Crossing the Bolivian border

[Brit_In_BA]

Hello everyone

I’ll be hoping to cross into Bolivia from La Quiaca later on this year with a rental car. Does anyone have experience of doing this and if so, would you mind sharing how it went and what sort of documentation was needed? Most hire car companies don’t have sufficient info online. Thank you!

 

[carride]

I have rented cars in Argentina to drive into Chile and back a few times. More than 8 years ago though. The company must confirm they have documents for the car to travel out of Argentina. I do not know if it’s just extra insurance or something more. They do not have their whole fleet with this. There is an additional fee. The best is to have an conversation with the local office, in person, phone or messages to be confident your car will be ready. You can search the forums here to find more information since it is a frequent enough topic.

I only needed home USA state drivers license, and maybe I showed an expired ”international“ driver’s license which i have since realized is a scam they sell us in US.

 

[Macanudo]

I got an Argentina driver's license a couple of months ago in order to rent a car during my summer vacation in Italy. I wasn't able to get an international license because, for the first six months, you are considered a beginner. After six months, I will be eligible to get an international license, and apparently it is inexpensive and easy to get. https://www.aca.org.ar/registro-internacional/. In the US, you can get a legitimate international license from the Auto Club.

 

[Quilombo]

Are you driving up in to Bolivia or just visiting Villazon? If the later you can literally just walk across, theres no enforced migratory controls for day trips (at least this was my experience in 2013)

 

[gatoneko]

Driving into Bolivia is like driving into Mexico from US. I doubt any rental agency will allow it. You do need to go through Argentine immigration at La Quiaca these days.

 

[Brit_In_BA]

Enquired with a lot of rental agencies and none of them allow it. A few are okay with crossing to Chile, Brazil etc but none with Bolivia. Going to spend an extra couple of days at a vineyard instead and let the vino flow

 

[Redpossum]

Enquired with a lot of rental agencies and none of them allow it. A few are okay with crossing to Chile, Brazil etc but none with Bolivia. Going to spend an extra couple of days at a vineyard instead and let the vino flow

Butch & Sundance managed it somehow. Then again, they were riding horses, but might have been rented horses. Or stolen.

 

[carride]

Enquired with a lot of rental agencies and none of them allow it

Thanks for reporting back. That is interesting to learn.

If there is something you want to see in Boliva, perhaps there is a tour operator in Jujuy who can coordinate. In 2005 I arranged with a tour operator from Atacama Chile to travel to a mountain trail in Boliva. It was not a regular schedule tour, but every week or so there would be 3-5 people who wanted to go. They took us random strangers to Boliva, through immigration, and introduced a mountain guide. They returned to bring us back to Chile 5 days later as we had arranged.