12 replies to this topic

[Coz2wonder]

New rules, and reasons regarding  importing a foreign plated vehicle. http://yucalandia.co...rs-into-mexico/

 

 proper attribution:YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan. ©Steven M. Fry

[Coz2wonder]

Here is some additional information, and online source for importing a foreign vehicle.

 

http://www.mexconnec...postatt_id=1408

[CZMDM]

If you have a car that falls under NAFTA, this lady can sort it out for you in just a couple of weeks: https://www.facebook...252211011634302

 

No need to remove the car. No worries about the importation from the USA. She has imported dozens of cars. Things like these have windows of time. So, do not hesitate if you wish to import. No one can import J cars or G cars. There is a scam going around the island with DF plates, but no importation doc. Don't fall for it.

[cvchief]

So this whole getting in trouble with CBP isn't true as posted on C2W first link:

 

"The CBP official email describes some of the potential issues that  might  cause American citizens legal problems with CBP and Homeland Security.  Here is a summary of some of the legal issues for Americans   for both:   ~  permanent imports of American titled cars  and for  ~ temporary imports of American titled cars  (TIP cars) ~  brought into Mexico:

• The only part of CBP law on vehicle Export rules that is   “new”    is the Census Bureau filing requirements   regardless of dollar value and destination.
  .
• US-titled  vehicles that are imported into Mexico or Canada must be first formally exported using the CBP’s 3-day inspection and investigation process at the US-Mexico border, prior to being taken into Mexico.
  .
• These same rules have also applied for years to US vehicles taken into Canada – for people who want to read US Homeland Security / CBP  existing previous websites (described for taking vehicles into Canada) on the USA’s Vehicle Export policies.
  .
• The US CBP acknowledges that the US Homeland Security system for tracking vehicles and exporting vehicles was previously not well-coordinated with Mexico’s import processes,   but now,  Homeland Security and Mexico have changed their systems to work together:
  .
• Homeland Security now has electronic databases in place to track the movements of US-titled cars being taken out of the USA,  and
  .
• Now,  Mexico’s Aduana requires that US vehicles imported into Mexico must have their US-titles officially cancelled by US CBP before Aduana will process them,   and
  .
• Mexico’s Aduana is now sending US Homeland Security the Aduana’s electronic records of the US vehicles that are being brought into Mexico,
  .
• The US Govt now has the ability to   enter our Passport numbers   or  names   or   VINs   into their database,   and potentially check whether we have taken a US-titled out of the USA,   and    imported it into Mexico    without previously completing the 3 day CBP export process at the border.
  .
• This means that US Homeland Security databases and CBP now  also have the capability to track the “paper only” imports done inside Mexico, like Sonia & Canadian-John (of San Miguel Allende) and other auto brokers who do NOT take the US cars to the border – putting their US clients at risk.
  .
• Since Sonia & Canadian-John’s and other’s “paper only” processes that have had no drives to the border,  include our vehicle VINs and our US passport information,   CBP now has the tools to easily find,   prosecute   and penalize Americans  who break US CBP / Homeland Security law.   *sigh*
  .
• The US CBP Export process is needed to stop/limit  the car theft rings that operate on both sides of the US-Mexico border,  as the 3 day hold allows CBP to search all 50 states auto theft database records,  ferret out “salvage titles”  of vehicles that likely consist of stolen-car parts,  etc.  Again,   ordinary US citizens are inadvertently caught in the nets designed to stop criminals. …
  .
• Once a US-titled vehicle has passed the 3 day VIN checks, motor checks, and background checks at the border,  the US CBP CANCELS THE TITLE…  and sends that information to the Mexican Aduana officials."
•  
• And
•  
• "This means that the routes and practices we used in the past,    processes that worked easily in the past,  are now subject to prosecution and fines.      (Just like what has happened in Mexico – shifting enforcement of the rules)  *bleah*"
  .

[CZMDM]

Whatever Chef. 

[cvchief]

You know I wish I  was better cook. 

 

I just thought you might want to expound on how that website C2W posted was wrong, since you contradict it.  I thought maybe you didn't bother to read it and things have changed.

[Coz2wonder]

I would hope that if someone was importing a vehicle they would NOT rely on any one source for information.

Obviously, it is confusing, changes frequently, and your working with two governments who each what a piece of the action.  

 

Regarding my post, Yucalandia has been excellent source that I view as GUIDELINES, not the Holy Grail. 

[cvchief]

Gee, C2W.  It *looks* like they might be correct as the Yucalandia info appears to be verbatim nearly from the US Customs and Border Protection website, so while maybe you are ok in Mexico with a no drive importer, you could expose yourself to liability in the US.

 

I'm just saying. 

[Coz2wonder]

I think if there is conflicting information, perhaps the best place is to post it on Yucalandia.

 

If your bringing a vehicle into Mexico, do your homework.  Take no ones word, except an expert on the subject (lawyer/customs/embassy).  Use any unofficial information as a check list.  If it doesn't apply, check it off.

[CZMDM]

There was an amparo issued by a fed judge to allow cars in for a certain window of time. Gee whiz chief, I bet if you could read a little Spanish, had even the vaguest idea of how laws work here and not have to rely on 3rd party, translated, information, from a completely different Mexican state, for every single thing, you might actually find out how things are done. For one thing........if your car is imported here, what exactly do you think the USA is going to do about it? They don't even pick up felons with outstanding warrants, that are known to be in the area. For another, we live in a frontier area. Laws are applied here differently. 

