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[nehya]

Hey guyz!

I need some help out here! i'm planning to rent a car for 16 days with 4 other ppl in Brazil and travel from Sao Paulo all through Urugvay to Montevideo as a final destination. But the thing is we've heard bunch of stories how dangerous travelling by car is in Brazil.i'd travelled with a car before (Morocco,..) and it was fabulous!!! I was thinking of waking up early and finish daily trip before night. i dont really imagine long rides with buses. from buenos aires we'll take a flight back to Sao Paulo.

what do u suggest?

thanks,
Neja

[starlagurl]

Sounds like a great trip!

Wikitravel says that the highways are in good shape, but watch out for the speeders:

The highways are in good shape. Speed limit is 90 km/hour to 110 km/hour on most of them but it's not enforced. Most people go about 120 km/h and slow down a little when they see a highway patrol car! The main highway is the one that goes from Montevideo to Punta Del Este (main tourist city of Uruguay), it is double lane from both sides. However this is strange since most of the highways are single lane and therefore you should take precautions when driving long distances (a "long distance" in Uruguay is 500 km max), trying to pass another car. Always keep your distance from the car in front of you. Signaling is good enough. Take notice of the emergency phone numbers on the highways and keep them noted. Uruguay is not a dangerous country, but since it is mostly agricultural if your car breaks down it can take you a while for you to walk to a phone. It is recommended to carry a cell phone with you, cell phone coverage by Ancel (the state company and main provider) is pretty decent. In Uruguay we drive on the right. You should have the "carta verde" licence to drive in Uruguay, you can find it in the embassy

[mmbcross]

Where did you hear it was dangerous to rent a car in Brasil? Other than very exuberant drivers, I am not aware that it is any more dangerous than, say, renting a car in Italy. I would certainly imagine it is safer than Morocco.

You are going to have a humungous drop-off fee if you rent in São Paulo and drop off in Montevideo.

[nehya]

Where did you hear it was dangerous to rent a car in Brasil? Other than very exuberant drivers, I am not aware that it is any more dangerous than, say, renting a car in Italy. I would certainly imagine it is safer than Morocco.

You are going to have a humungous drop-off fee if you rent in São Paulo and drop off in Montevideo.

By dangerous i meant stealing or robbing the car or every acar itself.mehn everywhere this thing happen.so ur sayin u've been there and in Morocco so u can compare.Morocco with car is easy u know, cops everywhere.i dont know how to convince my friend.they will see 80% less of brazil if they travel by bus (im not even considering plane ahh).the stories they heard is from brasilian who lives in our country at this very moment (Slovenia), from slovenian ambassador in Brazil and from some other ppl, who r not travellers i suppose...

so how to convince 2 of the gurlz who not willing to take any risk obviously..

plus the thing is we'll be leaving in 5 days and road trip plan is neary done..


cheers mates

[starlagurl]

Hmmm... maybe just make sure you get insurance...if the car gets broken into the rental company's insurance will cover it. My friend had her stuff stolen out of her rental car in Mexico... it was a pain, but she had insurance, so it could have been much worse!

[big_red_truck]

Having lived, worked, and traveled in Brasil (as a blue-eyed blond-haired American) off and on for about 1 year of the last 2 years, traveling by car in Brasil is only marginally more dangerous than driving in the USA.

In Sao Paulo, your car would only get broken into if you are leaving your luggage or valuables openly displayed in the car (coworker had a laptop bag stolen from the backseat while stopped at a red light, but he was an idiot and had all the windows rolled down with bags in the backseat). So make sure to keep your luggage in the trunk. In most of the rest of Brasil, people will leave the cars that pass through town alone. Some of the larger cities you might want to be careful, but I never had any problems in Curitiba or Porto Allegre. The highways in southern Brasil are in much better condition than those in the north.

And for help convincing the 2 girls that are coming with you. A lot of the traveling that I did by car was just my wife and me...and my wife felt perfectly safe to walk around while I was filling the car.

Do be careful if you are on the windy 2-lane highways. If you see a slow-moving truck coming the other direction, be careful because it is normal in Brasil to pass the slow-moving trucks on double-yellow lines, even if it is a blind curve or a blind hill.

And if you are a foreigner driving in Brasil, they require you to take the insurance unless a company is sponsoring you to have the car. And make sure you know how to change a flat tire! Have a good trip, and if you make it out to Tres Lagoas, let me know. I'll be here until the end of April.

[nodd]

Not sure you can rent a car in Brazil and take it out of the Country. I doubt they will allow that.

[big_red_truck]

Not sure you can rent a car in Brazil and take it out of the Country. I doubt they will allow that.

I hadn't even thought about that...

Just checked Localiza's website, they do not allow you to take a car across country borders. Check here.

Hertz's website just told me the same thing, cars are not allowed to be taken out of Brasil. Check here.