Driving Our Car in Mexico, Part 1

Since we were moving to Mexico with three people, three cats and three musical instruments, we wanted to take our Toyota Tacoma with us. Many people just hop on a plane with a couple of suitcases, but we needed more space. So before we left Colorado, we ordered a topper for the back of our 2012 Toyota Tacoma. When an accident totaled the truck, we replaced it with a newer model that still fit the topper.

The car and all the stuff.

Car Rules in Mexico

There are strict rules surrounding the importation of vehicles into Mexico. You’re OK if you only plan to take a vehicle within Mexico’s Free Zone (Baja peninsula, large parts of Sonora and up to 20-26 kilometers from the border). However, if you want to go further than that, you need to get a Temporary Import Permit(TIP). You can get this online or at the Banjercito at the border crossing.

Unfortunately, due to a long delay in getting a title from Colorado for the new truck, we didn’t have the title or registration when we left. We eventually got the title, but we needed to have some physical presence back in CO to get the registration document. So we changed plans. Since we were going to be spending time at one of our vacation homes in Ludlow, VT, before heading to Mexico, we decided to register the truck in Vermont, expecting to get the plates and registration on the spot. It didn’t happen that way. Vermont took our Colorado title away and told us that they would mail the new registration and title. Unfortunately for us, they entered an incorrect address into their system and these two documents ended up floating around the Postal System for a long time. So we were forced to drive to the Mexican border with a handwritten registration application from Vermont and hope for the best.

Turned Away at the Border

Alas, Mexican authorities wouldn’t let us enter with the truck without a permanent Vermont registration. We turned around and frantically called the Vermont DMV, trying to get a copy of the registration that had never arrived. After getting a couple of robotic bureaucrats who offered no assistance and told us they could not help, we were fortunate to reach a helpful woman who told us that our registration had been returned. She offered to FedEx a replacement to us that day. We therefore spent an additional two days in Laredo, Texas, navigating this paperwork before heading back to the Banjercito.

Trying Again

At the Banjercito, they remembered us and quickly processed our paperwork. The cost ended up being about $1,150 MX pesos (about $40 US) for the permit processing and another $7,800 MX pesos (about $400 US) for a deposit, which we should get back when we return the Temporary Import Permit (TIP) sticker upon crossing the border back into the U.S. We were told that our TIP was tied to our Immigration permit, so it expired in 30 days. This meant that we would have to get our TIP renewed when we got our Visas processed.

Bob putting the temporary sticker on the truck

We also had to get Mexican insurance for the truck, as American insurers don’t insure vehicles in Mexico. We got ours through Sanborn’s, and canceled our US car insurance.

To be continued ...