Posts by 010101

Quote from serafina

How long ago was that? I am trying to google Hills in Argentina and I can find only websites from Colombia, Peru, Mexico, and Spain. I'd love to feed our cat better, but it seems this would imply bringing the cat abroad. I can't wait for Milei to open to imports.

Hmm in January. Now I am second guessing myself if I saw Hills but I'm pretty certain I saw plenty when I was there in small shops around Belgrano and Polermo. I just asked my GF and she said even in Puppis. Royal Canin is suppose to be good as well but we have never tried.

Possible ban since my last visit? Side question, what does Milei plan to change with import laws?

Quote from serafina

miscota.com is a Spanish website that ships worldwide (you can see the Spanish flag in the footer). Customs in Argentina is awful, so. I am wary of it.

I tried to google for experiences with miscota.com from Argentina, and I came up with a FB page of people who have been scammed by them even 4-5 years ago

I am familiar with Hills from Europe, but I have never seen it in Argentina.

Arrrgggghh. Thanks for the heads up.. and I thought I found a seller so these snacks would not be an issue anymore for my cat. I thought this was a local site.. dios.

Search will continue. As for Hills, I saw plenty around CABA.

serafina I found this online store which has a pretty good selection and sells Inaba Churu snacks (https://ar.miscota.com/search/s?q=inaba).

They are our cats favorite. You should check it out. Thanks for the tips, in terms of dry food we buy Hills Science Diet (https://www.hillspet.com/products/cat-food) this is suppose to be on the higher end and they do have wet food so maybe that is an option?

We will definitely check out Puppis. As for Vets, how are they here in general? Anything to be cautious of?

Quote from serafina

It seems a catch-22. How long have you been in Colombia? I have been here 10 years and still haven't been "cured". My mind is still the same.

4 years.

We are sure we will never be 'cured' also.

Hello. Any suggestions on good pet stores to buy Inaba Churu creamy snacks (prefer in packs of 50) and arena/litter for cats? in CABA area. Ideally we would like to have corn based cat litter but on our last visit we didn't see any. Alternatively clay litter works but we tried to introduce silica gel but our cat didn't like it. Thank you.

Quote from serafina

A decade ago, a young lady came to Argentina with the same mindset as you. She thought 'I will provide first world service & customer service , surely they'll appreciate it and understand it is worth paying a tad more'. Was she wrong!

A decade later and she is still struggling to get local customers, no matter how much she slashes the price for the local market. There seem to be no bottom in sight and sometimes it is not even a matter of price but of trust. Since people in LatAm get scammed repeatedly, they are just wary of everyone.

Deposits don't get returned, services and products are not as advertised/promised. So it is all stuck and muddy. A lot of effort for very little result.

The not-young-anymore girl now works 100% with clients abroad, where they aren't afraid to pay a deposit or cash in advance as the chances of getting scammed are so slim, they aren't concerned.

And I am not talking about million dollars, nor of thousand dollars. 20 USD for an Argentinian is quite a sum, for an American is the price of a drink in a fancy place. Some of it is just psychology-based.

A friend recommended a book to understand cultural difference in International transactions and it was a revelation. Still, it cost me to get the US business culture, and I am not ready to put the effort for another adjustment if the money reward is just a fraction.

The culture map

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Unfortunately/fortunately? it sounds like foreigners (like myself) will have to adjust to how thing are here. So we set our expectations (lower) and be cautious. This is something I realize culture can not be changed and to accept it.

You stated "Deposits don't get returned, services and products are not as advertised/promised. " This is something that drove us nuts back in Colombia because we are generally very trusting. I would argue this is self inflicted, people from low trust societies love to scam each other, so really what can they expect but a bad outcome in any type of commerce.

Having to adjust and expect the worst (to protect ourselves) shouldn't be the norm but here we are. We are now very cynical as a way to protect ourselves.

Thanks for the link to the book. Will check it in my list of ebooks to read.

Quote from Splinter

In the space of 12 months, when I originally posted this, the scene has changed dramatically and not for the better.

The Fiat Pulse is now around US$20k-30k and the same can be said for most new cars, ie the prices have rocketed, demand is low due to the extortionate prices, stock is low due to import restrictions and as a result, dealers are falling over themselves to come up with deals that stink of traps.

The 'finance' plans where the price of the car goes up every month with inflation and you bid in a kind of lottery, is still one of the only ways to get the car you want, unless you have the cash to buy outright. Many people enter these plans for three months, then cash in just to get the car.

The situation is unreal, just like many things here, as is the use car market where they are more expensive, in many cases, than new cars.

But surely market forces will eventually come into play when there is a glut of cars, both new and used, I hear you ask?

Logic would dictate that prices would come down as in supply vs demand, but this is Argentina.

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Something similar happen with car sales in Colombia last year (2023) compared to 2022. Country wide they increased the MSRP. by quite a bit. I saw my car increased about 20-25%, maybe more actually. Anyway, because of this, there was an article beginning of this year on new car sales #s for the country. Surprise surprise, new car sales (2023) dropped about 25% from 2022. In my mind this is the direct result of short sightedness on moronic business practices to try to maximize profit. All in the name of inflation. Anyway, you would think they would lower the price for 2024? Nope only thing this did was increasing the sales price (value) of used cars because the baseline has now increased.

