car rental in VE

Does anyone know of a decent local car rental place in eastern Venezuela (that will allow drop off in Caracas)?

I am flying into Port of Spain, taking the ferry over to Guirias. I would love to rent a car in Carupano or Cumana and return it in Caracas, but I can't find any reliable information on local agencies there (the big chains apparently don't have offices there). Alternately, I am looking into getting to Barcelona or Maturin and renting from there, but so far I've only found a ridiculously high price with Hertz (over a 1000USD for 4 days). There must be local agencies I don't know about and can't find from here (NYC).

My first idea was to rent in Port of Spain, Trinidad (where rental is half the price in VE), come over on the ferry and drop off in Caracas, but that seems to be not allowed (because the cars are different side driving??).

Any advice of local rental agencies would be most appreciated. I am planning a trip mid March 2010 for about a week.

Thanks!!
s

Your plan barely possible.

First, rented cars are not allowed to leave the country where they were picked up.

Car-rental prices in Venezuela are ridiculously high and driving our roads is a hell, specially for people used to observe and follow driving rules. We have a severe lack of road signs and accurate maps, road lodging are awfull, road maintenance is poor and car accidents are not unusual.

Towns like Güiria, Carúpano or Cumaná are not plenty suplied with global services or networks. Actually, a rent-a-car company in Carúpano can´t be available with just 2 flights a day to Caracas.

Local companies are not a guaranty of cheaper prices. These smaller companies don't have free milleage fares; you get a top limit of Kms a day and you got to pay additional charges of every Km you drive beyond that given limit. In addition, if droping the car off in a city other than the one where you picked it up, surcharges are astronomical.

Anyway, I'll do a little search about car-rental companies in Maturín and Barcelona, and I'll try to give you the best possible advice. I live in Puerto Ordaz (2 1/2 hours south of Maturín).

By the way, travelling by bus is far better than renting a car... unless you rent it in a major city and return it at the same place where you picked the car up.

Thanks for the information Hodunn. I rented a car in Venezuela about 6 years ago from Caracas and drove to Choroni and the roads were fine, but I'm getting the idea that it's not the same in the rest of the country. Especially where I want to go, which is Camaguan in los Llanos, passing through either Maturin or by way of Barcelona.

Thanks for your tips. I'm going to look into buses or major rental agencies or flights. Which is sad because I very much wanted to drive through Venezuela. I did a road trip from France to Western Africa that was fantastic, but I don't have a range rover anymore!

Hello, I would advise against renting a car in Vzla, unless it is in Margarita. Prices are just insane.

Travel safe.

All the best,

Thomas
Caracas
bery_venezuela@hotmail.com

I agree.

Going from Caracas to Choroní could seem kind of OK to anyone, specially because of the highway... but Venezuelan roads were not built as a whole integrated system, so... you know what I mean...

It is possible to drive throughout Venezuela, yes, its true, but... I don't know... I don't take it for granted, unless you have lived here for so long.

I've driven a car in other places other than Venezuela, such as California, Florida, Chile, Spain and Germany, and I can swear it's not the same. Even though I've lived in Venezuela all my life long, I began driving a car at the age of 16(19 years ago), I've done lots of road trips through Venezuela from north to south and from east to west, I rate Venezuela as a not safe place to drive if you are a foreigner, not matter if you are in cities, towns or roads.