Zerocar Iceland Review 2026: Ring Road with a Sportage

Iceland Car Rental: My Zero Car Review,

Driving the Ring Road in a Sportage

I recently went on an amazing 11-day, 10-night road trip to Iceland!

Since I traveled in May '26, this is a pretty fresh and up-to-date review!

I wanted to write this sooner, but getting around to actually doing it took some time.

A rental car is absolutely essential for traveling in Iceland.

There are so many companies out there, and Lotus seems to be the most popular choice for many travelers.

But we ended up going with Zero Car!

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Why We Chose Zero Car and the Kia Sportage

Why did we choose Zero Car when Lotus is the most famous option?

Well, simply because Zero Car was a bit cheaper! haha

Plus, I heard a lot of people have been renting from Zero Car lately.

My husband did the actual price comparison so I'll skip the details, but...

Based on full-coverage insurance, Zero Car was indeed cheaper than Lotus.

And why did we choose a Sportage instead of a 4WD?

Again, because the Sportage was cheaper... lol

Of course, a 4WD would have been better,

but since we traveled in May, the road conditions weren't too rough,

and it wasn't like the Highlands were open for us to explore anyway.

So we didn't think we really needed a 4WD.

However, I did regret this decision a little bit.

I'll share more details about that below!

The total price for the full 11-day, 10-night rental was

~$999.

And of course, we opted for full-coverage insurance.

As always, we were lucky enough not to have to file any insurance claims!

We didn't rent a portable Wi-Fi device.

Since we used eSIMs, we felt we didn't really need one.

In fact, we had great connection throughout the trip without running out of data.

Charging a portable Wi-Fi device and carrying it around is such a hassle,

so make your life easy and just get an eSIM~~

Check out my eSIM review in the link below!

The Online Check-in Process

There are tons of reviews out there for Lotus,

but not many for Zero Car, so I wanted to share my experience!

After booking and before your trip starts,

you'll receive an email asking you to check in online.

For some reason, we kept getting errors during our online check-in process.

So we sent them an email,

and they seemed to manually sort it out for us.

If you run into an error as well, just shoot them an email.

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Picking Up the Vehicle

Our very first thought upon arriving in Iceland:

"Ugh, it's raining..."

hahaha

Thankfully, by the time we finished immigration and walked out, the rain had stopped.

Icelandic weather proving to be dynamic

right from the very beginning.

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I heard Lotus has staff who come to pick you up,

but with Zero Car, you have to walk to their office yourself.

But it's close, so it's totally fine... haha.

It's only about a 5-minute walk!

Once you step outside the airport, you'll see a brown building on your right—

that's the "Aurora Hotel."

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The airport is super small, so don't worry about getting lost! haha

Just head towards the Aurora Hotel and look behind it,

and you'll spot Blue Car Rental.

You can head over to the area circled in red—

where it says *Blue Car Key Box Pickup*—

and use the **self-service kiosk** to pick up your keys.

Why go to Blue Car when we rented from Zero Car?

Apparently, they are partner companies.

The rental car even has a Blue Car sticker on it.

We wandered around a bit at first wondering where to go...

I hope you guys find it right away on your first try!

Here is the location on Google Maps:

When you head over to the key box area, you'll find a machine like this.

Fully automated... completely contactless!

Just enter your details, and your key pops out of something that looks like a mailbox.

It tells you exactly where your car is parked,

so you can just head straight out and find it.

Iceland is definitely a place where you rarely see staff in person.

Even though we got the full coverage insurance, you never know—

it's always a good idea to take a detailed video of the car's condition just in case!

But wait... the car was in absolutely pristine condition??

Whoa, once we got inside,

we realized it was practically brand new, with only about 750 km on the odometer!

According to ChatGPT, a simple loop around the Ring Road is about 1,300 km.

So we basically got a car that hadn't even done a full lap yet—

maybe it was only used for a quick trip down south.

We're guessing we were only the second group of people to ever drive it!

Both the interior and exterior were so incredibly clean,

which made us feel so good starting our trip.

Can you see this? Some of the protective stickers weren't even peeled off yet!

The ultimate brand-new car experience haha.

Since it was a Sportage (a familiar Korean car),

driving was super easy and comfortable.

Connecting the navigation system was a breeze too.

We brought a phone mount just in case,

but we didn't end up needing it at all.

Driving around felt so good...

pure happiness...

This is what Iceland is all about...♥️

Driving Experience Review

So, how was tackling the Ring Road

in a non-4WD Sportage??

Up to the southern region, it was absolute bliss.

The roads are smooth and flat~~

and all the main sights are close together~

However, the driving hours and distances are quite long,

so taking turns driving with your travel buddy is a must!

Usually, when you're not the one driving on a trip, it's easy to just doze off.

But in Iceland, the views from the window are so stunning

that I tried my absolute best not to fall asleep! haha

Looking at these photos makes me want to go back so badly...

But as we started heading towards the west,

the roads definitely got much more challenging...

How on earth is this May?

Just the day before, it was warm enough that we went trekking

wearing nothing but a single T-shirt.

Is this actually real??

I was honestly so dumbfounded T_T

Driving through the west toward the north, we struggled with snow for about 2 to 3 days.

We tried to go to Seyðisfjörður,

but we couldn't cross the snowy mountain and had to detour...

I did wonder if things would've been different with a 4WD.

While we were forced to turn back because our car couldn't handle the grip,

the 4WD cars were just cruising right through.

And honestly, the photo above was the "tame" part.

When we actually had to turn back, I was panicking too much to even take photos haha...

It was a steep mountain pass completely blanketed in deep snow, without even a guardrail.

We decided it was way too dangerous to push through,

so we turned around.

As it turns out, the road to Seyðisfjörður

is notoriously tricky,

and people in the Iceland travel group chats were warning others to be careful there.

Anyway, at that moment, I kept thinking, "What if we had rented a 4WD...???"

But then again...???!!

Maybe we still wouldn't have been able to cross that snowy mountain range anyway! haha

Regardless, that was the only slightly disappointing part of our trip to the west!

A Happy Ending Right Up to the Return

Actually, at one point during our drive, a rock got stuck somewhere in the car

and started making this really weird, worrying noise.

Thankfully, it fell out on its own and everything went back to normal,

but at first, not knowing what was causing the sound

definitely had our nerves on edge.

Since we were almost at our accommodation for the evening, we decided to check in first.

I had sent them an email, and the reply came in around 11:00 AM the next morning.

It seemed like their phone support was available 24/7,

but since our issue didn't feel super urgent, we just stuck to email.

If you have any urgent inquiries about your rental car,

I highly recommend giving them a call!

As expected, email responses can take a bit longer.

After reviewing the video we sent, they told us it would probably resolve itself over time,

and to reach back out if it didn't... haha.

Luckily, the trapped pebble must have fallen out because the noise stopped,

and we had a smooth ride for the rest of our journey!

Anyway, when it came to returning the car, we headed back to the rental car return area at the airport,

and handed it over. Since we had the full coverage option,

the staff didn't even bother to come out and inspect it! Talk about hassle-free!

Since there weren't many reviews out there for Zero Car in Iceland,

I wanted to share our honest experience.

I hope this helps, and wishing you all an absolutely amazing trip! ~

- Post Update -

I actually thought we had rented a Kia Sportage,

but after talking with my husband, it turns out it was a Kia XCeed—

a model that isn't even released in Korea, haha!

Just keep that in mind... (so embarrassing! 😅)