What must I do to bring a U.S. car into Mexico? I'm planning to drive from from Colorado to Mexico City in Mar

Question

I'm going to be driving from Colorado Springs to Mexico City and then finally Puebla in March and I'm not sure what the requirements are to bring a U.S. plated car into Mexico.

Answer 1

At the border you will need to import the vehicle into Mexico. You will need the ownership and will post a bond that is best done using a valid credit card. The ownership of the vehicle and the credit card need to be in the same name. The bond is to ensure that you will export the car.  You will be given a sticker that you place on the windscreen and this will allow you to go beyond the border into Mexico for about 25km of where you will encounter a vehicle and customs check. No sticker you will need to return to the border. So when you leave Mexico you return the sticker and your bond is cancelled. It works but keep all the papers as you may need to show them to the various police and military checks that are usually no problem  and the import document is stamped on export so keep that as well as you never know when you will be approached at home for not having exported the vehicle and Mexico is looking for import duty. You can actually do all this importing preliminary work on line at the Banjercito web site before you leave home.   You will need Mexican Insurance and I can recommend Lewis and Lewis who are in California but there are many others. I have used them for years. Just know that Mexico City has certain days you cannot drive your car based on the plate numbers so check that out as well. A foreign car will not help you if you are stopped, it will cost you lots of pesos

Answer 2

There is more to it than 1st answerer stated. Yes, you will need to Mexican car insurance.  My favorite place to buy it from is San Xavier in  Tuscon.  Nice folks, easy to deal with , and very inexpensive.  You can shop around ,  but they are the best.  See 1st website below. Then, you will need a Mexican car permit.  You can go to the Mexican consultate in Denver to get it or get it in the first town just after the Mexican border.  It costs about $100.00 USD.  They will take an imprint of your credit card to save.  If you were to try to leave Mexico without your car, you would be fined $ 400.00 since it is against the law to sell an American car in Mexico.   You will receive a sticker for your window and a paper to keep in the car.  If you are visiting for 6 months or less, you can get a tourist card at the border good for 6 months.  If you are moving to Mexico...that's different...email me and I can give you more detailed visa info.  If your car is paid for you must have the title, if it is still financed, you must have a letter of permission from the lender to bring it to Mexico.  E-mail me if i can b of furthur help.

Answer 3

Pretty much all you need is Mexican auto insurance. US insurance is no good there. It is pretty cheap and is sold for the time period you need it and is based on the value of your car.

There is no border check for it but without it you are taking a big risk. There are a lot of places that sell it  as you get near the border.

Answer 4

get mexican auto insurance an thats basically it. oh and watch out people will jack ur car and belongings just cause it says a us state on the lic. plate... got to love mex!

Answer 5

You will be best served to re-read the correct advice of T-TailArrow above and completely disregard the other answers. It's a simple matter of driving across ONLY if you plan to stay in the border zone. But for driving to Mexico, D.F. and Puebla, you need to follow the official rules for a temporary importation permit.

You MUST get a permit and window sticker at the border. If you do not have one and you are stopped inside Mexico, they can and will take your car away.

Getting the permit is a fairly simple matter. Once you cross the border, look for (or ask for) the car registration office. It is not always located at or near the main immigration entry station. Sometimes it's a block or two away. Have your ORIGINAL car title or that letter of permission from any lienholder (like the bank). Have photocopies of that and of your registration, passport (1st page only) and drivers license.

After that part of the paperwork is done, you go to the Banjercito (usually in the same building) to pay the import fee. You will need an international credit card. If you do not have one, you will be asked to pay a cash bond calculated on the value of your car. It will be returned to you when you take the car back out of the country within the 6-month limit.

Once they put the sticker on your windshield, DO NOT REMOVE IT. When you leave the country, you MUST go back to the car office and turn in your permit. They will then scrape the sticker off your windshield. If you don't do this, you will show up in the computer as having left the car in Mexico and you will not be able to drive it or any other car back into Mexico ever again without paying a huge fine.

Now that the Mexican bureaucracy is more and more computerized in such things, trying to bend or get around the rules is harder and has greater consequences.

Answer 6

yeh yeh yeh, just drive in get insurance here, it's no big deal,  if the car is over ten years old you can import it tax free otherwise it's a six month sticker,  the roads are great, don't listen to the BS