# On Mexican Driver´s Licenses



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

I just saw a request by a newbie on another fórum concentrating on expats living at Lake Chapala (as do we in the summertime) on the subject of what it takes to acquire a Mexican driver´s license and I thought it a good idea to respond to that inquiry here on the expat fórum with its wider readership. Here are some pointers:

* Mexican driver´s licenses are, as in the United States, issued by the individual states under their individual state rules so the rules with which you must adhere are those being imposed by the state licensing authority operating in the state in which you apply for the license and, even further by the potentially corrupt municipality with whom you apply. 
* I have held Mexican driver´s licenses since surrendering my California driver´s license in 2003 - first in Jalisco (Chapala in 2003) and then in Chiapas (San Cristóbal de las Casas in 2008 and again in 2014). Because I had a valid California license in 2003 when I applied for a license in Jalisco at a Lake Chapala community adjacent to the town of but an integral part of the municipality of Chapala known as Riberas del Pilar, I was not required to take any driver´s test but was required to take a written test administered there in English by crooked transitos who subsequently demanded a bribe in order to agree that I had passed the test and issue the license. *The important thing to understand here is that you need to apply for a license here in Mexico before your foreign license expires. * Whether or not you pay the bribe if at a crooked transito station as Riberas del Pilar used to be before they shut it down is up to you but be advised that if you don´t pay the bribe you don´t get the license but, by God, you´ll feel mighty good about yourself as, in the future after your act of strict piety, you stand then interminably waiting for a rickety chicken bus to get to the market as you cannot drive in Mexico without a valid license. The other applications I submitted in Guadalajara and in San Cristóbal were processed without any hint of corruption whatsoever which demonstrates to me what I have known all along after 13 years living at Lake Chapala. The transito cops at Lake Chapala are corrupt and feed like vultures off of the expat commuity and weak Mexican community members - a phenomenon that does not exist in my experience in Guadalajara and in Chiapas as a whole.
* What you as a foreigner are required to do to get a driver´s license and the cost of acquiring that license (minus the blatant corruption of the Chapala crooked transitos feeding like vultures off of the expat community and weak Mexican residents) is pay some very reasonable fees and, if you present a current foreign license or license from another Mexican state, any written or driving tests may be waived.
* Each state is different. In Jalisco, the maximun duration of a driver´s license is four years. In Chiapas, on the other hand, you can get a driver´s license for life as have I and the costs for a lifetime driver´s license is quite reasonable with not even a hint of "mordida". I got my lifetime Chiapas drivers´license without any tests whatsoever just by surrendering my soon to expire Jalisco license to the Chiapas authorities and I had that lifetime license in hand within an hour of submitting my application along with permanent residency documents (including a current utility bill) and my passport. The easiest driver´s license I have acquired.

Every state and many jurisdictions within each state will be different. Just remember RULE ONE: Apply for your new Mexican driver´s license BEFORE your current license expires and, if you live in the Chapala municipality, don´t be surprised by anyone ina uniform sticking his hands in your pocket and extracting change for lunch.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Hound Dog said:


> I just saw a request by a newbie on another fórum concentrating on expats living at Lake Chapala (as do we in the summertime) on the subject of what it takes to acquire a Mexican driver´s license and I thought it a good idea to respond to that inquiry here on the expat fórum with its wider readership. Here are some pointers:
> 
> * Mexican driver´s licenses are, as in the United States, issued by the individual states under their individual state rules so the rules with which you must adhere are those being imposed by the state licensing authority operating in the state in which you apply for the license and, even further by the potentially corrupt municipality with whom you apply.
> * I have held Mexican driver´s licenses since surrendering my California driver´s license in 2003 - first in Jalisco (Chapala in 2003) and then in Chiapas (San Cristóbal de las Casas in 2008 and again in 2014). Because I had a valid California license in 2003 when I applied for a license in Jalisco at a Lake Chapala community adjacent to the town of but an integral part of the municipality of Chapala known as Riberas del Pilar, I was not required to take any driver´s test but was required to take a written test administered there in English by crooked transitos who subsequently demanded a bribe in order to agree that I had passed the test and issue the license. *The important thing to understand here is that you need to apply for a license here in Mexico before your foreign license expires. * Whether or not you pay the bribe if at a crooked transito station as Riberas del Pilar used to be before they shut it down is up to you but be advised that if you don´t pay the bribe you don´t get the license but, by God, you´ll feel mighty good about yourself as, in the future after your act of strict piety, you stand then interminably waiting for a rickety chicken bus to get to the market as you cannot drive in Mexico without a valid license. The other applications I submitted in Guadalajara and in San Cristóbal were processed without any hint of corruption whatsoever which demonstrates to me what I have known all along after 13 years living at Lake Chapala. The transito cops at Lake Chapala are corrupt and feed like vultures off of the expat commuity and weak Mexican community members - a phenomenon that does not exist in my experience in Guadalajara and in Chiapas as a whole.
> ...


