car – Messy Suitcase Travel Blog

April 14, 2023April 14, 2023

Navigating Car Registration in Puerto Rico

Once you’ve shipped your car to Puerto Rico – or bought it on the island – it’s time to register it!

The process is a lot more complicated than in the States, particularly if you don’t speak the language. But Bob will walk you through the multi-step process you need to go through – within 30 days – to make sure your car is legal. Good luck!

Info: Cesco Cesco has multiple locations across the island.

April 10, 2023April 10, 2023

We Shipped Our Car to Puerto Rico

If you are thinking of shipping your car to Puerto Rico, watch this video. Bob takes you step-by-step through the whole process, including cost, insurance, taxes, timeline, logistics, choosing a shipping company, and picking up your car at the Port of San Juan.

You might decide not to ship your car!

Info
Map to Penn Terminal, Eddystone (Philadelphia)
Map to Crowley Maritime Puerto Rico

April 28, 2019

Driving Our Car in Mexico, Part 2

Because it took us a few weeks to start our Visa processing,
the first thing we did after our first trip to Immigration in Guadalajara was
to go to the tax office to get our TIP expiration date extended. Unfortunately,
no one at the Immigration office seemed to know what we were talking about, so
we showed them the paper they gave us at the border. They directed us to a SAT
(Servicio de Administracion Tributaria, or Tax) office in Guadalajara.

SAT #1: Guadalajara

We Ubered there an eventually found someone who spoke enough
English, who told us we were at the wrong SAT office and that we needed to go
to another one even farther away, in the far northeast neighborhood of Zapopan.

SAT #2: Zapopan

We went there, once again found someone who spoke English,
who told us we were at the wrong office and that instead of SAT, we needed to
go the Customs Office at the Guadalajara airport, south of the city. It was
getting late so we decided that I would do that another day.

SAT #3: Guadalajara Airport

Two days later I made the trip to the Guadalajara Airport,
not knowing exactly where I needed to go. As I Ubered into the airport I saw a
big gate with a SAT sign, but continued on to a Customs Office address I had
found online. No one there seemed to know what I was trying to do. I proceeded
to walk to the SAT sign, and was shown to an office where they seemed to only
be mildly confused as to what I was trying to do. There was no English spoken.
Eventually, I filled out some forms I didn’t understand, gave them copies of my
TIP and passport, and received a date-stamped form. I was expecting another
official looking TIP, but I didn’t get that, so now we have the expired TIP and
a stamped form with no expiration date.

I was told online that I needed to go back to the same office
once we finally got our Residente Temporal cards, so I returned with the green
card, expecting to get a more official document. The people at the office
looked at me like I was crazy. They initially told me that I didn’t need
anything new, but eventually had me fill out the same forms and gave me a new
stamped form. Again, no expiration.

Crossed Fingers!

We can only hope that we’ll get our $400 deposit back when we
cross back over the border into the United States with the truck this summer.

April 27, 2019

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 …