betsys

I am going with a friend to Argentina end of March, beginning of April 06, for almost three weeks. We would like to experience some out of the way small villages, and thought we might hire a car for a few days. Can someone tell me:
1. how expensive is car rental? Are there still stiff drop-off charges?
2. How expensive is gas?
3. Is it safe for two older women to travel alone in these areas? We would not travel at night and are fairly intrepid, but not car mechanics, if you know what I mean?
I have seen some driving threads on this site - but not gotten specific info for this time of year in those particular places. Thanks for any help you can give me. I'll probably be posting a lot now, but have mostly been a "lurker" before. It's a great service you all do for travelers.

santiagov

Betsys:

Good spirit , keep it up ! .. of course you may drive a car in Bariloche and not so close villages.
Of course you shouldnīt drive in BA city , crazy traffic and agressive drivers .

Remember weather starts getting cold in Bariloche by the end of march but no snow until the end of May ( usually ).

Hiring a car in Bariloche is expensive . Iīll try to find out the aprox. price and post it. Try for this info. on: www.interpatagonia.com / www.welcomeargentina.com
Gas U$S 0,67 / lt. ( unleaded).
I would plan in advance with a route map where to go ( Villages /Routes /Restaurants/ Gas Stations , etc).
ACA , Argentinian Automovil Club has excellent maps.
Donīt miss seven lakes while in Bariloche same as San martin de los Andes and Junin de los Andes.
In Junin de los Andes there is a fantastic estancia TIPILIUKE runned by a frind of mine , Pierre de Larminat . As you may imagin , excellent food ( Trout / patagonian lamb..homedade bread and marmelades...hmhmhmh !

People from the sorrounding villages tend to be friendly with the troubled driver and will usually help. But tourist generally wonīt care.

There are 2 tipical problems while driving in the area , a broken windshield and a flat tire, the second problem you should be able to solve it by your own. Check with rhe car agency everything works , and that the second tire is on the car !!

Barba Charters

avrooster

I googled (a term a former pen friend taught me) your question and a first result for prices in Mendoza was
http://www.orbitz.com/App/ViewCarResults?z=5gmq&r=w

Go on window shopping for rental cars in our country and tell us what you come up with.

I may be able to help with cars in Bariloche, but not in Mendoza.

One thing you should know is that there are very few cars with automatic transmission in our country.

Like nephew santiagov said, unleaded costs almost 70 cents per LITER.

It should be reasonably safe, for two "fairly intrepid" ladies.

santiagov

I donīt think you will find a car w/ automatic trans. in Bariloche.

avrooster

I don't think you will be able to rent a car with automatic transmission anywhere in Argentina, unless it is a deluxe car, which will cost you an arm and a leg. The polite (there are others) equivalent in Spanish would be "un ojo de la cara".

avrooster

I just thought of something else. If you are going to out of the way places, you may find gas stations and other businesses who do not take credit cards, so you would have to take some cash with you.