Argentina > Chile rental car border crossing

John Roberts

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We are thinking of going to Argentina early next year and having gone that far then perhaps over the Andes and into Chile by hire car and flying home from there in due course. The problem is that one-way car hire from one country to another isn't possible (not in this case anyway). Apparently the most convenient crossing for us would be over the Uspallata Pass, which as it happens seems a stunning road. What I would like to know is whether there really are car rental depots on either side of the border posts which would allow us to get around the problem, all the ones I can see are way up in the Andes and far from civilisation- the border between the two countries does run along the tops of the Andes after all. From the searches I've done it really doesn't seem like there are any such posts, my search brought up such unhelpful results like Car Hire in Buenos Aires and then Car Hire in Valparaiso.:blast

As planning is at an early stage if you know of any other border crossing that do have convenient car rental depots I'd love to hear about them, but if not it isn't a deal breaker, we can always cross back into Argetina and fly out from whence we came.

TIA :)
 
Dunno about rental car depots but when we rented bikes in Santiago 2 years ago and planned to ride over into Argentina and back, the rental company advised us not to as it was taking a whole day to get back over due to the immigration queue back into Chile.
 
Not a great help but if you do get the timing wrong (weekend/ national holiday, there´s a few of them), you could be at the border for a while. Hire cars can hop the border with permission which costs roughly 200USD. The best bet is drop off at Mendoza (if possible) and catch a coach to Santiago, hire one there and then either head south or north. It´s a long country so don´t contemplate doing both unless you have plenty of time. If you are going to relax in Santiago or Valparaiso don´t bother with hiring a car, public transport is pretty good. All the big national hire car companies operate out of the city and the airport you could enquire there. The nearest town in Chile closest to the border is Los Andes, there you are only a couple of hours away from Santiago. Uspallata is a bit of a one horse town, not much to see but great for a steak while on a border run. In Peru they do tourist buses which stop off at the attractions on route, no idea if they do the same in Argentina/chile, there´s only a couple of things to see en route from Mendoza, Puenta del Inca and the gateway to Aconcagua NP which is viewable from the road on a good day.

https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/123095-A-picture-a-day?p=5212897#post5212897
 
When we did that trip we hired a driver and car in Santiago and they dropped us off at our hotel on Mendoza. No problems with the border and, I'm guessing, a lot less hassle than renting across the border.

Plenty of travel agents in Santiago who'd be only too glad to fix you up. You'll get a better view that way too.
 
Update.
Following the unrest in Chile and then seeing some pretty discouraging reviews on Trip Advisor mainly about pickpockets, muggings, widespread petty crime and all sorts of groovy things in Argentina, especially in Buenos Aires, we finally called it off, a decision reinforced a week or so ago with the news of the attack on two tourists, one of which died and the other seriously injured in a respectable part of B. Aires. We hadn't booked anything so no financial loss, and we are off to Perth, Western Australia in a couple of weeks instead.

Whilst reasonably satisfied that we did the right thing on cancelling the trip there are some regrets, there was one place in particular we wanted to see; the Welsh settlement in Chubut Province in Patagonia where the first shipload on the Mimosa first arrived in 1865. The captain of the Mimosa, Captain Love Jones-Parry (eh? :confused:) came from Madryn, just a few miles from where I live, and the landing place is named Puerto Madryn which is now twinned with Nefyn, our village. They still speak Welsh there and in the past few years there has been a resurgence in its use, in fact the daughter of my wife's friend went there a few years ago to teach Welsh through the medium of Spanish. She's back home now and still teaches the same course via the internet.

If you're interested...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Wladfa

Thanks for all your replies. Perhaps, some day... :nenau :)
 
I was there in November/December 2019 (Chile, Argentina and Bolivia) on my 1100GS. Can't agree with much of the above, we had a tremendous time, did 10,000 km or so over 6 weeks and while we saw evidence of protests everywhere, unless you're stupid you're unlikely to get caught up in any aggro. Wonderful place to travel, jaw dropping scenery and super friendly people, would go back any time.

https://advscotland.com/forum/index.php?thread/1907-mr-and-mrs-three-dawg-s-south-america-adventure/
 


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