The number of registered rental cars on the road continues to increase in Iceland, although data from Statistics Iceland shows that this increase is slowing considerably and that rental figures still largely depend on the time of year.
Mbl.is reports that there were 21,544 rental cars registered in January 2019, as compared to 7,280 in January 2013. That’s an increase of 196%. However, while there was also an increase from January 2016, when there were 13,963 rental cars on the road, to 2017, when there were 17,350, this only represents a 24% increase.
There was only a 16% increase in rental cars on the road between January 2017 and January 2018. And between January 2018 and January 2019, the difference was smaller still: only 7%, in fact.
The data also reflects obvious fluctuations in car rentals depending on the season. The most rental cars are on the road in July, August, and September. The most rental cars so far—26,575—were on the road during August 2018. This is a 125% increase when compared with the pinnacle of car rental figures five years previous, namely 11,801 in August 2013.
