Geysir car rental was originally started in 1973, founded by a well-known Icelandic businessman at the time, Guðlaugur Bergmann.
Guðlaugur ran a fashion and retail empire in Iceland called “Karnabær”, and together with some employees from Karnabær, they started Geysir.
This photo shows the manager of Geysir in 1977, headline; No cars over 2 years old at Geysir. A policy that has lived with us through the years.
Originally Geysir was based in Reykjavík, and business was focused more on local customers since the tourism boom was far away from starting in Iceland.
Over the years, the business moved around Reykjavik and worked with some international brands.
In 1983, the business changed ownership when Hafsteinn Häsler took over the operation, and he still has a family relationship with today’s owners.
This photo shows the new owner, Hafsteinn Hasler, outside the new Geysir location in Reykjavik.
Shortly after Geysir started branching out, opening up in Akureyri, north of Iceland, in the early 1990’s Geysir saw more opportunities and started expanding around Iceland. Geysir had 8 locations around Iceland at most: Keflavík, Reykjavík, Akureyri, Ísafjörður, Sauðárkrókur, Húsavík, Seiðisfjörður, Egilsstaðir.
This expansion was led by Garðar K. Vilhjálmsson, who was brought on as a manager at the company in 1991, and today he is the owner of Geysir.
To the left is Hafsteinn Hasler, the owner at the time, and second to the left is today’s owner Gardar K. Vilhjalmsson.
In the ’90s, Geysir kept expanding, being a leading company in Icelandic tourism. Geysir expanded to tours and guided trips, i.e. snowmobile expeditions and super jeep tours.
At the end of 1999, Geysir went through one of the biggest changes to date when the company merged with an international franchise in Iceland, and the operation moved under the franchise. Following that came huge changes to international tourism.
In 2003, Garðar K. Vilhjálmsson revived Geysir Car Rental in the form we know it today. The focus was set on direct-to-customer online business, including direct quotes and online bookings. A revolutionary way to rent vehicles in Iceland at the time. Geysir offered great visuals, photographed our actual cars, offered personal and friendly customer service, and we had a great, wide, unique range of vehicles.
Geysir has kept the family atmosphere throughout the years and is currently run by the same family.
