An entrepreneur rents a different type of RV that enables campers to see his beautiful country on their own terms.
By Bill Graves
November 2016
Sverrir Thorsteinsson is a longtime motorcycle rider. He is 53 now and can’t remember not having one on which to tour Iceland, his native country. Motorcycles are an uncomplicated way to travel, he says. Certainly the simplest.
Thorsteinsson is a big fan of simple. That is how our conversation began as I learned how he and his family started Happy Campers, a business in Iceland that builds and rents very basic motorized camping vehicles — so basic, these camper vans don’t even have a toilet or a TV, let alone an antenna for one.
Thorsteinsson calls each of his vehicles a tent on wheels. He said, “With a tent, you have to unpack it and set it up. And in Iceland, that can be on wet ground in the rain. With this vehicle, you drive to where you want to camp and you’re done. Turn on the heat if it’s chilly, and you’re warm and toasty for the night.”
Like camping in a tent, however, you use campground showers and public rest rooms. The latter can be found at gas stations, campgrounds, and parks, so it’s not a problem. “I don’t remember any customer mentioning this as an issue,” he said.
Iceland, which is roughly the same size as Kentucky, has approximately 170 campgrounds, plus sites in three national parks. There are no restrictions on overnight parking in public areas.
To see this amazing land, tourists have a variety of options. Thorsteinsson’s Happy Campers (he calls them cars) are so popular with people from the United States and Northern Europe that his fleet of 85 vehicles is frequently booked.
“People at home compute the cost of staying in a hotel, renting a car, or taking commercial tours. It gets expensive,” Thorsteinsson said. “Then they start looking for another way to see Iceland. It turns out, in many cases, that renting one of our cars makes the trip possible.” Eighty-five percent of his bookings come via the internet.
Thorsteinsson accidentally created a marketing ploy when he installed a solar panel on the roof of every vehicle. The panel is there to keep the house battery charged during long stays in campgrounds, since there is no way to plug the vehicle into outside power. The heater blower is battery-powered, as are the interior lights and the refrigerator. When the engine is running, of course, it charges the house battery.
“Customers tell us they love the ‘green’ features of the Happy Campers, the solar panel in particular,” he said.
Most of his customers have never been in a motorhome or other RV, to say nothing of having driven one. But these camper vans are small and handle like a car.
The only potential drawback to some travelers (Americans, mostly) is that the Happy Campers have manual transmissions. A couple of girls from Texas rented a unit, and neither had ever driven a manual-transmission vehicle. But Thorsteinssons’s son, Jon, gave them a quick, half-hour driving lesson. And off they went. “They returned a week later acting like race-car drivers,” Thorsteinsson said.
Plus, putting vehicles with automatic transmissions into the fleet, he said, is “something we are still considering, especially since we are now seeing a significant increase in customers from the United States.”
Iceland has approximately 330,000 residents, about the same population as Santa Ana, California. The Nordic island is defined by its volcanic landscape of geysers, hot springs, waterfalls, and black sand beaches. The climate of Iceland’s coast is defined as subpolar oceanic. That sounds cold, but summer temperatures hover around the high 50s during the day. It is cloudy much of the time, and you can depend on rain 15 days out of 30, with sprinkles on some of the 15 non-rain days. Consequently, weather is an important consideration when planning to camp in Iceland.
Thorsteinsson was surprised to hear from his initial customers that the most satisfying thing about renting a Happy Camper was not just keeping warm and dry. “They discover that the biggest value is the freedom. That’s what they all rave about. They tell me that touring is much more relaxed when they are not tied to a schedule or the itinerary of a tour company. Weather changes constantly here. If they want to hang out in a place when the weather is especially good, they can do it.”
When customers return the vehicles, they usually have leftover staples in their “pantry,” such as salt, sugar, ketchup, rice, etc. Instead of throwing them out, Thorsteinsson’s wife, Herdis Jonsdottir, puts the usable ones on a “help yourself” shelf, which she calls the “Green Zone.” New customers can take what they want at no charge and drive out with at least something in their pantries.
