Car Legalization Part IV

LICENSE PLATES IN HAND!! We have finally come to the last chapter of my legalization process for my car here in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.   I did not receive the promised phone call  from Jalisco motor vehicle department, so after 2 weeks I returned and my paperwork was complete.  So now everything was ready for the next step which involved going to the Marina on an upcoming Wednesday for another VIN verification by the State of Jalisco.  It would be scheduled in about 10-14 days as these inspections are only completed on Wednesdays.  My date was given to me to report November 16, however, I already knew I was not going to be in town that day so I immediately asked for the following week.  No, that could not be changed now, only upon my return after the missed appointment date.
Back in town on November 17, so on November 18 went back and rescheduled the VIN verification appointment for November 30th at 8am.   After another 12 day wait, I reported at my scheduled time and I was about 15th in line as the line kept getting longer and longer.  I estimate that 90 people were told to report at the same time!  Now I am wondering how this is all going to happen with a day?
Of course the government officials do not show up till 830am and they begin the process of taking our prepared paper envelopes and asked where we had parked.  Most people like myself parked in the closest and free space, but no, we had to park around the corner in the Marina parking lot and pay.   So everyone moved their vehicles to the proper location.
After about 45 minutes everyone was told to go their vehicles and open the hoods and wait for the inspector to show up.  Within 15 minutes he did and verified the VIN by looking at the dashboard VIN and the one under the hood.  Close the hood and report back to the outdoor canopy area to receive your signed report.   Another 45 minutes later we are gathered together and told to pickup our envelopes and signed VIN verification report in the order that we were in line, so 15th was not too deep on the wait list.  We were also told we had 15 days to get the plates and do not rush over the Jalisco municipal building today to get your plates as it will take a long time.  Hooray!  I did not want to spend the rest of the day doing that as it was the end of the month, payday, and I knew it was be a long long wait!
Returned yesterday after the weekend and went back to the window I thought I needed to go back, but no I should just go to the cashier line.   After a short wait and about 30 minutes of typing info, going to back office twice to get approvals, I was done!!  Of course I had to pay some tax based upon the value of the car plus the license plates fee for a total of 6200 pesos.  I was not prepared to pay that much more, so luckily my debit card was acceptable; paid the fee and was handed the plates.  The plates also came with a registration card, registration sticker, and license plate sticker.  All of the stickers now means I have 4 different stickers on the car; federal import sticker, emissions sticker, registration sticker, and license plate number sticker that have to all go inside the car in various locations.
All told the process was expensive and not for the faint of heart, but I persevered and got it done after about 6 months of working the Mexican government system.  They did not beat me!!  The total cost including transportation costs to the border and all the fees federal and state would have to exceed  $2500 USD.  Below is a photo to prove to you I have them!!!!

Car Legalization-Part III

The saga continues as it took 10 days to get the factura (invoice) sent to me from Nuevo Laredo. It arrived on Wednesday, so Thursday I am back to the Jalisco Government Offices, thinking I am finally at set.......or was I?   Turns out the factura was made out to another person's name as I got a call from the owner that it would be best to avoid paying the IVA taxes associated with the factura, but I am not sure if that was true. So they did allow me to "sign over"the factura to myself and after copies of the front and back of the factura everything was ready to go, but now I am missing the Emissions Sticker!
Sure would have nice to know that while I was waiting for the factura to arrive, it could have been done any time.  So off I trapes to the nearest place and get the Emissions completed for another 250 pesos.  Return back to the Jalisco Offices and believe it or not I am ready to go now!  Paperwork approved and another 110 pesos for the filing fee, paid at the cashier.  
Now I must wait 2 weeks for a call from their office to tell me the 'paperwork' is ready for the license plates.  Why that could not all be done at the same time....who knows?   So upon my return another 2 copies of the US title, my passport, the legalization paperwork, and the infamous Factura are due.   I will write more in Part IV as soon as I get the call to return to the office.  Could that be the last part?   I certainly hope so!!

Car Legalization-Part II

Seems that things are always not as easy as the may seem in doing business with the governments of Mexico.  Thought I was all set to get the car registered today......but NOT!  I guess I am missing a piece of paper that is issued as an Factura (Invoice) from Hermanos Cuevas the import agency I used for the costs of the process of legalization.   Eventhough I have the receipt from the Banjercito Mexican Customs, that is not good enough!
So standing by, while I am to receive the Factura from them in the coming days!  I will keep you posted!

Legalizacion or Nacionalizacion Tu Carro!!

