shipping a car to GTO.

[sfschwartz]

I am wondering if anyone has had any experience or information they can share about paying a company to transport a car from the US to Gto. Specifically, I have a 1974 vw beetle I would like to send to my house in Gto from SF and then have it registered in Mexico. I am having difficulty even finding a company to contact about the process. Any information is greatly welcomed.

Joshua

[fr8as]

Ron Ponton, from Leon, specializes in moving items from the U.S. He's from the U.S., but has lived here several years, and knows the ins and outs of getting things across the border, and he's a good guy as well.

I don't have a phone number handy, but here's his e-mail address: rpontonsr.607609@gmail.com

[The Duck]

Why register it here? BTW it would be something you probably cannot do anyway Don't even waste your time going down that path.

The quick and simple. YOU have to import YOUR car into Mexico - so you would have to be at the border as the car crosses over and gets its temporary import permit. Now you could fly back from that border to GTO and wait for your surrogate to deliver the vehicle - but he/she is probably not legally authorized [based on the temporary import permit] to operate your vehicle - so still being a bit Type X you could accompany he/she to the KM26 [or its equivalent at other border crossings] and then bus back to the airport [well that is if there is local bus service from the middle of nowhere] while your surrogate heads south to blissful GTO free of accident - but should one occur YOU as importer of the vehicle are responsible. The surrogate could just flee. No big deal

So what to do? You are not going to be able to get a Mexican registration that's 99.99999999999999999% certain. If you want to keep your car legal in the US re-register it in South Dakota [search Forum for more info]Then bring it in YOURSELF - full of stuff [if within 6 months of your initial entry you should be able to qualify for the current equivalent of a Manaje de Casa [see Rollybrook.com - Google it if the link doesn't work]]. If you never plan to go back al otro lado don't worry about it as your car is legal as long as you are legal in Mexico [search forum for other posts]
Or just buy a 74 here

[colleen]

The Duck makes good sense. We drive a 2000 Ford Explorer and had it nationalized in 2010 very easily by using a company in Miguel Aleman. The docs say Autos y Camiones Pena, Nereo Pena Garza 897-972-0255. But I remember that we dealt with the people who answered the phone here: Froylan Garza Barrera 897-972-4322, 4323, 4324. It didn't cost much and took about 20 minutes to pretend that we sold the car to a MX and then bought it from Autos y Camiones etc. It was necessary to do this since we were at the end of our FM2 and now as Inmigrado we needed a MX plated car.

I gave this info to a friend yesterday who is in the same situation. She called and found that the law has been changed and that it now costs 78% of the value of the vehicle to nationalize it!! It is clear that they are trying to keep old cars out of the country and keep American cars out of the country. We were even told by Bancomer that they could not sell us insurance because it was a car manufactured in the US and they couldn't get parts here. The man was a bit embarrassed to even say that since it's so clearly not true. We bought the insurance elsewhere.

There could be a problem just bringing in a car that old. I'd check w/ the guys who do it for a living. Like The Duck was saying, you can get the auto permiso at the border with all the various precautions, and they make up some more restrictions periodically which you have to fight them over. "I DON'T need to show you my marriage certificate." Glad you are checking this out first. Good luck with it.

[NanN]

I'm a naturalized citizen of Mexico so I can't have a foreign vehicle down here on a temporary permit because I am resident in Mexico. I nationalized two vehicles in my fourteen years in Mexico. A Mazda MX6 that was built in the US not Japan or it would not have been possible to nationalize and later a Jeep Sahara, both nationalized under the regime of the Presidential Decree that allows the permanent importation of 8 and 9-year old automobiles without submitting an import permit. Neither vehicle was difficult to import using a customs broker for the paperwork. However, when it was time for a new vehicle I sucked it up and bought from a dealer in Guadalajara because once all is said and done even though my Cherokee cost more at ROCA JEEP in Guad than it would have in the US or Canada by the time all costs were figured in it came out about the same.

There is a provision under the Definitive Importation regime (not the same as the Temporary Importation regime) for permanently importing classic automobiles (30+ years old) into Mexico. You will pay duty and you will need a customs broker if you want to do a definitive importation of a vehicle. Only a customs broker can set up the paperwork for you and handle the importation. They should also be able to handle the shipping for you or at least give you some recommendations for a good freight forwarder.

There is a good article here written by a customs broker in the Yucatan. The information is current because he cites dates to October 31, 2012.
http://www.yucatancompass.com/what-you-s...nto-mexico

This link gives you contact information for four Agentes Aduanales (Customs Brokers) in Leon and one in TJ.
http://www.portal-leon.com/regional/dir/...nales.html

This link gives contact information for more Customs Brokers.
http://guia-guanajuato.guiamexico.com.mx...-guia.html

Good luck.

[The Duck]

Colleen can you explain this technique a bit more "... It didn't cost much and took about 20 minutes to pretend that we sold the car to a MX and then bought it from Autols y Camiones etc." I've been here going on 17 years and in all that time I've understood [and I think correctly] that it is illegal for someone holding a temporary import permt to sell the vehicle covered by that permit to anyone, Mexican or otherwise - also you are not pernitted to abandon or give the vehicle away. See SCHP Obligaci?n de registrar y retornar el veh?culo Also on that page you'll find links to other SAT pages that cover temporal importation.

On being denied the privilidge of purchasing insurance from one source and just going to another who was willing to sell a policy without question [a MX local plated policy on a US plated vehicle?] I'd think if that were the type of coverage you bought when the time comes to file a claim you'd be in for an unpleasant surprise. It is posible to buy [see elsewhere on the forum] MX coverage in MX for US vehicles with temp import permits. All the insurance sold in TX before crossing is underwritten by a MX ins company

[colleen]

I'm answering The Duck's post. It's kind of apples, oranges and watermelons. OK, I'll tell you what we did and what status we have here in MX.

