Having recently (early Jan) made the drive, I would just add a couple of points to SometimesFlyer’s very thorough report:
- It seems that in the high season on Sunday from noon, (Jan/Feb, but maybe longer) in order to avoid congestion on the road back to Lima, southbound traffic on the Panamericana South is single lane only from Lima to around Pachacamac, and then completely diverted to the old Panamericana until Playa Santa Maria. It gets very congested and added about 45 mins to our drive time. I would advise against heading there on a Sunday.
- We only saw police checks between Chincha Alta and Paracas, and quite a few of them. We were not stopped, as kept to the speed limit and had headlights on. Locals were being stopped, so clearly they didn’t seem to be targeting tourists.
And yes, the Hertz delivery inspection at pickup was very painful at 1:00AM, checking for items like vanity mirrors and ashtrays. I wonder if it’s just them, but certainly will try another company next time!