(1)

On the fifth day of my self-driving tour around Iceland, when I received a call from the rental car company, my palms instantly began to sweat on the steering wheel. A needle-sized scratch on the glass claimed 140,000 RMB? I was standing by the roadside in the wilderness, watching the glacier glimmering coldly in the sunlight, and suddenly felt that the Nordic wind could blow into the bones.

Later, I realized that the repair costs in Iceland could make you question your life— the bill from the rental company showed that replacing the entire windshield would cost 18,000 RMB, with labor accounting for 60%. At this price level in my home country, I could afford five major maintenance services for my own car.

(2)

When I was bargaining with the staff at a car rental in Reykjavik, a Chinese tourist was returning a car next to me. A coin-sized dent on the car door led to a claim of 90,000 krónur (approximately 47,000 RMB) against them. The staff coldly presented the contract terms: Icelandic law stipulates that all damages must be repaired with original parts and certified technicians.

What’s even scarier is the wordplay hidden in the insurance. The "comprehensive insurance" I paid for didn’t even cover scratches on the chassis and glass damage— this is nearly unavoidable high-risk on the volcanic rock and ice-laden roads of Iceland. A German tourist had to pay a repair deposit five times the rental cost after a rock shattered his window, and waiting for parts to be air-freighted would take two weeks.

(3)

I still have 367 photos of the vehicle inspection taken at that time in my phone's photo album, with every angle of the roof and chassis covered. But the rental company’s trump card is the ultraviolet light— the tiny oil stain on the steering wheel that suddenly appeared in the darkroom became the "evidence" requiring a payment of 1,800 RMB for cleaning.

The truly life-saving operations are actually these three steps: check the Google ratings and negative reviews of the local car rental (especially pay attention to reviews in Chinese), use a translated international driver's license instead of some "fake documents" bought from online shops, and insist on super comprehensive insurance that includes gravel and sandstorm coverage— even if it costs an extra 200 RMB per day, it's better than holding a 50,000 RMB credit card pre-authorization.

When I shared this experience in a travel group, three friends who were planning to go to Iceland quietly canceled their orders with the budget rental company. Some lessons can truly only be remembered with RMB.