Insurance

Introduction

Insurance options are often confusing, and the extra effort to understand your deductibles and insurance limitations is a bother. In the Icelandic market, there is an additional “fine print” in all (that we know of) rental contracts due to the harsh environment in which the vehicles operate (Iceland). Insurance companies have steadily added exceptions to the insurance contracts they offer the rental companies, which the rental companies have, in turn, added to your rental agreement as an insurance exception. To compensate, the rental companies sell additional insurance to customers to plug these gaps in the insurance company’s terms.

But that’s where we are tired of the status quo. The extra insurance, in most cases (all that we know of), only affects the deductibles and adds a few items from the list of limitations as separate purchases. You have probably seen some of them- SAAP or SAAI (Sand and Ash Insurance) is a good example. It makes sense, in a way, but we don’t like it much. With such an approach, you are liable for a myriad of common damages that occur on Icelandic roads. Insurance in a rental environment has to be simpler than the average personal insurance “fine print.”

Included in the CDW Insurance

Things aren’t all bad; the CDW insurance does cover quite a few things well. For example, bodily injuries and third-party coverage are almost absolute—no hospital bills and no compensating damages that are done to other vehicles or property. And the terms do cover quite a few other things.

Here, we try to list all the items you usually find excluded from coverage in the standard Icelandic rental agreement/insurance contract. When we say limitations, we mean that the insurance does not cover these damages at all; so there is no longer a 450.000 ISK ceiling on what you may have to pay. Many of these limitations no longer apply to you if you purchase any of our insurance options, or we offer a maximum deductible for these kinds of damages. We want to highlight the fact that these limitations are in no way bound only to our rental. You will be hard-pressed to find a car or camper rental in Iceland that doesn’t have these items listed as limitations on the backside of your rental agreement. We have not found one yet.

Look up what kind of insurance you already have, such as Travel Insurance, Credit Card Insurance, etc. It’s a good idea to do that beforehand.



Getting Premium insurance is a good minimum, primarily as it protects against Gravel Damage, which is the most “uncontrollable” factor when traveling around Iceland. Comparatively, damages on the Icelandic roads are common.

Sheep! They are everywhere. Watch out.



Black Ice – Invisible ice sheet on roads during the winter months.

Speed limits:

Highway: 90 kph
Tunnels: 70 kph
Gravel roads: 60 kph – Slow down considerably when meeting vehicles to avoid gravel damage.
Towns: 50 kph
Speed cameras have low tolerance, and fines are high.

Dealing with damages

The only times we’ve had bad reviews and bad experiences are when a camper comes in with damages. It’s never fun for anyone involved, so we’ve tried hard to safeguard all parties, and to provide the best insurance options we possibly can. We take high-resolution photos of every angle of the camper before it goes out. That way, we can refer to those images to never charge our customers for damages they did not cause. We recommend the customers do the same, although we provide full access to the photos we take. We increased the margin by going by a “size of a coin” minimum damage to justify damage charges, although cracked windows are an exception.



We now sign off each camper when customers return them and do a thorough inspection of the vehicle right away. That way, we can promise not to send bills after you have left. When you finish your return process and go home, you will not receive late or unexplained charges from us. The exception is when customers choose our 24/7 return service, where they agree to unattended inspections after they have left.

Note: All damages must be reported to CampEasy upon discovery, regardless of your insurance choices.