Campervan Insurance in Iceland: What's Covered, What Isn't, and What Each Company Charges
Updated 29 July 2026 · 14 min read
The short answer
- Always included
- CDW + third-party liabilityevery company we compare
- Typical excess before upgrades
- €800–3,500held on your card
- Cost to reduce it to zero
- €20–57 / dayvaries by company
- Most common claim
- Gravel & windscreen chipsusually excluded from base CDW
- Never covered by anyone
- River crossings & off-road
- Companies compared here
- 14
The short version
Iceland is unusually hard on rental vehicles. Loose gravel gets thrown up by every passing car, storm-force wind can catch a van door and bend it back on its hinges, and volcanic sand can strip paint off a bonnet in a single afternoon. Rental companies price that risk into their insurance products, which is why the insurance conversation in Iceland is far more consequential than it is anywhere else in Europe.
The good news is that the baseline is consistent. Every company in our comparison includes a collision damage waiver and the legally mandated third-party liability in the headline price, and almost all of them include theft protection too. The difference between companies is not whether you are covered — it is how much of the bill is still yours when something goes wrong, and how much they charge to make that number smaller.
That number, the excess or deductible, typically sits somewhere between €800 and €3,500 and is held as an authorisation on your credit card for the length of the rental. Buying it down to zero costs roughly €20–57 per day depending on the company and the package. Whether that is worth it depends on your route, the season, and how you would feel about a €3,000 charge for a windscreen you never saw coming.
What every rental already includes
Two things come with every camper rental in Iceland and cannot be declined. The first is third-party liability, which is mandatory under Icelandic law and covers injury or damage you cause to other people and their property. It does nothing for your own vehicle. The second is a collision damage waiver, which caps your liability for damage to the camper itself at a fixed amount rather than leaving you exposed to the full replacement value.
Theft protection is included by default at most companies, usually with no excess at all — camper theft is close to nonexistent in Iceland, so it costs them little to give away. Personal accident cover for the driver and passengers is bundled in at several companies as well, though it is a modest sum and rarely the deciding factor.
What is not included is almost everything that actually happens to campers in Iceland. Stone chips from gravel, sandblasted paint, blown tyres, cracked windscreens and wind-caught doors are all outside the base collision waiver at most companies, and are sold back to you as named add-ons. That is the single most important thing to understand before comparing quotes: two rentals at the same daily rate can carry wildly different risk depending on what their base policy quietly excludes.
CDW is not full coverage
Included CDW limits your liability — it does not remove it. Until you buy an upgrade, the excess is yours to pay, and the company will hold it as an authorisation on the primary driver's credit card for the whole rental. Budget for that hold as well as the rental price: it can be the difference between a card that works for the rest of the trip and one that does not.
The coverage types, decoded
- Collision Damage WaiverCDW / LDW
- The base cover. It caps your liability for damage to the camper's body at a set excess — typically ISK 150,000–450,000, or roughly €800–3,000. Included everywhere and effectively mandatory. It normally excludes gravel, sand, tyres, glass, wind damage and anything that happens off a legal road.
- Super or Premium CDWSCDW / PCDW
- An upgrade that lowers the CDW excess. KuKu drops €3,000 to €750 for €20/day, and to zero for €30/day. Go Campers' Silver tier cuts €3,500 to €1,000. Rent.is' Premium package cuts ISK 450,000 to ISK 50,000. Nearly every company runs some version of this ladder.
- Theft ProtectionTP
- Covers the camper being stolen, almost always at zero excess and almost always included. It never covers your own belongings inside the van — that is your travel insurance's job.
- Third-Party LiabilityTPL
- Legally required, always included, and limited to the statutory minimum. Covers damage and injury you cause to others. Covers nothing on your own vehicle.
- Gravel ProtectionGP
- Covers stone chips to the windscreen, headlights, bonnet and paint — by far the most common claim in Iceland, since a large share of secondary roads are unsealed. Sold separately at around €10/day at most companies. Without it, a chipped windscreen is typically a €300–1,000 bill.
