Posts by Crossing the Andes

There are a lot of scare stories out there, especially in tabloids (including the Daily Mail and Telegraph). Don't believe the clickbait. I bet the article cited a specific model or a specific case. Overall if you look at the average of many vehicles the depreciation on an electric vehicle is perfectly good.

Also keep in mind that it makes perfect sense however for EVs to depreciate faster since they are giving you more value.

Example:

Buy EV (second hand) for £20k

spend £10k on electricity and maintenance and other costs over some years

sell for £10k

Total cost £20k to have a car for some years

Buy Petrol car (second hand) for £10k

spend £15k on petrol and maintenance and other costs over some years

sell for £5k

Total cost £20k to have a car for some years

The EV depreciated faster but it gave more value in fuel savings over that time, so it worked out the same.

Was in Argentina a few weeks ago on holiday from where I live in Chile and here were my experiences.

For cash at the blue rate in Mendoza, I was told to go to the street San Martin by the Mcdonalds at street no 1177. Just to the right was an arcade. A person outside offered me rate of 365 but he wouldn't negotiate. It should have been nearer 375. I wandered down the street and got talking to a flower seller who fetched another person who said she has a contact and I called by phone and agreed a rate of 370. I exchanged US$600 (in 50s and 100s which I'd purchased in Chile) for 220,000 and it did it inside in the "cueva".

I didn't realise 1,000 was the largest note. So I had to count 220 notes which is a bit excessive so I just divided it into four and counted one of the piles at random before leaving otherwise it would have taken forever.

I purchased a small amount of Argentina pesos in Chile at a bad rate to cover me from the border until I got to Mendoza. The first restaurant agreed to let me pay in dollars but it seems for small purchases people don't like that, which makes sense.

I had some further dollars incase it ran out but things were cheaper than I realized so I ended up taking some of the dollars back to Chile and changing them at the border. There is a place at Chilean customs on the way to Chile with a rate that wasn't a ripoff. It's on the left after you have passed the checks and are about to drive out into freedom, but are still in the main building.

I tried to pay by card once in Mcdonalds just to see what would happen with the rate but the transaction failed, I don't know why.

I saw a queue at Western Union that I suspect was largely tourists who don't trust the arbolitos/cuevas.

At the blue rate, restaurants, ice creams, drinks, a basic hotel were about half the price of Chile. For high end stuff like a fancier meal and a better hotel the difference was a bit less.

In Chile you will not likely see this at Jumbo or other supermarkets/food places but you do see it at Sodimac but it is a quick check.

I suspect this is a question of economics. Once a country is a bit richer firstly you reduce the incentive to steal food and secondly the labour cost of checking everything becomes significant and thirdly people value their time more so resent the wait. At which point it makes more sense to not check.

In choosing whether or not to have a check, in any country, they are probably doing what capitalism dictates is more or less profitable.

I found the driving to be quite fine, no issues.

There were a few times when I didn't understand the markings / traffic control in the road but it didn't cause any issues.

I found the very centre of Mendoza a bit stressful. There weren't any large parking places that we saw that looked official (perhaps an underground car park) and when we went into a small one I noticed they were letting cars park and block others in to get more custom so I reversed out of there as there wasn't space to turn around which caused a bit of slight chaos on the street for a minute but the other drivers were patient. I eventually found a spare space to park on the street.

I also ended up on the wrong side of the road once when I turned into traffic and all of a sudden there wasn't space to let me in. Surprising no-one beeped at me.

That was just the very centre of Mendoza though. Everywhere else was perfectly fine.

There were 4-5 police stops but they were very easy just 1 question and maybe check a document and they let me go.

I didn't find the drivers to be particularly aggressive or bad, not that different to Chile really. And better than I experienced in some countries like Brazil, Peru, Malaysia.

The adapter from the airport did work but it was just the backup plan and I just tried it for 5 minutes to see. I was able to charge the cars at the Enel X chargers at Gran Hostel in Uspallata and Lujan de Cuyo B n B. I also charged successfully at one in Mendoza although just for 5 minutes as I didn't really need it but it's nice to have a backup plan with electric cars. So it is possible to drive an EV from Chile to Argentina and back via Paso Los Libertadores albeit a bit adventurous at the moment until they put in some more chargers one day.

Thank you Glasgow John

I assume this website is legit:

Blue Dollar Rates : Informal Rate, Formal Rate & Bank Rate of US Dollar in Argentina

Blue Dolar is unofficial Dollar Rate in Argentina. Get all information on the Blue Dollar such as Quotes, Charts, News. All types of Informal Rate, Formal Rate…

bluedollar.net

Don't care about inaccuracies of 1%-2% or whether it has the rate up to date to the hour or the day but I mean broadly speaking I assume I can use as an accurate reference

Let me know if anyone has found a better one.

Also here for the MEP:

Dólar MEP HOY - Cotización Dólar MEP ¡Precio Actualizado!