Do you think the dealers would discount new cars to make up for the lost sales #? Heck no. This is what I miss about the US, you can always negotiate and deal as they want your $/business, in South America, it is the opposite. Take it or leave it.

Quote from serafina

Because when my husband confronted him, he said he didn't know what he was talking about and kept walking. My husband followed him for a block trying to speak with him, and he ignored him. The garage owner didn't want to be put in the middle because they don't have camera in the garage to prove it was him. However, the guy parked on the other side of the inconsiderate driver had put pool stick as side bumper because he was getting dents on his side. One day we met him in the garage, and we compared dents and they were at the same level. Meaning that they came from the same car in the middle.

Insane. Thanks for sharing.

Quote from serafina

The dents from the garage neighbor were on the other side and we had to pay for those out of pocket...

I believe you may be able to bring your old driver seniority score from Colombia, 010101 . I am not sure about the details, but I remember that my husband was able to buy our insurance NOT as a beginner driver because he was able to prove he was a senior driver abroad. I suppose he share his old insurance forms with the new one, but perhaps the guy was helping us out since my husband's family has been a client of them for decades.

Wait, you didn't get your neighbor to pay for the damage? It is kind of hard to ignore if it everyone has assigned parking no?

Thanks for the tip about seniority. Will have to keep this in mind. I think I will have to change my expectations quite a bit. Some of your stories would drive me insane.

Quote from UK Man

I honestly haven't a clue as it's the missus that deals with it all and she's off out at the mo. We live 100 miles from the capital so I'm not sure if that makes any difference to the cost of insurance policies or not.

No worries, i will in time investigate. Have a great day.

Quote from UK Man

We don't bother with dents or scratches as half of them are caused by the wife's own driving!! Recently however an old guy hit her on the passenger side causing damage which meant the panel had to be replaced. Fortunately the car was still drivable as it took many weeks for the new part to arrive. Our insurance is a full one so the insurance company sorted it all out.

Welcome to the forum

Thanks for the info. As for insurance, is it costly for full coverage? I understand there are different rates, however if you can possibly give me a guideline on a new driver (in Argentina) for a car around $20,000 USD? In Colombia I paid about $250 USD a month full coverage but the car was around $40,000.

Any suggestions on some good insurance companies ?

Sorry to bump an old thread but I created an account here just because of this post. I was searching about buying a car in Argentina and really wanted to be aware of the possible 'risks' of unethical business practices which I may encounter. @serafina Thank you for sharing your experience in detail. I am eyes wild open. I expected some scammy behavior but this is just another level and at all levels. I recently sold my car in Colombia as we are moving to BA next month. As an expat, dealing with Colombia customer services and bad business practices was something I thought I was prepared for (personally can't stand it and my time in Colombia has given me a life time of stories).

It sounds like I will need to keep my guard up if I want to own a car in BA or if it is even worth it.

One big difference I notice is the dents that seem to be normal for cars in CABA. It sounds like your 'new' car has now gained plenty of dents? This would drive me nuts because I take great care of my car (prior getting washed weekly, always in public parking garage and put a lot of effort to keep it clean, new and well maintained.

My question, is it difficult to get someone held accountable for dents and scratches? Do insurance cover it or just not worth making the claim as rates will go higher? On my last visit, I literally saw people parking and hitting cars to try to get into the sport. It was insane for me to see this. Hitting other cars for no reason really, other than just having poor skills.

Quote from Splinter

Our Honda Fit (2007) is now 16 years old and it's time for it to go. I've looked after it myself as much as I can - new spark plugs, wipers, oil and brake changes, but as time goes on it's just going to get harder to maintain. It doesn't owe us anything, having taken us to Salta, Cordoba and numerous other parts of Argentina, even on dirt tracks. We've abused it, it hasn't complained and now that the clutch is on its way out, the time has come.

But here's the rub...

Having decided that we would like a NEW car because used cars are now at a premium, we thought that if we paid cash we'd get a discount. Wrong!

We would like a Fiat Pulse Impetus, like this:

    

On a visit to a local dealer we discovered that the cash price is now more expensive that under a so-called plan.

$6,500,000 plan price, $9,000,000 (approx) cash price.

This is because dealers don't want to hold stock and the plans involve paying up front on a variable price which will always rise and the cars that are available are earmarked for 'plan' cars.

https://www.clarin.com/servicios/plan…v4uLiCAwZb.html

However, Adri, being an accountant, has several wealthy clients who have recently (2-4 months ago) opted for the plan prices on high value vehicles such as the Toyota Cross and VW Taos simply to get the list/plan price and pay off the entire balance after six monthly payments as opposed to paying over 82 months or whatever the length is.

A few days ago we both agreed that wouldn't get into this 'lottery' plan in a month of Sundays, because it is just that - a lottery pool where two members of the group are pulled from a hat every month. But it looks like we may have to.

Oh and about a year ago I looked at the used price for our car and it was about $700,000. Today it's around $2,500,000.

......................................I need a lie down because this madness is doing my head in.

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What is going on!? Are they alergic to business? It almost seem like the dealer thinks they are doing you a favor to allow you to purchase something on their terms. THis is very short sighted and looks like they only care about short term sales and customer relationships or repeat business is not important. Damm out of principal I would blacklist the dealer for even suggested I pay more because I have cash. Scammy sales practices.