- Sand & Ash ProtectionSAAP
- Covers paint, glass and trim stripped by volcanic sand or ash carried on the wind. Concentrated in the south and near the interior, and worst in dry, windy weather. A serious ash storm can write off every painted surface on a van, which is why this cover exists as its own line item rather than being folded into gravel.
- Windscreen & glass cover
- Sometimes bundled into gravel protection, sometimes sold on its own, and occasionally only available in a company's top tier. Worth checking explicitly: several companies cover the windscreen under gravel protection but only up to a sub-excess of their own.
- Tyre ProtectionTIP
- Covers punctures and blowouts, including the replacement and fitting. Usually excluded from every other product and sold for €5–10/day. Some companies expect you to mount the spare yourself and return the vehicle with a matching set.
- Personal Accident InsurancePAI
- Medical cover for the driver and passengers after an accident. Included free at several companies, modest in value, and largely redundant if you already carry travel insurance.
- Roadside assistance
- Towing, jump starts and lockouts. Not part of any damage waiver. Rent.is includes it nationwide at no cost; Cozy sells it at €25/day, Happy Campers at €20/day, Go Campers at €13/day. Recovery from a closed road or an F-road is excluded from every version of it.
- Zero-excess or full-protection packages
- The top tier: a daily fee that reduces every excess on the policy to nothing and usually waives the card deposit too. Lava's Full Protection runs ISK 5,000/day, Go's Platinum around €57/day, Cozy's Premium €39/day, CampEasy's Zero Risk ISK 7,500/day. This is the product most Iceland veterans end up recommending.
Insurance by company, side by side
| Company | Standard CDW excess | Route to zero excess | Gravel | Sand & ash | Tyres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Happy Campers | €3,000 | Max package, ~€55/day | Higher tiers only | Plus and Max | Max only |
| CampEasy | ISK 450,000 (~€2,700) | Zero Risk, ISK 7,500/day | Premium and Zero Risk | Included free | Premium and Zero Risk |
| KuKu Campers | €3,000 | Platinum CDW, €30/day | €10/day add-on | €10/day (€750 liability) | €10/day add-on |
| Cozy Campers | €3,000 deposit | Premium Insurance, €39/day | €10/day add-on | €10/day add-on | €5/day add-on |
| Go Campers | €3,500 | Gold, ~€40/day | €1,000 excess on Basic, zero from Gold | Platinum only | Platinum only |
| Rent.is | ISK 450,000 (~€3,000) | Platinum package | Premium and Platinum | Premium and Platinum | Platinum only |
| Lava Car Rental | ISK 150,000 (~€1,000) with SCDW included | Full Protection, ISK 5,000/day | Included, ISK 35,000 excess | Included, zero under Full Protection | Included, zero under Full Protection |
| Indie Campers | Not published for Iceland | Not published | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed |
| PK Campers | €3,500 | No zero tier — Gold floors at €800 | Not published | Not published | €9/day add-on |
| McRent | ~€600–800 | No published package | No separate cover | No separate cover | No separate cover |
| Camper Rental Iceland | CDW included, excess not published | Not published | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed |
| Konvin Car Rental | CDW included, excess not published | Not published | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed |
| Geysir Car Rental | ~€3,000 | Zero Excess, €40–52/day | Zero Excess only | Zero Excess only | Not offered |
| Black Sheep Campers | ~€3,000, unconfirmed | Not published | Recommended add-on | Recommended add-on | Spare provided, no waiver |
Currency conversions are approximate — most Icelandic companies denominate the excess in ISK, so the euro figure moves with the exchange rate. Cells marked unconfirmed or not published are ones where the company does not state the figure publicly; ask them directly rather than assuming the market norm.
Check the current terms before you book
These figures come from each company's published terms and change without announcement — packages get renamed, daily rates move with the season, and excesses are frequently revised. Treat the table as a map of how the market is structured, then confirm the exact numbers on the company's own terms page during checkout.
