Currency exchange and car rental in Argentina
Sep 9th, 2013, 03:27 AM
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Currency exchange and car rental in Argentina
Having just arrived in Salta I thought it may be useful to some who maybe coming this way to relate our experiences of money exchange and car rental. Inflation in Argentina is running at some 25% p.a. Making it one of the more expensive countries in South America in which to travel. The official $ exchange rate is circa. 5.6 the unofficial is c. 9.0 and climbing.
CURRENCY EXCHANGE
On arrival in Salta I immediately withdrew 400 pesos from an ATM and got the official rate and got stung for a 36 peso fee! On advice from various unnamed Argentine friends, the next day I sought out the money exchangers in and around Espana street off the corner of the main plaza. I asked at the official Cambio office on the corner and was offered the "dollar blue" rate @ 9. A similar rate was offered by the dozens of exchangers plying their trade along Espana street. I actually did my deals in a small cafe with someone who was recommended to me and got a slightly better rate of 9.1. All the notes were pristine 100 pesos and clearly none were fake ( but do check, there are websites telling you what to look for) The practice is, I assume, not necessarily legal, but many Argentinians were buying dollars and there were plenty of police around who took no notice whatsoever. At a saving of c. 50-60% on the official rate, this does make Argentina an affordable destination. We got dollars from cash machines in Bolivia and Peru before arrival without too much trouble.
Obviously there is a risk to carrying relatively large amounts of cash around, and exchanging money on the street. So you do need to take care and there is always the option of going into one of the actual Cambio offices whose blue rate is only marginally lower.
How long the government can hope to maintain and artificially high exchange rate I don't know but it does seem inevitable that the country is heading towards another massive devaluation at some point.
On a separate note, I know we are not travelling in the high season but rooms are easily found here and every place has offered a discount for cash of 10-15%
CAR RENTAL
Car rental in Argentina on the face of it seems expensive when compared with elsewhere. I booked a car with Budget online ( no c.c. needed) just to make sure. on arrival we trawled around the various international rental franchises (Alamo, Hertz, Europcar, Avis etc) have decided to go with Hertz in the end.
The prices quoted by all were cheaper than could be obtained online and cars were readily available. All the operators offered a discount of 10-20% for cash payment. All charged 40- 44 a day for CDW which, in most cases, reduced the excess for collision to around 2000 pesos. Rollover excess was around 12k and theft of the whole car was 5-6k.
The exception to this was Hertz whose excess for collision was zero and the CDW premium was included in the rate. Given the road conditions, I felt the zero excess was particular good as I didn't want to get stung for the small dents etc. which are inevitable due to the unmade roads.
The best rate was from Europcar, the highest from Avis. We liked Hertz the best as the guy was really helpful and they had the zero excess so we took the Europcar quote back to hime and he matched the rate ( more or less) and upgraded the car. All this took a couple of hours but we managed to reduce the cost from around 2500ARS TO 1750, quite a saving. Add to this obtaining Pesos at the blue rate and car hire proved.
Local rental operators may well be cheaper but I have had problems elsewhere in the world where they tried to charge for every little dent and scratch, whether real or imaginary!
CURRENCY EXCHANGE
On arrival in Salta I immediately withdrew 400 pesos from an ATM and got the official rate and got stung for a 36 peso fee! On advice from various unnamed Argentine friends, the next day I sought out the money exchangers in and around Espana street off the corner of the main plaza. I asked at the official Cambio office on the corner and was offered the "dollar blue" rate @ 9. A similar rate was offered by the dozens of exchangers plying their trade along Espana street. I actually did my deals in a small cafe with someone who was recommended to me and got a slightly better rate of 9.1. All the notes were pristine 100 pesos and clearly none were fake ( but do check, there are websites telling you what to look for) The practice is, I assume, not necessarily legal, but many Argentinians were buying dollars and there were plenty of police around who took no notice whatsoever. At a saving of c. 50-60% on the official rate, this does make Argentina an affordable destination. We got dollars from cash machines in Bolivia and Peru before arrival without too much trouble.