During the years we came down from the US to visit, we drove a 2000 Ford Explorer w/ WI plates. We got temporary permits. (Even in the years when we could have claimed that the permit was valid as long as the visa was valid, we didn't do that after the first time. It was an interesting experience but not relevant here.)

The high insurance prices at the border were crazy so we bought a full year of MX insurance from Lloyd's, at that time an investment company and insurance company, and drove down when we wanted, fully insured. Then my husband got his FM3 and I followed 2 years later. 2 years after that we both got our FM2. While on the FM2, the car became 10 years old and eligible for nationalization. I contacted Froylan Garza Barrera in Miguel Aleman at the recommendation of a MX friend from MA who had a business in McAllen. They asked for various documents and explained the ridiculous procedure of the pretend sale. I had heard that before and didn't want to do it but decided I was sick of swimming upstream. I'd just do what they say.

We were told to empty the car. We went to the office w/ docs. Don't remember what it was they wanted besides the title. When they saw my Gto driver's license, all else was forgotten. They did paperwork and copied the WI title. We waited while they went to a govmt office and when they came back, the WI title was virgin but there was a MX title indicating we bought the car from Autos y Camiones, etc. I think that the cost for the whole deal was about 8000 pesos. We left the WI plates on. When crossing back to the US, told them we were visiting friends in MA. They didn't like the fact that the car was empty. Back to MX and Gto where we bought a Gto license showing our new MX title.

Re the insurance:

Everything changes when the car is now MX. We did not notify the insurer that the car had been nationalized, just waited for the end of the policy year. Both my husband's name and my name were on the policies since we have both our names on the title(s).

The first year, when it was time to renew after nationalization, everything was different. I got double talk from the saleswoman I had dealt w/ for many years. Only my name was on the policy. She wouldn't tell me why, just saying that anyone I authorize to drive the car was insured. My husband looked at the policy which was from a different company than the one for the MX insurance for many previous years. Sure enuf, he was declined coverage because he is too old. Since he does most of the driving in gto, I wanted him covered and I don't trust the double talk. We were able to buy a mini-policy from Bancomer that would cover damages to others if he caused an accident. It didn't cover the car or any injury he might suffer. It cost about 1000 pesos for that year. It was the next year when I wanted to dump double talking Lloyd. Everything went fine till the officer at the bank saw the nationalization papers and had to tell me they couldn't get parts for a 2000 Ford Explorer here in MX.

We went to another legit insurance salesman who recorded things honestly and we were sold coverage for a reasonable price from the company that he says he uses to insure his BMW and other fancy cars. Like anywhere else, different companies insure differently. Hopefully we won't have to make a claim.

Re what the law says.. I don't give a shit anymore. I am so sick of trying to do the right thing whether it be with the bookstore, Donkey Jote, or our residence or this car business. As you know, at a different time, talking with a different person, you will always get a different result. You can't tell someone "this is the law" because they don't care. Both you and I can think of numerous examples of how the "law" is applied differently from one business to another and, I'm sure, from one person to another.

Given the election this year and the immigration changes, I wouldn't think of telling anyone how to do anything based on how I have done it. I'm just glad that my husband and I are both Inmigrado now. I'll get around to taking the citizenship test. I don't trust any statements about "oh, it's just as good as citizenship except you can't vote". Maybe that's true, till they change the law. I have too much of an investment here to live here much longer without being a citizen. Since my days as a lawyer in the US, my motto is that it is better to say "I'm sorry" than to say "please may I?". If you ask whether or not you can do something, you give them the permission to say "no". In the case of the car, for once, I didn't do it all myself. I paid someone to do it and I am very thankful that they accomplished it. It was that business which told my friend to go to the US and sell the car since it is way too expensive now. If they can't do it, I guess nobody can. I'm not an authority. I didn't read the law. I don't give a shit about the law. I paid someone else to read the law and/or manipulate it.

In the past I would have read the links, but I'm done with it. I paid someone to represent me. BTW, the policy from Lloyd to insure the US car while in MX was actually a US company. When we stayed longer in TX than we planned one time, we had to call Lloyd in Guadalajara and they gave us the US number of the US company. Oh well...

[NanN]

Wow, sounds like Coleen had quite the ordeal. I nationalized two vehicles and never sold them to anyone or needed bills of sale from any Mexican company to get my Mexican registration papers.

In both cases my Canadian insurance/registration paper was considered my 'factura' and I received new Mexican registration papers when I paid my permanent importation fee. Nationalizing the Mazda cost me a total of $2800 pesos and the Jeep Sahara cost me $4200 pesos, those fees covered the customs broker and all paperwork in Mexico, I paid those fees to the customs broker. This entailed two visits to my local customs broker, one for them to photograph the vehicles and take the impression of the VIN numbers and the other a few days later to pick up my papers stamped and signed by Aduana. Then I took those papers to the local office that dealt out license plates, paid them the plate fee that everyone pays when they get a new plate and drove away with my new plates and tarjeta de circulation. Both vehicles were in the between 9 and 10 years old category when I nationalized them.

[WRT]

Joshua,

PM me, I know the Loop hole for this, and its all legal.

First of all your car is considered a classic, so it can be legalized.
Fastest way would be to transport your Bug to Laredo, Tx $600-900 depending on how fast you want it delivered, and then ship it from there around $900-1000 USD on a flatbed fully insured.

Remember in Mexico, everything is possible as long as you pay a fee, for paying another fee :D

Click here for more info

Saludos
Ponce