Renting a car in Buenos Aires

 

Above, Natalia, the rental agent, inspects the car after we return it

Yesterday we rented a car so that we could visit Tomas Jofre, a small village, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, that is curiously populated with an abundance of restaurants.  Tomas Jofre is about 100 km west of Buenos Aires.

Our friend Tito recommended renting a car from Tango Rent A Car, however, we remembered that Dietrich, a car dealer just 3 blocks from our house, rents cars.  Dietrich is more convenient, so we walked over to check their price.  Tango Rent A Car advertises a very low price on their website, but the economic car doesn’t have air conditioning, the insurance is separate, etc.  Dietrich, we found, built a new building and has morphed into Localiza.  It’s at the corner of Honduras and Gascon.

The cost to rent the car at Localiza was $305 (pesos) for 24 hours.  It was a new Volkswagen Gol, which is a 2-door economy model.  It did have air conditioning. Natalia spoke a bit of English, so the combination of our Spanish and her English helped.  Note that you need to bring your driver;s license, passport and a credit card.  They require a $4,000 deposit (about $1K USD) on a credit card, but they don’t process it and cancel the hold when you return the car.  Natalia was very thorough in inspecting the car before and after.  Her uniform was very professional, somewhat like that of a flight attendant.

Driving in Buenos Aires:  The traffic is crazy. Drivers seem oblivious to lane markings (in the few places that lane markings are found) and many drivers change lanes or make turns without signaling. Many intersections have no stop signs, yet the traffic is moving quickly and rather aggressively.  In general, the cars coming on your right have the right of way, but it’s also a matter of who entered the intersection first.  Obviously you have to be careful.  Turning right at a red light is not allowed at all.  On 2-way streets, turning left at an intersection that has traffic lights is not allowed, unless there is a dedicated left turn lane. 

A real difficulty is posed by the lack of street signs.  You often can’t find the name of the street with which you are intersecting.  The name appears either on a corner building or a sign on a post, however, many building simply don’t have the sign or the post signs are broken off.  Vandals, I suppose.

Lunch in Tomas Jofre:  This was our first time renting a car in BA and our first unescorted foray into the countryside.  We were surprised that it took us over an hour to drive from Palermo to Route 7. From there, it was another hour to Tomas Jufre.  There were several tolls along the way. The entire adventure took from 11:00 AM until about 7:00 PM.  We found that most of the restaurants were closed for some reason (a Friday afternoon).  It’s not really a town, per se, but more a collection of houses. We ate at La Casona. The menu is fixed. For $98 you get an all inclusive meal that includes house wine. Julia ordered Coke and they gave her a 1.5 liter bottle.  The food was typical rustic Argentine fare. Overall, it was so so. Certainly not worth the drive.  A better trip is to visit San Antonio de Areco.  Our friend Maria took us there a year ago and it was much more interesting.

 

Above: La Casona in Tomas Jofre

Above, the routes to Tomas Jofre and to San Antonio de Areco