Company by company
Base rate includes CDW with a €3,000 excess plus liability and accident cover. Three upgrade packages at roughly €25, €35 and €55 per day progressively cut the excess and add wind and sand cover. Windscreen and tyres are only covered on the top tier. Roadside assistance is a separate €20/day.
Unusually generous baseline: CDW at ISK 450,000 with theft and sand-and-ash protection thrown in free. Two paid tiers for 4x4s — Premium at ISK 4,500/day drops the excess to ISK 10,000, and Zero Risk at ISK 7,500/day removes it entirely across gravel, glass and tyres. Premium roadside cover is ISK 1,500/day.
The most à la carte menu in the market. CDW carries a €3,000 excess; SCDW at €20/day cuts it to €750 and Platinum CDW at €30/day to zero. Gravel, sand-and-ash, tyre and wind-door cover are each €10–25/day on top, or bundled as Golden (€35/day) and Platinum (€50/day). Good if you know exactly what you need, overwhelming if you do not.
A €3,000 deposit sits behind the included CDW. Super CDW at €37/day reduces exposure to around ISK 430,000, and the Premium package at €39/day zeroes everything including gravel, sand, scratches and the administrative fees on a claim. Individual gravel, sand and tyre covers are €5–10/day if you would rather pick and choose. Roadside is €25/day.
Four clear tiers. Basic leaves €3,500 of body excess and €1,000 of gravel excess. Silver (~€28/day) cuts collision to €1,000 and gravel to zero. Gold (~€40/day) zeroes both. Platinum (~€57/day) adds sand, ash and tyre cover. Roadside Plus is €13/day.
ISK 450,000 excess and a matching deposit on the base rate. The Premium package cuts it to ISK 50,000 and Platinum to zero, with both covering gravel and sand-and-ash and Platinum adding tyres. Buying either waives the deposit. Nationwide 24/7 roadside assistance is included at no extra cost, which is rare.
The most inclusive baseline we found: CDW plus super CDW, theft, gravel, sand-and-ash and tyre cover are all bundled at a standard ISK 150,000 excess, with gravel capped at ISK 35,000. Full Protection at ISK 5,000/day takes every one of those to zero. Off-road and river-crossing damage remains excluded, and the package does not cover towing.
A pan-European operator with no Iceland-specific policy page we could locate. Coverage is sold through their own tiers at checkout, but the Icelandic specifics — gravel, sand and ash in particular — are not documented publicly. Read the checkout terms carefully and get the excess in writing before you commit.
Basic CDW carries a €3,500 excess. Silver at €28/day cuts it to €1,800 and Gold at €38/day to €800 — notably, there is no published route to a zero excess. Tyre cover is €9/day. Off-road driving and unreported damage void the cover, as they do everywhere.
A European motorhome franchise rather than an Iceland specialist, and it shows in the insurance. The excess is comparatively low at roughly €600–800, but there is no comprehensive upgrade path and no dedicated gravel, sand or tyre product. On Icelandic roads that means a single stone chip can cost most of the excess with no way to buy the risk down.
Booking materials confirm CDW is included but do not publish the excess or any optional waivers. Assume something in the usual €2,000–3,000 range and confirm directly before booking.
Publishes only the basics — CDW, theft and personal accident cover, all at legal minimums. No excess figures or upgrade pricing are public. Worth an email before booking if the price is otherwise attractive.
Liability and theft protection on every booking, with a CDW excess around €3,000. The Gold tier (€20–26/day) waives body damage but explicitly not glass or gravel. Only the Zero Excess tier (€40–52/day) covers gravel, sand and glass. The gap between those two tiers is the one to watch here.
A small 4x4 and rooftop-tent fleet with limited published policy detail. Their own FAQ recommends adding gravel and sand-and-ash cover, which implies neither is standard. A spare tyre is provided but no tyre waiver, and 24/7 assistance is offered. Ask for the excess and the add-on prices in writing.
