Argentina car rental

Does anyone have any experience renting cars in Argentina, specifically in Bariloche? I'm looking to do a road trip from there south, but the rental rates are outlandish for a one-way trip. Any advice?

Layne,

Try to find a local agency instead of one that might be at the airport. I've done this once in Santiago when the airport rentals were outrageous.

More important if you do rent at the airport (or anywhere) - before you drive off the lot take as many pictures of your rental car as possible. Twice I've taken cars that were relatively new in model year but pretty dinged up - and upon return they told me I damaged the car. I laughed and showed them pics.

However that didn't stop them from charging repairs to my credit card! With that I disputed the charge, showed the pics to AMEX and never had to pay.

In actuality I take pics all the time now even when traveling in the US. Just in case...

Mark

Yeah, that's a common scam in Brazil as well.

It is just super expensive to rent cars in Argentina no matter how you look at it.
Either rent it (there is a Hertz in town) and try to share it with more people, or use the busses.
You could also just rent a car for a small section like if you are looking to get to Piedra Parada and then leave the car in Nequen and bus from there… Long drive/lotsa gas on the 40...

If you have more time than money, it's also pretty doable to hitch down 40, it just takes more time. Obviously you want to be smart about it and it certainly want to know some Spanish to make it work. However, I have quite a few friends who've done so successfully. One of them managed to get all the way from Bariloche south, over the range, and into Chile. But again, definitely a time/money trade-off.

Otherwise, rental is expensive, unfortunately. If you pay cash, you may be able to avoid potential charges if they don't ask for a credit card number (definitely depends on the operation and it's legitimacy). Cash also definitely gets you a better exchange rate. When I was there this winter, the official exchange rate was 6:1 (what you got with a credit card, plus a bunch of extra taxes and fees). The cash rate could be had at between 9:1 and 10:1 if you asked the right people and avoided the surcharges, too.) Also, bring large bills. $100 and $50 bills are in much higher demand and fetch a much better exchange rate.