# What is it like to Drive Into Mexico and Need to Declare///Car Packed with Stuff



## Janey B. (9 mo ago)

I am planning on moving to Mexico. I was going to get rid of most of my stuff and pack my car with what’s left and go. The value of what I have (50 DVD’s, an old laptop, old printer, old DVD player, clothes, a couple of framed prints by unknown artists and craft supplies like yarns, embroidery kits and knitting needles) should be under $3,000, but how I prove that? Also, if I am under $3,000, can I still bring in 50 DVD’s, or will I be limited to 5 or 10?
Also, I have prescriptions in their original bottles. Do I need a written prescription or is the bottle with the prescription number, date, and doctor sufficient?

I am confused what it will be like to bring stuff over the border and go through the Declaration process, and am scared that if I accidentally do something incorrectly that I could get in very big trouble.

I haven’t gone to my consulate for the visa, but wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts on this.

Thanks!!


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

Although it was many years ago, I drove back and forth to Canada several times, bringing more of my stuff down every time. It was pretty packed, although not to the extent that I couldn't see out the back window, as I consider that dangerous.
Occasionally they asked me to open the back hatch and took a cursory look, but mostly they just looked in through the window and waved me through with a smile.
They really aren't interested in anyone's old stuff. And I made sure to leave it as a messy sort of thrown together pile.

But when you go for your preliminary visa at the consulate, just find out and get the forms for a Menaje de Casa, where you list everything you are bringing along, if you want to set your mind at ease about getting hassled.

And relax about "getting in very big trouble". The worst that could happen is that they would require you to pay duty on something, you're not going to get hauled off to jail.

Mexican customs agents are nothing like US customs agents. It's one of the things I like about Mexico. Even people in some position of power generally retain their humanity. They actually smile, converse in a friendly manner, don't speak to you as if you are already guilty of something, etc. They don't behave like pre-programmed robots. Of course there is the occasional officious a**hole, but they are rare.

A friend who brings a lot of stuff down for her house on her many trips back and forth, and who brings nice new stuff like fancy coffee makers, electronics, etc, once flew in and the customs agents started setting things aside they said she'd have to pay duty on.
She and her husband are boxing fans and had just attended a bout in NYC of a famous Mexican boxer. In her suitcase, she had brought tee-shirts for her Mexican workers she had purchased at the event. They had a photo of the boxer, his name, and "Madison Square Gardens, 2004" ( or whatever the year was).
When the customs agents got to the tee-shirts, they held them up and smiled when they saw what they depicted.
My friend said, "You like him?" They both nodded an enthusiastic "yes". She said, "Take them, they're yours".
Those agents got big grins, shoved the shirts under the counter, and said quietly, "Lady, pack up your stuff and go". She wasn't charged duty on anything.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

It sounds like you're overstressing on this, it's not difficult. You may have read about Menaje de Casa and listing all the boxes and contents and stuff and misunderstood or gotten derailed. You don't have to do any of that. For your case, all you have to do is show up, and if there is a green lane/red lane divide, drive into the red one. You don't provide a written declaration form, you simply answer the guards questions. 

They are looking for certain prohibited things, and you will say (and it better be true) that you have no guns, no ammo, not more than $10,000 in cash, no drugs, no plants, but more than $500 worth of stuff. If you don't speak spanish, (and I've never run into Mexican border authorities that were able and willing to speak English) you can use a phone translator app and pre-load it with a statement, anticipating their questions: "I don't have any guns, ammo, etc". They want you to positively claim you don't have those prohibited things.

Then they will direct you where to park and ask you to unload stuff. They will pick boxes at random, require you to unload them, then they will open them and root around inside. 

When they find your electronics, the leader will take a picture of them on his phone (don't panic), or maybe just take notes. At the end he determines a total amount of duty that you have to pay. It sounds like you might be on the hook for a little bit, my guess is somewhere in the $0-$200 range. Have cash, but also have a credit card, there's no telling which they'll want. You pay, you reload, you go! They don't give you an itemized list of how much they charged for what, they just tell you the total. I don't think you should try to haggle it unless it's outrageous.