What actually goes wrong
The claim patterns in Iceland are remarkably consistent, and they are not the ones most people insure against. Windscreen damage dominates: a stone thrown up by an oncoming car on a gravel stretch, or even on a paved road with loose grit at the edges, and the crack spreads across the glass within a day. Replacement typically runs into the hundreds of euros, and it is excluded from base CDW almost everywhere.
Wind is the second recurring theme, and it surprises visitors more than anything else. Icelandic gusts can rip a door out of your hand the moment you open it, hyperextending the hinge and bending the door frame. It is common enough that KuKu sells a dedicated wind-door product and Happy Campers only covers it on their top tier. The mitigation is free: never open a door downwind, and hold on to it with both hands when the forecast is above about 15 m/s.
Sand and ash damage is more localised — it concentrates in the south and near the interior on dry, windy days — but when it happens it is comprehensive, pitting glass and stripping paint across the whole vehicle. Travellers who stick to the Ring Road in settled summer weather often skip this cover without incident; the ones who get caught tend to be the ones who drove into a forecast they did not check.
The consensus among people who have actually rented in Iceland is close to unanimous: if a €2,000–3,000 surprise bill would ruin the trip, buy the package that removes it. The counter-argument is real too — a paved Ring Road trip in July genuinely is lower risk, and self-insuring saves several hundred euros. Just make that choice deliberately rather than by clicking through the default at checkout.
Photograph the van before you leave the lot
Walk the entire vehicle with your phone at pickup — every panel, both bumpers, the windscreen, the wheels and the roof if you can reach it — with the timestamp on. This is the single highest-value thing you can do for free, and it settles almost every dispute about pre-existing damage at return. Do the same walk-around when you hand the keys back.
How to choose your cover
Any part of your route is on gravel or an F-road
Add gravel protection and at least super CDW. Gravel is the most likely claim you will make, and the base waiver excludes it at most companies.
You are travelling in the south, near the interior, or in dry windy weather
Add sand and ash protection. It is cheap, it is the one category where a single bad afternoon can cost more than the whole rental, and CampEasy and Lava already include it.
You are driving in autumn, winter or early spring
Take a zero-excess package and check the roadside assistance terms. Storm winds and icy roads are the seasonal risk, and wind-door damage is excluded from most mid-tier products.
A hold of €2,000–3,500 on your credit card would be a problem
Take the full-protection tier. At several companies — Rent.is among them — buying the top package waives the deposit entirely, which is worth as much as the cover itself on a long trip.
You are on paved roads only, in summer, and comfortable self-insuring
Super CDW plus gravel protection is a defensible middle ground. Skip sand and ash and skip tyres, and accept that you are carrying the residual risk knowingly.
One structural point worth knowing: buy the add-ons when you book, not at the counter. Several companies price them higher at pickup, and a couple do not let you add certain products at all once the rental has started. It is also easier to compare like with like when the insurance is part of the quote rather than a negotiation at 7am in a car park.
It is also worth comparing total cost rather than daily rate. A company with a €3,500 excess and a €40/day zero tier can easily end up more expensive over ten days than one whose base policy already includes gravel and sand cover at a modest excess. Our search results show the base rate; the excess and the package prices are what turn that into the real number.
Recommendations by trip type
Rent a 4x4 — F-roads legally require one, and driving a 2WD camper on them voids your insurance outright. Take the zero-excess tier and gravel cover as a minimum. Remember that no policy from any company covers river-crossing damage, so a failed ford is entirely your bill, plus the recovery.
Studded tyres are required, roads ice over without warning, and storm-force winds are routine. Take full protection, confirm that wind damage to doors is included, and add roadside assistance if the company does not bundle it. Register your plans with the SafeTravel service before heading anywhere remote.
Ring Road and Golden Circle only
The lowest-risk itinerary in the country — fully paved, well serviced and busy. Super CDW plus gravel protection covers the realistic failure modes. Sand and ash cover is genuinely optional here unless the forecast turns dry and windy while you are in the south.
