Best Place In Argentina For Self Preservation

[ajoknoblauch]

... there are a few things to keep in mind when buying a Chilean car to drive in Argentina:

- You have to return to Chile at least every 6 months (even in winter when the pass might be often closed)
- While it seems easier to take the car across smaller border crossings - you will most likely have issues taking it across Los Libertadores (Santiago or Valparaiso - Mendoza)
- Depending on the make and model it will be very difficult to get parts
- They are more likely to break into your car
- People will randomly yell at you because they think you are from Chile

So if you travel a few months in Argentina and go back to Chile - then this might be an option. When you live here then I would not recommend it.

I am usually in South America in summer rather than winter, so being snowed in is not an issue. Some Argentine paperwork, though, has granted the vehicle eight months' permission.

I have driven across Los Libertadores many times with no problem whatsoever. Once, at a remote crossing, a Chilean customs official said he would not let me cross there, though I was only exploring and had no intention of doing so. He was wrong but, nevertheless, I always carry a photocopy of recent paperwork to prove I have done so, just in case. Can be true about car parts and (rarely) getting yelled at, but the only time anybody ever broke into my car was in Antofagasta (Chile, not Antofagasta de la Sierra).

 

[MDZ]

I am usually in South America in summer rather than winter, so being snowed in is not an issue. Some Argentine paperwork, though, has granted the vehicle eight months' permission.

I have driven across Los Libertadores many times with no problem whatsoever. Once, at a remote crossing, a Chilean customs official said he would not let me cross there, though I was only exploring and had no intention of doing so. He was wrong but, nevertheless, I always carry a photocopy of recent paperwork to prove I have done so, just in case. Can be true about car parts and (rarely) getting yelled at, but the only time anybody ever broke into my car was in Antofagasta (Chile, not Antofagasta de la Sierra).

Los Libertadores is where I had issues crossing the border with two different Chilean customs agents. So it is a gamble ...

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Los Libertadores is where I had issues crossing the border with two different Chilean customs agents. So it is a gamble ...

With a Chilean vehicle? Again, I've done it many times with no problem whatsoever.

 

[MDZ]

With a Chilean vehicle? Again, I've done it many times with no problem whatsoever.

Yup, Chilean vehicle - happened in fall 2012. I even talked to the customs guy in charge in the office above the booths.
When was the last time you drove across Los Libertadores with a Chilean car? My experience is that they are very strict up there compared to other border crossings. The times I drove across Cardenal A. Samoré they didn't even go outside to see what is inside the car ...

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Yup, Chilean vehicle - happened in fall 2012. I even talked to the customs guy in charge in the office above the booths.
When was the last time you drove across Los Libertadores with a Chilean car? My experience is that they are very strict up there compared to other border crossings. The times I drove across Cardenal A. Samoré they didn't even go outside to see what is inside the car ...

A couple years ago last time, but it's always been utterly routine. This last summer I crossed at Samoré and several other Patagonian border posts. At Samoré I had a glitch because it was a newly purchased vehicle that lacked the padrón, but the guy in charge went out of his way to help me get everything in order.

 

[MDZ]

A couple years ago last time, but it's always been utterly routine. This last summer I crossed at Samoré and several other Patagonian border posts. At Samoré I had a glitch because it was a newly purchased vehicle that lacked the padrón, but the guy in charge went out of his way to help me get everything in order.

Yes, they seem to be way more relaxed at Cardenal A. Samoré. Also at the Pehuenche pass I never had any issues - but that is not an option during winter.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

... there are a few things to keep in mind when buying a Chilean car to drive in Argentina:

- You have to return to Chile at least every 6 months (even in winter when the pass might be often closed)
- While it seems easier to take the car across smaller border crossings - you will most likely have issues taking it across Los Libertadores (Santiago or Valparaiso - Mendoza)
- Depending on the make and model it will be very difficult to get parts
- They are more likely to break into your car
- People will randomly yell at you because they think you are from Chile

So if you travel a few months in Argentina and go back to Chile - then this might be an option. When you live here then I would not recommend it.

Good point !...I'm planning a fact finding travel by way of over-landing using own transportation: Wanting to be searching in "three" countries. Argentina-Chile-Brazil. So perhaps taking a prolonged time of perhaps,6 month plus and to be stopping in as
many places often as one whish to any places any time. Thus wanting to import a vehicle or ship it across, perhaps making Chile the entry port,then registering the vehicle there ( current year vehicle can be registered there,then if don't like to living in LatAm, be able to sell the vehicle there) getting the Chilean license and to travel to Argentina, will take the Chilean tag off then hanging the US one,( already acquired a CA plate on the car) visit rural provincial areas of Argentina plus Brazil to find the ideal place for me to build/buy a living dwelling..I have all the time on my side, plus if the Dollars stays with me then no worries. Right now debating with myself if to do the trip by my own car or do it separately by Air plane/Bus combo..? Any advise/info will be greatly appreciated !
( BTW, can acquire vehicle at lower than "wholesale price" as long the vehicle carries the Toyota/Lexus nomenclature, to me those are the set or system, thus spending way less )

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Good point !...I'm planning a fact finding travel by way of over-landing using own transportation: Wanting to be searching in "three" countries. Argentina-Chile-Brazil. So perhaps taking a prolonged time of perhaps,6 month plus and to be stopping in as
many places often as one whish to any places any time. Thus wanting to import a vehicle or ship it across, perhaps making Chile the entry port,then registering the vehicle there ( current year vehicle can be registered there,then if don't like to living in LatAm, be able to sell the vehicle there) getting the Chilean license and to travel to Argentina, will take the Chilean tag off then hanging the US one,( already acquired a CA plate on the car) visit rural provincial areas of Argentina plus Brazil to find the ideal place for me to build/buy a living dwelling..I have all the time on my side, plus if the Dollars stays with me then no worries. Right now debating with myself if to do the trip by my own car or do it separately by Air plane/Bus combo..? Any advise/info will be greatly appreciated !
( BTW, can acquire vehicle at lower than "wholesale price" as long the vehicle carries the Toyota/Lexus nomenclature, to me those are the set or system, thus spending way less )

You cannot import a used vehicle to Chile except as a tourist, and then you cannot register it there.

 

[nlaruccia]

I would never call driving in Buenos Aires "fun." I've only done it once, and I prefer not to repeat the experience. Usually I leave my car at my brother-in-law's house in Olavarría and take the bus to town. Of course, being a pedestrian in Buenos Aires isn't necessarily fun, either.

What? Are you kidding? You don't like diving down two way streets in the province with enormous potholes and no painted yellow lines defining the lanes?

 

[thorsten]

Painted lane marks are not needed as nobody cares about them anyway