Indie Campers vs Black Sheep Campers

Indie Campers draws from a pan-European fleet of more than 10,000 vehicles, with an Iceland depot near Keflavik Airport. Its Iceland lineup is built around standardized, converted campervans that run from budget tiers up to premium, each with an interior sleeping area, a kitchenette, heating, and water on board, alongside a single Adventure model that swaps the built-in interior for a rooftop tent. Black Sheep Campers is structurally different: every vehicle in its fleet is a 4x4 SUV, and you sleep either in the back of the vehicle or in a hard-shell roof-top tent. There are no built-out campervans, no built-in kitchen, no toilet, and no indoor standing height — cooking is done outside on a portable camp stove. Its models run from the compact Suzuki Jimny with a roof tent, through several Dacia Duster 'sleep-in-the-back' and roof-tent configurations, up to the four-person Ford Explorer with a roof tent; a single Subaru Legacy is the only automatic and the only model not cleared for F-roads.

Where the two come closest is the rooftop-tent sleeping format: Indie's single Adventure model and Black Sheep's Jimny, Duster, and Explorer builds all let you sleep in a hard-shell tent on top of the vehicle. But the capability underneath differs — Indie's Adventure Tent is a two-wheel-drive vehicle that isn't built for Iceland's F-roads, whereas Black Sheep's tent-equipped models are all 4x4 and, apart from the Subaru Legacy, cleared for the highlands. The bigger difference is what's bundled in. With Indie, the roof tent is one option within a fleet whose core product is a self-contained van, and sleeping gear and Wi-Fi are paid add-ons on top of the base rate. Black Sheep bundles the camping kit in: every rental includes a mattress, two sleeping bags, pillows, sheets and towels, a full camp-stove cooking set, a passive cooling box (not a powered fridge), and — outside winter — two chairs and a table, along with unlimited mileage and 24/7 support, all in one EUR price that already covers taxes and standard insurance. The main caveats on the Black Sheep side are that the cooling box isn't refrigerated and that heating is limited to a 220V electric unit available only from 1 November to 15 April, which needs a campsite hookup — there is no diesel or parking heater — so its vehicles are less suited to off-grid cold-weather comfort than a heated built-out van.

On logistics the two diverge again. Indie Campers picks up at Keflavik only, from its depot near the airport, and its standard rate is non-refundable, with a refundable option sold at a higher price; it books in multiple languages and currencies with a pay-later option. Black Sheep offers two self-service pickup points — a lockbox lot next to the BSI Bus Terminal in central Reykjavik and Keflavik Airport (with a free shuttle from BSI) — and gives a full refund on cancellations made more than 48 hours before pickup, with no deposit taken at booking (a card hold is placed at pickup instead). On reviews, Black Sheep scores markedly higher: 4.9 out of 5 from 148 Google reviews and 4.5 from 39 on Trustpilot, versus Indie's 3.9 from 821 Google reviews — though Indie's figure reflects a far larger, multi-country sample. Black Sheep renters praise the responsive staff, included gear, and capable, economical 4x4s; the recurring gripes are self-service lockbox confusion, warning lights on some older Dusters, and sleep-in-the-back or roof-tent comfort in the cold for a minority.