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Transportation Southern Chile, South America
Southern Chile How to rent a car
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Transportation in the South of Chile
Probably the best alternative, if you want to explore the more remote areas of Southern Chile is renting a car. Public transportation is not bad at all. It is frequent, safe and most of the time reliable; however, you do have to fight to constantly get the proper information from the locals to find the right buses. Even in Spanish, Chileans have are not very good at explaining things; when giving directions, they are the worst.  Sometimes, it is more than a little difficult to get the right directions for those locations All Southern Chile would call “off the tourist map”. Thus, one of the best ways to get there in Southern Chile is to rent a car.
Renting a Car in Southern Chile

The highways

Chile has an excellent highway system built around toll road concessions. You will have to pay to use them, but you are insured a nice new highway with emergency phones on the side of the roads.

The dirt roads
The dirt roads in most of the country are in excellent condition. Even after rain, they are normally graded within a day or two. Obviously, the more remote the road the less it is maintained.

Maps
The best maps are the Government Turistel Guides and Road maps. They are mostly marked correctly. Most of the errors are related to a rapidly improving country infrastructure across Chile. Some of the “blue highways” on the Chilean map, might turn into freeways at any moment.

Sumer and Winter difficulties and differences
Expect rain across most of Southern Chile in the Winter. Accept in the more mountainous areas, snow that might make driving difficult is rare. Chains are required in mountain passes or four-wheel drive. It is not unusual to encounter check-points when snow is heavy in the mountain areas at which you must show your chains to the Carabineros (police) before being allowed to pass.  More remote dirt  roads should only be attempted with four-wheel drive in the winter or by a skilled driver ready to deal with mud and less maintained roads.

General requirements for car rental in Chile:
21 years old
International credit car (some places ask for a minimum credit available)
International drivers license or your local one (mostly all US and European countries)
Insurance
Contract written in Spanish. (Some companies have the English translation on their websites).


The Car must have:
Registration
National tax (Permiso de circulación or  the license plate tabs).
Mandatory Insurance (Seguro Obligatorio, liability insurance).
The car must have passed the annual safety inspection. (Revisión Técnica)

Carabineros de Chile, the Chilean Police
Preventive controls and measures are a must. More than an invasion of privacy it is the only way to control the population from violating basic rules of safety on the road. Something very ingrained in the Chilean society is the idea of compliance with the norm, because you can get caught and fined or punish; not for the reason the rule was created in the first place. Don't panic if you are asked for your license and registration at a series of random check-points. Just make sure you have all the vehicle papers when you rent your car.  

Unlike most of Latin America, if you get in trouble, don't try to bribe the Carabineros. They take great pride in their honesty and professionalism. When in trouble, do not hesitate to call them or accept their help.  With a foreigner, in minor trouble, you are most likely to just get a good chuckle from officer and be let go anyway. The complications of dealing with a foreigner are often more than most Carabineros want to get involved in before their shift ends.

The biggest company in Chile is Hertz. There are some medium size agencies with national prestige and presence like Verschae, First (Sounds like Hertz in Spanish), Econorent. There are also some small local agencies. They are very economic, but also very local.

Some of the major rent a car agencies in Chile:

Hertz Chile
www.hertz.cl

First
www.firstrentacar.cl

Verschae
www.verschae.cl

Econorent
www.econorent.net