Expat car share syndicate

[jago25_98]

It makes next to no sense to own a car in this city. Not least, you need somewhere to park it.

Traveling out the city things are different. Sure, you can get to the major tourist places on public transport; Plata, Mar del Plata, Igauzu, Mendoza, Patagonia. But it's not the same of course.

Car hire is expensive. Let's say we drive somewhere, if we're not using it every day it seems like a waste. A 7 day holiday is roughly the same rates as the rest of the world. Suddenly it seems like madness.

One of the things that make car hire expensive is that these are new cars costing say, $20,000(edit - dollares) compared to the $1000-2000(dollares) minimum you need for a working car.

Wouldn't it be great if 5 people all put $400 in each to buy a car together. Syndicate schemes like this are how many pilots cut costs. It's the most common way to make use of a light aircraft. Lessons learnt from there in sharing and managing the resource could be applied here.

Imagine, check for bookings on Google Calandar, catch a bus(/bici?) to the edge of town to a lockup garage, use your private key and drive off to the pampas for the day... or even the coast where no tourist can reasonably get to.

Now, I'm not saying such a setup would be easy. You got to be careful buying a car here (there's a great thread on it here),
and your got to plan for damages and theft with a contract that covers as much as possible. You've also got to think about booking rules but again, this has been covered by the light aircraft community. For $400, why not?
Such an agreement could be copied from Aircraft syndicates. I can probably get hold of an example of a contract in UK law and at a push maybe even from mainland Spain.

You could even join 2 schemes and have access to different vehicles - a 4x4 truck and a prius, for example.

Sound good? If I was in a more committed position to the area I would arrange it all myself.

 

[PhilipDT]

This is your captain speaking, we have arrived at reality, the local time is 1:11pm. Thank you for flying fantasy airways.

 

[Ashley]

assuming that you were talking in US$...5 people putting in 400US$ each would have 8,000 pesos to spend on a car here. You couldn't get a wreck for 8,000 pesos.
Last time I looked into buying a car here, I think a cheap little run-around new was 52,000 pesos..without taking into account insurance costs, etc. I think the cheapest I saw was a chevrolet spark for 50,000!!!!!!!
So unless you were going to drop between US$2,000 and US3,000 each on the car, you would never get to use it.
Nice idea...just out of the question in country that charges so much for vehicles

 

[steveinbsas]

One of the things that make car hire expensive is that these are new cars costing say, $20,000 compared to the $1000-2000 minimum you need for a working car.

Wouldn't it be great if 5 people all put $400 in each to buy a car together.

For $400, why not?

You could even join 2 schemes and have access to different vehicles - a 4x4 truck and a prius, for example.

Here are two "excellent" examples of what $8000 pesos/$2000 US will buy here:

http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-107434340-vendo-_JM

http://www.autos.com.ar/renault-12-14-ful-en-hurlingham-F53360.htm

Here's an $8000 peso truck, but I doubt it's a 4 x 4:

http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-108773924-f100-73-punta-diamante-con-o-sin-mecanica-_JM

Please note: the truck alone is only $5000 and the price with the falcon (shell) is $8000.


For $24,000 pesos/$6000 USD you can buy one of the third world's most popular used cars (in very good condition):

http://www.autos.com.ar/peugeot-405-gli-full-en-belgrano-F65648.htm

Presently I'm driving a '94 and I love it (see attached photo). I think it looks good for its age (especially for an older Peugeot). Some 405's were imported from France (SRI's). I believe my GL was made in Argentina, but the quality is still acceptable if not impressive. There's no rust and the car has a very solid (and almost rattle free) ride...which is truly amazing for a 17 year old car, especially industria Argentina.

I drove a Renault 17 Gordini in the 70's. I thought it was superior to most US cars at that time, but I wouldn't recommend buying a used Renault today, especially an older one: I never liked the R12, even when they were new. I would be shocked to see even one R12 on the road in the USA today, but in Argentina they are still plentiful. R12s in pristine condition are presently offered for sale in Argentina for at least $15,000 pesos (as opposed to the $8,000 clunkers in the above links). Fortunately, it is still possible to buy repuestos to keep them going and the local mechanics love working on them (which happens frequently).

The 405 feels more like a Mercedes 190E or even a BMW Bavaria with (noticeably) less power, but I really enjoy driving it. Mine has the 1.6 liter engine with the five speed manual transmission. The seats are superior and the driving position is excellent with ample head and legroom for taller drivers (I'm 6'2"). The dashboard is well designed and the trunk is huge. My car never had GNC but the trunk is big enough for the installation of a large (gas) tank yet retain ample space for cargo. The lines are a bit dated (boxy) but still great for the year (especially the C pillar).

