We booked and prepaid for our car online before flying to Chile, and picking it up was a breeze…read more
Budget is located right inside the terminal with the cars parked across the street on the airport premises. Returning the car is also very easy.. you follow the signs to car rental return, and a guard will direct you where to park. Then you leave the keys at the Budget counter just inside the terminal (there's a box in case no one is there).
My only complaint is that they don't have any GPS to rent, or any cars with GPS, and the car came without any gas in it so we were immediately looking for a gas station to fill up.
Also, we were told that if we didn't buy their insurance, a $3,000 hold would be put on a credit card. We caved and were upsold on the insurance ($18/day) which has a $150 accident deductible and $1500 theft deductible. Usually the perk of signing up for the expensive rental insurance is that you can walk away without having to pay anything in the event of an accident, but I guess it's different in South America.
It wasn't cheap - about $40 a day, plus $18 for the insurance, but we loved the freedom having a car gave us in terms of when and where we wanted to go. We visited Colchagua Valley, Santiago, Vina del Mar, and Valparaiso in 5 days.