Long unsealed stretches, few services and expensive recovery if something goes wrong. Gravel cover is not optional, tyre cover pays for itself on a single puncture, and a roadside package is worth having when the nearest garage is two hours away.
If you are relying on a credit card
Check the policy wording for the word campervan or motorhome before you decline anything. Most cards exclude them outright, alongside vans over a certain weight. Card cover also normally requires you to decline the rental company's waiver, which in Iceland means declining something you are usually not allowed to decline.
Whatever you book
Never drive on closed roads, marked tracks or through rivers. Every Icelandic rental contract excludes that damage and ignoring a closure sign can void the entire policy, not just the relevant section. If a ford looks deeper than you expected, turn around — the road that goes the long way is always cheaper.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need extra insurance for a campervan in Iceland?
Not legally — CDW and third-party liability are already included in every rental. Practically, most travellers should add at least gravel protection, because stone chips are the most common claim in the country and base CDW excludes them at most companies. Whether you go further depends on your excess: if a surprise bill of €2,000–3,500 would derail the trip, the zero-excess package is doing real work for you.
What does the excess or deductible actually mean?
It is the maximum you pay out of pocket for damage the waiver covers. If your CDW carries a €3,000 excess and you cause €5,000 of damage, you pay €3,000 and the company absorbs the rest. If you cause €800 of damage, you pay all €800. The amount is normally held as an authorisation on the primary driver's credit card for the duration of the rental and released after the van is returned undamaged.
Does my credit card insurance cover a campervan in Iceland?
Usually not. Most Visa, Mastercard and American Express rental benefits explicitly exclude campervans, motorhomes and vans above a certain weight. Card cover also typically requires you to decline the rental company's own waiver, which is not possible in Iceland where CDW is bundled into the rate. Check your card's policy document for the words campervan and motorhome before assuming you are covered.
Is a cracked windscreen or a flat tyre covered by standard insurance?
No. Both are excluded from standard CDW and super CDW at nearly every Icelandic rental company. Windscreen damage is covered by gravel protection at most companies, though sometimes only up to a sub-excess of its own, and only the top tiers cover it outright. Tyres need a separate tyre product, typically €5–10 per day. Without either, you pay the full repair or replacement cost.
Will insurance cover me if I go off-road or cross a river?
Never. Every rental contract in Iceland prohibits off-road driving, and damage from river crossings is excluded from every policy including zero-excess packages. Driving past a road closure sign can void your cover entirely rather than just the relevant section. Recovery costs are also yours, and a tow from the interior can run to four figures on its own.
Is roadside assistance included?
It depends on the company. Rent.is includes nationwide 24/7 assistance at no cost. Most others sell it as an add-on — Go Campers at around €13/day, Happy Campers at €20/day, Cozy at €25/day, CampEasy at ISK 1,500/day. No version of it covers recovery from a closed road or an F-road, so a rescue from the interior remains your expense regardless of what you bought.
How much does zero-excess insurance cost in Iceland?
Roughly €20–57 per day depending on the company and the vehicle. Lava's Full Protection is ISK 5,000/day, Cozy's Premium package €39/day, Go Campers' Gold around €40/day and Platinum around €57/day, CampEasy's Zero Risk ISK 7,500/day, and KuKu's Platinum CDW €30/day before add-ons. On a ten-day trip that is €200–570 to remove a €3,000 exposure.
Can I add insurance after I have picked up the van?
Sometimes, but it usually costs more and some products are not available once the rental has started. Book the cover you want with the rental so it is part of the quote you are comparing. It also removes the decision from the counter, where you are jet-lagged and being asked to price your own risk tolerance on the spot.
Sources & freshness
Compiled from each rental company's published insurance and terms pages, cross-checked against traveller reports on Reddit, Trustpilot and Google reviews. Insurance products in Iceland are renamed, repriced and restructured frequently — confirm the current excess and package prices with the company before you book.
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