 

[gouchobob]

Perhaps the OP meant something else, small scooters with engines attached might be possible for the sums mentioned, although their suitability for long trips might be questionable.

 

[syngirl]

The original poster must have meant pesos and must have left off a 0... twice. Our 97 VW Gol with 400,000k on it sold for 17,000 pesos....

Also, ou need 400 pesos minimum for a garage spot in this city, and many areas you're looking at 700pesos these days.

 

[jago25_98]

Prices in us dollars.
SteveinBA makes a very important point - go for something serviceable and that usually means older.

Syngrl: That's 400/mis?
I guess if parking on the outskirts of a city you'd have to be very tight on security. Buy a garage? A shipping container, though easy to do and secure is expensive to put in place, maybe us$1000 all-in.

As I say, if I was in BA and wanting to be in a city I would buy one with my own cash and set it up myself with a little profit for my troubles.

 

[syngirl]

Jago I don't think you have researched much about cars / driving / parking / gas / insurance costs in this city or you'd understand that your programme will cost a lot more than you think.

Buying a garage -- I'm assuming you mean a single car garage, not an actual commercial parking garage, haha. Single-car garages inside of Capital start at about us$10,000 and in highly desirable locations (think Palermo, Recoleta etc) are us$15,000 or more. Yes, ludicrous I know compared to the cost of most apartments.

If you're going to buy a total beater like Steve showed in the photos, sure, leave it on the street. But when I lived in Almagro and didn't have a garage my then-boyfriend now-husband would park his car out front of my building when he came over. It got broken into 3 times in the course of the year, the entire front panel was ripped to shreads to remove the stereo (which was not an amazingly fancy stereo at all) -- cost to repair the front panelling was around 1500 pesos (4 years ago) -- 3 months of garage parking.

The other issue I think you'd really run into with a car share here is the problem of Cedula Azul / Verdes -- someone else may have better info, but if you have bunch of people from different addresses trying to get the cedula for the car (which allows them to drive it legally so that in the case of being pulled over by the cops they can show they have a right to be in the car) -- might cause some problems. Insurance could be a huge headache as well.

I know these schemes work in other cities -- Montreal for instance has a successful Commun-Auto programme -- but they are usually run by cities or other large govt orgs -- I think that would have to be the case here -- especially with the transitory nature of most expats on the board (ie living here for only 1 -2 years), the organisation of it would be a huge headache and some people might want to get out of it a lot earlier because they want to go home etc.

 

[fish]

great idea but difficult to make ahappy reality
however if i by aplace here i would try the car share idea has some good possibilites and of course potential crash if you get an ass in the mix lol

 

[jago25_98]

syngrl: Thanks for the info. The Cedula and insurance sounds like a deal breaker. Is it really so that a girlfriend can't borrow her boyfriends car? The insurance here must be different. That is, you can't get daily insurance and you `3rd party` insurance isn't included on the equivalent to whatever that is here. Darn, maybe this is why I see so many cars driving without the number plates on... maybe.
Just mention of this is enough to put me off but I hope it doesn't put other off into looking into it more, perhaps with more trusted people.

Certainly though if I ever end up in a city (hopefully I'll settle down soon somewhere). I'll still want to park on the outskirts and cycle in to save money on that $15k garage. I will be looking into car alternatives where ever I end up as I've found owning a car to be quite a hassle for my unusual lifestyle of moving around a lot. I may end up with Zipcar in Spain, but if I can't I may have to come to an arrangement like this.

I've owned nice and not nice cars and I prefer not nice cars in some ways. The advantage of being able to drive at people and park where ever is not to be underestimated. I appreciate it's as much a status symbol here and that can be a problem though. I wouldn't want something without dented panels and I'd replace a ripped panel with plant of wood. But hey, that's me and that's completely not fitting with the surrounding culture so maybe I would change in time. Thus, the peer pressure tax. I was thinking more along the lines of throw a deal together with some people who are not so worried about pretty much everything across the board. But I guess if there's the Cedula to worry about none of this applies and the idea is dead in the water.

I know these kind of ideas are a bit hippy but really it's borne out of frustrations of having to buy everything again when emigrating... for example I had to buy some tools today when I know my next door neighbor no doubt has them. Need a drill? We buy one... they buy one, everyone has got one when we only needed one or 2 to go round everyone. It's ridiculous. And so with cars. I would really like to use a car to see places I can't normally but is it really worth it for a few months a year? I guess you just got to bite the bullet and put the work into buying and selling at good favorable prices like backpackers campervanning australia attempt to do.

As I say though, don't let it put you off. A car is up there with the DNI in a local's view of you. I know that's a bit sad but it's the way it is.