I just returned from the border yesterday from the "process" of importing a car into Mexico.   Here is the latest scoop and the real story about how to complete it first hand from a person who has just completed it.  I had originally begun the process back in May 2011 with the office Hermano Cuevas http://loshermanoscuevas.com/ and the owner Ernesto Cuevas located in Guadalajara as there are no agents in Puerto Vallarta.  They also had 2 offices in Laredo and Nuevo Laredo to facilitate the process.   At that time it was a process that could have been done WITHOUT presenting the vehicle at the border; which I thought was odd but I guess they had a system in place with payoffs that allowed that.  I paid a deposit of 16000 pesos as a part of the 22000 pesos charge for the taxes and their fees to complete the process.  I was assured that it would take 2-3 weeks and they would have the new title, federal sticker, and paperwork for me in Guadalajara then.
It was not to be, as the Federal Customs Office decided to revamp the program, including fee changes, procedure changes, etc. causing the legalization of vehicles to come to a complete halt, while they sorted out the new laws!  So I wait, wait, and wait some more.  Finally in September the process was restarted, however, it could now not be completed without presenting the vehicle at the border!   I decided to head that way last week and get things finished.  My title and paperwork was already in their Nuevo Laredo office, so it was easier to just deal with their sister office there.  I was a little worried about the drug violence that has occurred in that area of the past year, but designed my route to make it as secure as possible.  I departed PV on Sunday and drove about 12 hours to Saltillo for my 1st overnight, a safe town located outside of Monterrey.  The next morning I would cross in Colombia about 20 miles west of Nuevo Laredo that is a major truck crossing and friends have been using this crossing without incident for years.  After a 3 hour drive I was there, returned my Temporary Import sticker right at the Banjercito at the border,  did my immigration paperwork, and without any traffic was through the US border in 5 minutes.
Now off to the Hermanos Cuevas Laredo, Texas office to restart the process.  I met a lovely very helpful person by the name of Mari Villarreal who was bilingual and made things happen for me.  I find out that first of all the paperwork submission could not happen the next day as it usually takes 2-3 weeks (similar to the what Ernesto had told me).  I certainly was not going to spend 2-3 weeks hanging around the border, so it was agreed that the paperwork could be presented that day and it hopefully would be ready by Thursday or Friday, a few days away.  After  I paid my balance on the fees the file was sent to the Mexican   Customs office.
I decided I could live with that and I would head to San Antonio, Texas for some BMW service and visit the Alamo, Riverwalk, American Tower, etc. that I had never seen before.  After reconfirming with Mari the next morning that everything was in order I headed north the 2 1/2 hours to San Antonio BMW.  Spending 2 wonderful days in San Antonio, I called Mari on Thursday morning to see if my paperwork was ready.  She said the "approved list" was not available till around 11am, so she would call me then, and by 1130am she did and I was luckily on the list and could go now to the Customs office and complete the process. Seems that over 100 vehicles were on the list, so things may be really moving now.  Since I was 2 1/2 hours away, and knowing the process could take 3-4 hours, I decided to start it the next morning.  That would give me enough time to get back to Saltillo for my overnight location after the legalization.
I headed back to Laredo that afternoon and at 9 am on Friday morning, I go back to the Laredo office to pickup my "chauffeur" to assist me with the process that Ernesto assigned to assist me.  Edwin was bilingual, so it made things a little easier and we head to the US Customs office to get a "Export" stamp on my original title.  Then over to the International Bridge #2 as the Nuevo Laredo office was located right there and they would complete the final file for presentation to the Mexican Customs officials.  So by around 12pm we arrive at the complex where the whole process happens. It is actually located about 2 miles from the border in a place that would have been difficult to find without Edwin's help.  We arrived and he said the line was relatively short, but probably at least 2 hours.  There were probably over 100 cars in 4 lines waiting to be processed!  Very busy place as Mexican law prohibits Mexicans from legally driving foreign plated vehicles in Mexico, so all its citizens that wish to keep their US cars MUST legalize them!
Things were moving pretty well and I thought Edwin was correct, but all of a sudden nothing moved for about 45 minutes.  (I think it was break time!) We struggled along the line and I was not allowed to move the car, it is the law that the agents move the cars. This basically means you cannot do this process without an agent!  I was even encouraged to not even be in or near the vehicle.  The actual processing works via a Banjercito agent who scans the car and gives you back your paperwork and lets you depart.  There is another fee to be paid in the about of $60  USD or 828 pesos (based on the current exchange rate) and it is paid at the Banjercito office there.  In our case it was just not the simple, probably because it was a BMW we had a "temporary hold" after the sticker was applied to receive our final paperwork.  This seemed to happen to every luxury car that I saw and it meant that a real customs agent would have to review and re-certify the paperwork, VIN, etc.  We were finally handed or final paperwork Mexican title and they even returned my US title.  They also allowed me to keep my US plates, so that was interesting.  When it was all said and done and we actually departed the facility, we had been there about 3 1/2 hours!  In the blazing heat and sun of Laredo, Texas it was not fun!
Edwin suggested that I get a temporary license plate permit from the local police to get me 5 days to get my new license plates and I agreed.  Even though there is no more local police in Nuevo Laredo (the Mexican Army is in charge), we went to an "Public Security" office and for 300 pesos you get the temporary permit to be taped in your front window.  I dropped off Edwin for his trip back to Laredo, Texas and was told that 25 km down the road towards Monterrey was the main Customs and Immigration checkpoint, and I will need to stop there to get my "Final" customs stamp.  I arrived there, did my immigration paperwork right from the car and parked to get my "Final" customs stamp from their kiosk.    I was finally done!!!
I made to Saltillo by 7pm and was down the road back home to PV the next day about 12 hours later......safe and sound!
It was certainly not a simple process as most dealings with the Mexican government are not, this was certainly no different.  Just make sure you have all your paperwork in order, using an agent, and things can be done with minimal effort.......just time is all it costs you, so allow plenty of it!