I had a box of CDs, but they didn't open it, and I don't think I paid any duty on my CDs. They went after larger boxes with computer screens and stereo equipment and took pics of those. I paid around $100. Furniture, clothes, kitchen stuff and tools they ignored. The framed pictures they ignored. It's a somewhat random search.

They might or might not have a dog sniff over your stuff.

Your prescription drugs are the only thing I'd look carefully at. You don't need the original paper prescription (it's no use anyway), what you need is your name on the bottle, and it needs to match your passport. They are picky about middle names in Mexico (in every situation) but if your bottles don't have a middle name and your passport does that might be ok. Misspellings or maiden name on one and middle name on the other could be a problem. If you are going to be getting refills between now and when you come, then you have a chance to change the name on the bottles to exactly match the passport - worth looking into.

The biggest caveat is that some drugs are legal to be prescribed in the US but not legal at all in Mexico. I'm not sure whether it's ok to bring those in with a legal US prescription or not, it might be ok, or even if it's not you might not have a problem. The category of drugs like that includes mainly opioids, some things like anti-anxiety pills and maybe medical marijuana. Mexico has it's own rules and lists. If you're only taking garden-variety stuff like high blood pressure or cholesterol medicines you've got nothing to worry about. Honestly, I don't think the inspectors know the names of drugs, so if the bottle has your name on it, it's probably not a problem. If you are in doubt, ask here about a specific drug.

I think there is also a technically limit on how much you can bring in of any one prescription drug, maybe the limit is a 30 day supply, but if it's all in one bottle they aren't going to count pills. If you have six bottles of the same thing they might question it. 

I take about six prescriptions, and have been across the border by air a bunch and by land a couple times. On one flight my suitcase was searched and the guy matched my passport to my bottles, that's it. He wasn't all excited, just doing his job. On the two land crossings they didn't search my suitcase at all. Twice (on land) the drug dogs sniffed my suitcase with the prescriptions but they can tell the difference between the drugs they've been trained to find and prescription drugs, apparently.

Assuming you have a suitcase, I'd pack the pill bottles in the suitcase.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

PS: I've read somewhere, once, that recently they have started searching everyone. It will depend on your border crossing point and how busy it is whether they search you or not - the two times I cross I crossed around 10 am and the places were nearly deserted, no line, and I got their full attention. But I'd rather do it that way than get up early enough to hit the morning rush and wait in line when I could be sleeping. 

You can do the Menaje de casa if you want, it might save you money, but I think it's a hassle and for your amount of stuff not worth it - there's a fee for the Menaje de Casa also, so you need more than a certain amount of dutiable items to break even, and then a bit more than that to make it worth the hassle. Up to you, I don't think the Menaje will save you much.


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## Jreboll (Nov 23, 2013)

Agree. You’re over stressing. Menaje only if you’re bringing in expensive devices or a lot of new stuff.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

What I stressed about, needful or not, was running into a cartel donation collection station. I researched routes, reports of problems on those routes, which roads were mentioned by the US state department, etc. I kept a little money in my wallet, a good-sized donation ($400 dollars) in the glove box, knowing they'd search there, and the rest as well hidden as I could. I made sure I wasn't going to be traveling in the most dangerous stretches during twilight and certainly not at night. I was particularly alert when I could see a long distance away that the road was going to pass under an overpass ahead (they prefer to set up their road blocks in the shade). 