What is provided is a single-burner propane stove; a couple of pans; plates and flatware; pillows; and a bag of bedding. If you play guitar, or want to learn, the Thorsteinssons will loan you one of theirs. A removable 5-gallon tank stores the water for the sink.
“When I began building these, I discovered that buying sinks became very expensive,” Thorsteinsson said. “So I went to Ikea and found a metal salad bowl, cut a hole in the bottom, and put in a drain. They work fine.”
He began building the Happy Campers in 2009, after the financial crisis. “I could buy vans made by a French manufacturer very cheaply. So I bought a few. With the help of my family, we designed and built the interiors — very basic, very simple,” he said. The floors are covered with laminate. The rest of the interior is plywood. The couch unfolds to become a bed.
The smallest Happy Camper is red, rides two, and sleeps two. It is the most popular, since 95 percent of his customers come in pairs. Other vehicles range in size and amenities. A green one is called Happy2, and a yellow one, the largest, is called Happy3.
High season prices are approximately $198 per day for the smallest vehicle, $252 for the Happy2 and $308 per day for the Happy3. Older camper vans in each category with more “experience,” called EX versions, all go for a lower price. See the website for details. The company offers 20 percent discounts during “shoulder season” (May and September) and a 30 percent discount during “low season” (October, November, March, and April). There are no other fees. Mileage is unlimited, and no deposit is required. “We keep it simple,” Thorsteinsson said.
He is quick to listen to customers’ suggestions for improving the fleet. “We have come a long way since our first version in 2009, and we are never done improving. This year, the most frequent suggestion is adding Wi-Fi to the vans, and we are now planning on adding that in 2017.”
Also new is the company’s beautiful headquarters, which had its grand opening in May 2016. The building is close to Keflavik International Airport, the largest in Iceland. This past July, Thorsteinsson noted, Happy Campers was “busier than ever. In addition to the convenient location close to the airport, the new location gives us the space to keep growing our business.”
Other people in the travel business have been taking a close look at Happy Campers and its business model. “I expect that cars like mine will be showing up in other places one of these days,” he said. “They will succeed if they keep it simple.”
Further Info
Happy Campers
Stapabraut 21
260 Reykjanesbaer
Iceland
Phone: +354-578-7860
Email: info@happycampers.is
Facebook: www.facebook.com/happycampers.is
Time zone: A minimum four-hour time difference exists between the United States and Iceland, so it’s best to use email or the company website if you need information about the company.
Amazing Iceland
Iceland was barely on anyone’s map until it became a strategic spot during World War II, when the British began building roads and infrastructure there to support their combat efforts. Today Iceland is envied by other nations for its prosperity and social equality. Following are some facts about the country:
- Icelanders use the traditional Nordic naming, which means the last name is made up of the father’s or mother’s first name with the addition of “dottir” for daughter or “son” for son.
- Iceland’s forested acreage is small compared to the total land area, but the country has an intense tree-planting program.
- Iceland uses renewable resources for 85 percent of its energy; more than half of that is geothermal.
- Many of Iceland’s geothermal features are preserved in parks, so travelers can visit hot springs, geysers, and even a geothermal beach.
- Mosquitoes do not exist in Iceland.
- The average high temperature in summer is in the 50s, and the average low is in the upper 40s — in the southern part of the island.
- Iceland has no army, navy, or air force, but has a coast guard with several ships and aircraft.
- Beer was illegal in Iceland until March 1, 1989. The country now celebrates Beer Day each year on March 1.
- Icelanders drink more Coca-Cola per capita than people of any other country.
- European football (soccer) is the country’s most popular team game, followed closely by handball. Little Iceland stunned England in soccer by defeating them in June 2016 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Euro 2016 tournament, where Iceland lost to France.