[cvchief]

Well, neighbor, you got me on the Spanish. I am working on it, but it is slow going.  I pick up a little here and there.  Like if you leave out the accent mark or fail to pronounce it at New Year's, you might be wishing someone diarrhea. I think I have that one down now after being laughed at by my Mexican friends.  I am sure that sort of kindergarten Spanish problem shows how far I have to go.  I'll keep trying though.

 

Of course, I didn't say a word about Spanish law and have nothing to say about it now or laws in different MX states or anything.   I was mainly talking about the US law you so cavalierly glossed over.

 

And I agree with you completely, if the US chose to penalize you for failing to follow US law, they wouldn't extradite you for it, I imagine.  I was more suggesting that your advice might be taken with a grain of salt by those who wish to renter the US.  But if all you want to do is comply with Mexican law, I am sure you are right.  I got the big concern in the article C2W posted was for people that want to be legal in the US too.

[Carey]

Well, you guys are both right.  I'm sure the new law and information was translated correctly as it was copied from  very reputable and responsible websites 

 

So on the one hand, there's the new regs.  All laid out.

 

Then there's the way they do things on Cozumel island.  Which is maybe a little like they do them in Playa.  Kind of like they do it in Cancun.  And sort of resembles what happens in Merida.  The capital, DF?  It might as well be South Carolina.  Well, almost.

 

 Let me give you an example that involves a car also.  I had a 1993 Taurus wagon that we brought down here 13 years ago on one of the few runs of the ill-fated Tampa to Playa car ferry.  I drove it around town and the island for 10 years sporting the temporary sticker they put on the car when it enters Mexico.  Yes, that's the one they tell you you're supposed to take the car over to the mainland every year to an office where you can pay and get this renewed.  I never renewed.  My car sat parked on one of the busier streets of San Miguel, a street where many, many police cars go by, for all that time.  Never a problem.  Stopped a couple of times at check your license and try to extort money if possible road blocks.  Never a problem.

 

But it gets better.  The old girl, the Taurus, started to fall apart.  The electronics started to fail -- windows would get stuck.  Then the AC went out and it's the old fashioned kind they can't fix.  Then other things started to fail.  Finally it wouldn't even start and was going to cost a fortune to get it going again -- more than the car was worth.  So  finally we decided to stop throwing bad pesos after bad and simply left it sitting in front of our house on the street.  For over a year.  Hoping someone would report it as abandoned and they'd haul it away for free.

 

i finally got tired of looking at the rusty old eyesore out in front of my gate and I was just about to go and negotiate with a scrap metal dealer out on the Transversal re taking it away for me in exchange for parts and maybe a few pesos . Then I received an Official Registered Letter from Hacienda.  It said that my car had been impounded at the federal parking area of the airport and that I should go there and pay the fines to get it back.  The reason they knew my name was that, stupidly, really stupidly, I forgot to take that damn temporal sticker off the windshield.  A worker at the new accountant's place across the street who wanted that parking space had obviously gotten the number and turned me in.

 

Well, my car was NOT at the airport.  It was still sitting in front of my house. So I obviously couldn't go anywhere to pay a fine and get the old hulker back.  So I consulted our lawyer.  She told me to just leave it there, wait 6 months and if I didn't hear anything else, we'd take it from there.  Waited 9 months and never heard a peep from anyone.  Consulted lawyer again.  This time she suggested I have it called in as an abandoned vehicle so the gobermint would come and haul it away -- and no, do not sell it for scrap or Hacienda will think you're trying to hide something if they happen to notice.  So I had a neighbor fluent in Spanish call in the complaint.  On try 3 they came and got it and hauled it away.  Per lawyer's suggestion, I made a note of the day it was hauled away.  Again, in case someone at Hacienda ever found that letter folded over crookedly, stamped on by someone's shoe and mistakenly stuffed in a cardboard file box labelled Farm Equipment.

 

It's been 2.6 years since I received that official -- had to sign for it and everything -- notice.  And nada.

 

So there's an example of how things tend to work on Cozumel.  And the longer  you live here, the less attention you pay to a lot of the laws. CZDM, another VERY long-time and full-time resident here is just giving peeps that are comfortable with this way of life info on a local work around.  Right here.  Right now.  Which doesn't mean it won't change.  In five or ten years.  Ja Ja

[cvchief]

That is a cool part of MX.  There is always a way around. 

 

Not so much in the US... 

 

I have to guess CZM has to dispose of ton of abandoned US cars.  There are a ton around that look like they should be abandoned.

 

On the car front, man it is hard to get a hyundai key with the remote.  The one on our car doesn't work, so I thought I would buy a replacement.  Hyundai dealer in Cancun wants me to bring the car over, order it and then bring it back when it comes in.  I am thinking no.

 

I did get my CZM key key guy to make me some extra keys with the chip, just no remote. Tried to buy on in the US but the part number is off by one.  So I figure not problem I sourced it on ebay from a Korean seller.  He only sells US versions.  Might try the Dodge dealer before I quit.   Maybe I will have to break down and go after market.

 

And what is the 'guideline' on tint.  Daddy needs some bling on the ride.