received was that there is no contact person of Hertz during the weekend.
Instead, we were forced to handle a private contractor for road assistance, who was highly unprofessional. He has charged us €80 just to open a call, plus €520 for a technician unable to service a hybrid Defender plus €1,600 for towing. The technician was so unfamiliar with a hybrid Defender, that he had to use ChatGPT to locate the vehicle’s battery, and he did not have even basic diagnostic software capable of reading the vehicle’s system and potentially resolving the issue without the need for towing.
Although a report issued by an authorized Land Rover dealership in Reykjavik has clearly established that there was no damage whatsoever to the hybrid system, or to any other surrounding electrical components of the vehicle, therefore the vehicle’s failure to start must have resulted from normal wear and tear malfunction or any other reason for which we cannot be held responsible for, Hertz still refuses to reimburse us for the road assistance and towing costs totaling €2,200.
In addition, Hertz has failed to provide us a replacement vehicle or, at the very least, to reimburse us for the four days during which we were deprived of its use. The amount due to us for that period is €1,240, calculated on a pro rata basis according to the daily rental rate.
Furthermore, Hertz Iceland argues that we are responsible for damage to the vehicle’s underbody — damage that had already existed before we received the vehicle and with which we have absolutely no connection. We have provided several photos taken on June 25, 2026, the commencement date of the rental, showing that the physical underbody damage was pre-existing before the vehicle was delivered to us.
Hertz has also failed to explain how eight vehicles could travel the exact same route under similar conditions, with seven of the eight sustaining no underbody damage whatsoever, while only one single vehicle allegedly incurred extensive underbody damage. That simply does not make any sense and strongly suggests that the alleged damage to a vehicle with more than 100,000 km was pre-existing.
Unfortunately we are left with the strong impression that Hertz Iceland is attempting to charge us for pre-existing damage that we did not cause and this is unacceptable.
All our efforts to resolve this matter amicably were met with Hertz's refusal to reimburse us for the road assistance and towing costs and for the four days during which we were deprived one of the vehicles without providing a replacement vehicle by Hertz.