Obviously there is a risk to carrying relatively large amounts of cash around, and exchanging money on the street. So you do need to take care and there is always the option of going into one of the actual Cambio offices whose blue rate is only marginally lower.
How long the government can hope to maintain and artificially high exchange rate I don't know but it does seem inevitable that the country is heading towards another massive devaluation at some point.
On a separate note, I know we are not travelling in the high season but rooms are easily found here and every place has offered a discount for cash of 10-15%
CAR RENTAL
Car rental in Argentina on the face of it seems expensive when compared with elsewhere. I booked a car with Budget online ( no c.c. needed) just to make sure. on arrival we trawled around the various international rental franchises (Alamo, Hertz, Europcar, Avis etc) have decided to go with Hertz in the end.
The prices quoted by all were cheaper than could be obtained online and cars were readily available. All the operators offered a discount of 10-20% for cash payment. All charged 40- 44 a day for CDW which, in most cases, reduced the excess for collision to around 2000 pesos. Rollover excess was around 12k and theft of the whole car was 5-6k.
The exception to this was Hertz whose excess for collision was zero and the CDW premium was included in the rate. Given the road conditions, I felt the zero excess was particular good as I didn't want to get stung for the small dents etc. which are inevitable due to the unmade roads.
The best rate was from Europcar, the highest from Avis. We liked Hertz the best as the guy was really helpful and they had the zero excess so we took the Europcar quote back to hime and he matched the rate ( more or less) and upgraded the car. All this took a couple of hours but we managed to reduce the cost from around 2500ARS TO 1750, quite a saving. Add to this obtaining Pesos at the blue rate and car hire proved.
Local rental operators may well be cheaper but I have had problems elsewhere in the world where they tried to charge for every little dent and scratch, whether real or imaginary!
Sep 9th, 2013, 10:02 AM
#3
crellston - your experience is the same as ours re pricing - Europcar the cheapest, Avis the most expensive and Hertz matches it with an upgrade! (we had a Ford 4 wheel drive crossover - Escape maybe?)
Where did you end up staying in Salta? Have fun!
Where did you end up staying in Salta? Have fun!
Sep 9th, 2013, 10:16 AM
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Sep 9th, 2013, 10:42 AM
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avrooster - you're right (of course!)
Funny story - we are like Crellston - don't want any hassle when we return a rental especially when on bad roads (Hertz Namibia is still harassing me for a tyre).
When we got to the Salta airport to return the vehicle, we swung the back door open to discover a GIANT spider - I mean it was HUGE. Qualified as another passenger.
Fortunately spiders don't bother us - we thought it was quite neat - and it quickly darted back into the nether regions of the car. The Hertz fellow came out to "sign off" on the vehicle and my husband said - "there's a really large spider in there somewhere - you should know" - he leaped backwards, didn't look at the car and scribbled his name on the paper.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm......
Funny story - we are like Crellston - don't want any hassle when we return a rental especially when on bad roads (Hertz Namibia is still harassing me for a tyre).
When we got to the Salta airport to return the vehicle, we swung the back door open to discover a GIANT spider - I mean it was HUGE. Qualified as another passenger.
Fortunately spiders don't bother us - we thought it was quite neat - and it quickly darted back into the nether regions of the car. The Hertz fellow came out to "sign off" on the vehicle and my husband said - "there's a really large spider in there somewhere - you should know" - he leaped backwards, didn't look at the car and scribbled his name on the paper.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm......
Sep 9th, 2013, 12:48 PM
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Elizabeth, we ended up in Salta por Siempre. Not bad but very noisy last Friday night with a fe guys partying until the early hours. Will be spending a night on our return at Casa Hernadez in San Lorenzo just outside where we stayed on our previous trip - great place!
I am already looking to trap a spider ready for returning the car. Haven't seen one big enough yet but have seen a couple of Andean foxes, maybe that will do??
I am already looking to trap a spider ready for returning the car. Haven't seen one big enough yet but have seen a couple of Andean foxes, maybe that will do??