Precio del dólar MEP HOY. Conozca la Cotización del Dólar MEP y su valor actualizado. Cómo comprar o vender dólares mep. Sepa cómo funciona

dolarmep.com

I did fine one that showed the MEP, Blue dollar, official and others side by side as well, but can't find it now

Thanks everyone for your contributions.

Not heard of that one, I'll keep an eye out for that.

Anything about driving in Argentina that's different to other countries? My reference point is that I live in Chile and am from the UK. I have also driven rentals in other countries, USA and Germany most commonly.

I am aware it's more chaotic and faster driving and more tailgating than some other countries, but I'm more looking for anything specific where I might put my foot in it by just doing what I normally would. What actual highway rules are different and what are the major dangers/annoyances/nuisances not also found in most countries? And any safety advice specific to Argentina, specific scams or crime issues.

Couple of things I found googling around:

Right turns on red NOT allowed according to one site – is that in all cases or just some? But if I get beeped at for not doing it and it looks clear, maybe I'll go?

A couple of articles said no left turn unless signposted on major roads. Is this for most major roads in cities/urban areas, and very different to other countries? Or is it really just for highways so not that different to other countries?

I'll be driving from Chile via Paso Los Libertadores and visiting Uspallata and Mendoza. Not going anywhere near Buenos Aires and probably wouldn't drive if I was!

Any thoughts on centre of Mendoza for ease/comfort of driving/parking? I'll actually be staying in the area Lujan de Cuyo in the south of Mendoza so could in theory completely avoid driving in the city centre. Will ask the hotel for advice on that as well.

Parking - do people come up and ask for change to guard the car? Will they tend to really watch it, or is more of a protection racket - do cars really get damaged if you don't pay? I suppose I could avoid this issue by parking in an official/private car park that charges. Is this irritation just in cities or is it all over, even in rural areas?

I did find this article but it's more about roundabouts:

Thread

Driving tips.

Here's how roundabouts should be handled, according to the UK Highway Code.



When taking the first exit to the left, unless signs or markings indicate otherwise

• signal left and approach in the left-hand lane

• keep to the left on the roundabout and continue signalling left to leave.

When taking an exit to the right or going full circle, unless signs or markings indicate otherwise

• signal right and approach in the right-hand lane

• keep to the right on the roundabout until you need to change…

Splinter

December 6, 2019 at 8:11 AM

ok, thanks

Looks like from your response by "Europe" you include UK in that...

Thanks for your help.

Are ATMs still to be avoided, and still at the official rate?

To get pesos, is it fairly safe to change small and moderate amounts with street vendors, or random people that you meet, or are ripoffs and tricks common. Better to go to a shop with a sign that looks legit?

I'll need to figure out where to get pesos coming from Chile, maybe in Uspallata somewhere.

That's helpful.

Do I have to fill in a form, or pre-register for this, or request to not have the official rate in the store, hotel or restaurant, or state that I am a tourist and don't live here?

Or is just all automatic?

Couldn't find a definite answer after 10 minutes of search but looks like automatic? Negligible chance at all to pay for something and find out later that I was charged at the official rate?

Just hand over cards and pay as normal, and automatically get the MEP rate?

I have Chilean and UK cards by the way, no USA cards, and no dollar accounts. I'm assuming there is some equivalent of the MEP rate for every currency.

What about paying in cash? Would dollars normally be accepted at I'm guessing most restaurants but not a fast food place which would be only pesos - is that a good guess?

Any update on this?

This is just a proposal which just isn't in place yet?

Will be visiting in last week of February.

So there is now an electric car charger (type 1 charger only) at the Gran Hostel in Uspallata making it more feasible to drive across that route in an electric car, I have booked that place and one in Mendoza that also has a charger, and will try it last week of Feb.

I found a Universal adapter (13A) at the airport in Chile that looked better than the previous one incase the charger fails and I need to charge from a regular socket, but that should be the backup plan.

Man, so hard to get a converter for Argentina in Chile, asking everywhere. You would think they would sell them in every hardware store, but no. The only thing I found is a universal adaptor, but it looks like the same as the crappy universal adapter I bought some years ago, which often didn´t work. Maybe I should just wait until they put charging stations on the Los Andes (Chile)-Mendoza route.

Thanks for your responses and greetings from Chile. I'm from UK myself (Shropshire). I will ask for the type I converter.

EDIT: This is an old thread from March 2022 and I am adding an update at the end.

hhttps://www.power-plugs-sockets.com/argentina/ says Argentina uses Type C and Type I. Which is the more common in houses etc?

I want to drive my electric car from Chile to Argentina and I will need to get a converter before I go. Might even need to get it specially made so need to get this right.

Will be headed to Mendoza. Would need to stop at charge on the way at one of these places. Las Cuevas, Los Penitentes, Uspallata where there aren´t charging points and will need to charge in a regular socket.

Thanks in advance if you can help.