In the event, I never saw anything and never was asked for money.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

THe menaje de casa is more for a move with custom brokers but if you just havve your computer, an item pr two like electronics r appliance, they are not going to bother you. At worsst they will charge you a little money, nothing to stress about. 
$400 dollars is way more than I would leave in the glove compartment.. get a pass for the tolls that you can recharge with a bank card, charge the gas on a bank card and check your bank on line every night to make sure nothing is cloned.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I had a toll pass, the cash was mainly for gas. I didn't want to risk my credit card getting compromised at the gas stations. I used the credit card for the hotels. I wanted to have enough cash in the glove box so the cartels wouldn't shoot me in annoyance! I didn't leave it in there at night.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

My credit card was compromised at a hotel in Navajoa so cards can be compromised anywhere including in the ATM I pay for gas with credit card because I have to to get a factura to get reimbursed iby the company I work for and so far so good no problem.You should travel with 2 cards in case one gets compromised..


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

eastwind said:


> What I stressed about, needful or not, was running into a cartel donation collection station. I researched routes, reports of problems on those routes, which roads were mentioned by the US state department, etc.


I drove several times between Sayulita and Vancouver Island. It took me 2 days to drive out of Mexico. I was always a bit anxious before starting out, but once I was on the road that fell away. I never had one bad experience and several good ones. Even the army checkpoints I encountered in Baja were polite and never even hinted at any sort of mordida. 

For sure bad things can happen, but that is true anywhere. Some friends got taken at gunpoint to a place in the middle of nowhere and held for about 8 hours. They figured they were gonna die. They didn't know if it was cartel, or just plain old bad guys. 
But they had been really foolish- they were driving after dark, and decided to take some "short cut" in the Culiacan area. And they had brand new electronics with them- big screen TV and other stuff like that. 
They were lucky- the kidnappers took the electronics, but gave them back their vehicle keys and diidn't hurt them.
BTW, this was a ****** travelling with his Mexican friend.


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

I don't know why this forum blocks out the slang term for American- it isn't pejoritive, it's just Mexican slang. 
In any case, my above post referred to a Mexican and an American who were travelling together.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I put my name & email on the US state department list - I forget what they call it, travel safe or something like that. Anyway, the main result is I get emails when they issue an alert. I got one a week or two ago. They have set a 'do not travel' for Zacatecas (the state). Day and night. US state department people are not allowed to be on the roads of that state outside of Zacatecas city, period. (I guess there must be an airport for them to fly into, otherwise they couldn't get to the city). The reason is gang wars between two factions, with roadblocks set up in random places.

So right now, if you are driving from, e.g. Laredo to Guadalajara, you probably shouldn't take the direct route on 54 from Saltillo to Zacatecas, you probably should swing east on 57 through San Luis Potosi and then 80D.

~~

I have two US cards and one Mexican bank card, and when I travel I take all of them. I use the Mexican one at hotels because it's pesos, plus it's easiest to replace assuming I get back to Cancun. Then I use the US ones when I get into Texas. I think as long as you don't flash it around, having a pile of cash along reduces risk rather than increases it - it provides a way out of problems. Say you get a flat tire and need help from a Vulcanadora - one of those roadside tire guys. I'm betting they don't take credit cards. But give him a Benito Juarez and he'll patch you right up, and you don't even need to get your hands dirty.

I have run into a gas station that wasn't accepting cash, only cards. That seemed dodgy to me, so I drove on to the next station, but it could have been legit for some strange reason. It was at the station immediately after getting off the Arco Del Norte headed toward Pueblo, around 5 pm, so maybe the cashier had closed or gone off shift or something. Or maybe they were just saying that because they saw my white face and wanted to skim my card. Who knows. But having both with you definitely improves options for dealing with situations.


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## MangoTango (Feb 8, 2020)

They say - be careful driving around Mexico at night - well that holds true for early morning as well. In Saltillo we left the hotel maybe 5AM and we got stopped by two transit cops at about 5:10AM. Believe me - I was crawling along looking for the entrance to the highway - BUT - I passed a bus which was stopped in front of a hospital. It took perhaps a half an hour but in the end a single $20 US bill got us on our way.

My Mexican HSBC credit card was compromised when I used it at my local HomeDepot store (outside Mexico City). Next day someone tried to use the number at another HomeDepot in Laredo. HSBC shut down the transaction without my involvement.


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