Renting A Car

[homeinbuenosaires]

Some visitors are hoping to rent a car to drive around the country - they won't be driving while in Buenos Aires. They are mostly planning to head north - Córdoba, Salta and Santiago del Estero are on their provisional itinerary.

Does anybody have a good recommendation for a car rental company and/ or tips or suggestions about driving in those parts of the country?

Any assistance would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Ries]

I have had good luck with Baires
They are a small company, you get personal service, the cars I have rented were new (ie, at most a couple of years old, with not many km on the clock) One was actually only a month or two old.
http://www.bairesrentacar.com/index
they were down on paraguay near callao, looks like they have moved to palermo hollywood.

 

[mmoon]

On this one, I strongly recommend going with a big international company. We rented a car from a local company to drive to Pinamar, and the car broke down two times in several days. Luckily, they have those car repair vans running up and down the highway to save you. Not so common up north. We had no recourse or response from our agency, but when I've rented with the big ones, they've at least answered the phone.

We did a long road trip to Salta and Jujuy provinces, and if your friends want to go to wineries or check out some of the interesting places outside of city centers, they should get a car with decent tires and clearance. We drove the back roads to the salt flats and out to Cachi, and our car almost got stuck in the soft sand because it was a cheapo city car.

 

[TomAtAlki]

I've had good luck with Europcar and hertz. Go to kayak.com and search there for best price.


T/

 

[homeinbuenosaires]

Thanks to those who responded here and privately. I will forward this information to the person who asked me.

 

[syngirl]

Why Santiago del Estero?? (My sister in law is from there, I've been there -- driving. I wouldn't do it again.)

 

[rrptownley]

We just rented a car this weekend past.

We usually rent from Guido Guidi who have been fantastic but unfortunately they have run into difficulties and no longer rent cars.

So instead the wife rang around and found Sixt to have the best offer for a long-weekend rental.
2200 pesos for 4 days, unlimited kilometres.
A new VW Up. A fantastic little car that took us to Pinamar and back on one tank of fuel.
Upon inspection of the car we found the spare tire was flat and damaged, but they replaced it, and later I found the windshield washer fluid was empty.

On the whole though I was quite happy.

 

[homeinbuenosaires]

Syngirl -

They did research, and it seemed like one of the regions that interested them the most and would give them insight into what they wanted to see in Argentina. I was also shocked - my mother is from Santiago del Estero and it usually isn't high on most people's lists. My own mother only went back once after fifty years and I don't think she will be doing it again. Maybe I wil see it for myself (once?) one day.

 

[mmoon]

That drive to Santiago del Estero from BA is so boring, and once you get there, there's not much to see unless there is a festival. I definitely wouldn't plan a significant stay unless they are visiting family (and maybe not even then)! It's a necessary break to spend the night if you want to make it up to Salta without falling asleep to the sight of endless fields of cows...