ADEL Rent a Car in Punta Arenas: a review
Finding a rental car in Punta Arenas – one of the main hubs in Patagonia wasn’t an easy feat. We checked many car rental options – both in Punta Arenas in Chile and El Chalten in Argentina. So we were very happy with how well it went with ADEL Rent a car in Punta Arenas.
As we wanted to explore both the Argentinian and Chilean side of Patagonia, we had to take into consideration additional costs for insurance, the lack of gas stations, the remoteness of the area and many other things.
Gerson from ADEL rent a car in Punta Arenas made us feel much more relaxed about everything.
As stated in our 10 day Patagonia itinerary, we really enjoyed our experience with renting a car from ADEL Rent a car based in Punta Arenas.
In this review, we will try to answer any questions you might have about renting a car from ADEL Rent a car in Punta Arenas.
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How much does a car from ADEL cost?
When we visited Patagonia, we rented a Renault Symbol from ADEL, including all the paperwork to drive to Argentina, but this car is not available anymore.
I contacted Gerson to find out about up-to-date prices, so this info is fresh from December 2022.
Renting a Renault Duster SUV (the smallest car available) for 10 days, including visiting Argentina, amounts to around 1090000 CLP if you pay by any credit card or a transfer to transbank.
Cash or prepay in advance to hold the car is recommended to actually reserve the car, and you can do it through Wise or a bank transfer. That way, the car is guaranteed to you – Adel’s car park is rather small.
How was the communication with ADEL rent a car in Punta Arenas?
The email communication in English with Gerson from ADEL Rent a car in Punta Arenas was fast and easy enough (not perfect, but don’t expect that here – this is pretty much fin del mundo – end of the world as the roadsigns actually say, not downtown L.A.).
We agreed on the whole rental period, the price, the conditions, and the necessary paperwork in a couple of emails, about two months in advance. We also paid the whole sum in advance using TransferWise which was suggested by ADEL rent a car in order to yield the best rate.
It took a bit of back-and-forth e-mailing to get the funds over, as there were some problems with the amount necessary. In the end, though, everything worked out well.
As we state in our What you want to know about renting a car and driving in Patagonia article, make sure to rent your car in Patagonia with plenty of time left, especially if you plan on crossing the border.
Picking up the rental car in Punta Arenas
On the day of the pick-up, Gerson was waiting for us in his ADEL Rent a car office in downtown Punta Arenas.
He gave us a very thorough briefing (including the necessary charts) about pretty much everything we needed to know so that we could drive safely along our itinerary in the beautiful but remote Patagonia. We were very happy with his advice and we found it useful during the next few days while driving.
When picking up the car, it turned out one of the doors couldn’t be locked. We didn’t want to accept the car in such a condition and there was no other car available at the moment (ADEL Rent a car, like most of the local companies, is a small company with just a few cars available).
So Gerson took the car to the garage to have it fixed and gave us his private car in the meantime. We used this time to do grocery shopping (handy when heading to Torres del Paine).
Our car got fixed, and off we went to Torres del Paine. Because of this, we left Punta Arenas almost three hours later than planned – just a minor nuisance. The whole situation was dealt with efficiently and professionally and didn’t cause any disruption in our itinerary. For the whole rental period, we didn’t have any problems with the car.
Returning the rental car to the Punta Arenas airport
On the day of returning, Gerson was waiting for us at Punta Arenas airport at the agreed time.
This was quite comfortable, as we were returning from El Calafate on that day and flying back to Santiago.
Dropping off the car at the airport was simply more convenient than driving all the way to ADEL’s office in Punta Arenas and then returning to the airport.
If you’re unsure about booking from a smaller rental agency…
There are quite a few international rentals in Punta Arenas and El Calafate if that’s where you’re flying into.
For example, on Discovercars, you can find brands such as Alamo or Sixt (among others) in El Calafate and Europcar, Avis, or Flexway in Punta Arenas.
On Rentalcars, I found Europcar and Flexways in Punta Arenas and a whole lot of other brands, for example, Budget, Dubrovnik, Avis, and Sixt in El Calafate.
Of course, depending on your dates, you might find other companies that provide rental cars in these cities. Plus, of course, you can find some other smaller local companies just by googling.
If you’re interested in more information about renting a car in Patagonia, be sure to check out my complete guide. I’ve given quite a lot of info there, including tips for driving down there.
Summary about renting a car from Adel Rent a Car in Punta Arenas
Overall, we were quite satisfied with ADEL Rent a Car Punta Arenas and especially with how helpful Gerson was. We would happily choose them again for renting a car when visiting Patagonia.
The communication was great and timely – Gerson was really helpful with everything, including the pickup and return of the car, explaining how to drive, what to watch out for, how to better plan things etc.
The car did what the car should. So we definitely recommend ADEL as a car rental when you travel to Patagonia.