I had a very different experience getting a Jalisco drivers license. My US Colorado license had been stolen so I had no driver's license of any kind. No one asked about any US license.

I went to the office with copies of my visa, proof of address, maybe a birth certificate copy, I can't remember. 

There was no wait at the office. I was fingerprinted electronically and photographed. I then took a short multiple choice computer test with ten questions. You were allowed three errors, I had one.

I went out to the parking lot where they gave me a car. There was a line for an automatic, but I took the stick shift and had no wait. I drove around the parking lot once, then parallel parked the car.

Then I paid the fee (with a 50% senior discount), waited 5 minutes and was given my plastic license card.

The total elapsed time was maybe 15 or 20 minutes. It was the least painful bureaucratic process I have ever dealt with in either Mexico or the US. And no one asked for any kickback. This was in Guadalajara, not in or near Chapala.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

_[QUOTE=TundraGreen;3429217]I had a very different experience getting a Jalisco drivers license. My US Colorado license had been stolen so I had no driver's license of any kind. No one asked about any US license.

I went to the office with copies of my visa, proof of address, maybe a birth certificate copy, I can't remember. 

There was no wait at the office. I was fingerprinted electronically and photographed. I then took a short multiple choice computer test with ten questions. You were allowed three errors, I had one.

I went out to the parking lot where they gave me a car. There was a line for an automatic, but I took the stick shift and had no wait. I drove around the parking lot once, then parallel parked the car.

Then I paid the fee (with a 50% senior discount), waited 5 minutes and was given my plastic license card.The total elapsed time was maybe 15 or 20 minutes. It was the least painful bureaucratic process I have ever dealt with in either Mexico or the US. And no one asked for any kickback. This was in Guadalajara, not in or near Chapala.[/QUOTE]_

Thanks for that input TG. My experience in Guadalajara was equally good. I went to the Guadalajara main transito office after the crooked cops in Tapachula, Chiapas stole my Jalisco driver´s license and everything else in my wallet after I had an accident near the Tacaná Volcano down there on the border with Guatemala. The Guadalajara personnel could not have been nicer and, within an hour or so I had a new Jalisco driver´s license since I had a copy of the stolen license with me when I applied for a replacement for a stolen driver´s license. Nice people in Guadalajara and never even a hint of corruption. The same in Chiapas. Honest and accomodating folks with whom it has been a pleasure to do business.

Now, another lesson in getting by in rural Mexico. If you have an accident in the environs of the Tacaná Volcano on the Guatemala border between Tapachula and, say Union Juarez, Chiapas and you are incapacitated in any way, expect the local cops to steal your wallet and that is that. It will be gone. We reported this theft to the federal cops who told us that, yes, it was routine procedure around there for local cops to steal the belongings of accident victims but there was nothing to be done about it so the federal cops proceeded to steal what we had left which came to about $5,000Pesos. God help you if, as a result of that accident, your car roles into Guatemala. Adios.


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## Scooterbum (Feb 1, 2013)

I received my Jalisco drives license in Chiuatlan - documentation required was a residency card - proof of residence (electric bill) and curp card. I did not have to show my US drivers license. The written test (10 questions) was on a touch screen computer. The drivers test was pretty easy, the commandante walked me to my car -
-Commandente "get in, put the seat belt on and roll down the window"
he took my picture
Commandante - get out and stand in back next to the license plate"
he took another picture
Commandante - "congratulations, you passed the driving test"
no bribe was asked for or given.....


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

Nice, but I've been hearing that the Chapala gang puts the cones for the parallel parking test impossibly close together, thus making rejection sans mordida nearly un-doable.

I have a another Mexican state license due to expire later this year. How to proceed with the least pain?


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

lagoloo said:


> Nice, but I've been hearing that the Chapala gang puts the cones for the parallel parking test impossibly close together, thus making rejection sans mordida nearly un-doable.
> 
> I have a another Mexican state license due to expire later this year. How to proceed with the least pain?


In Guadalajara, the parallel parking space was plenty long. The only thing slightly challenging was that it was deeper than normal; the cones kept you further out in the street than normal when starting to parallel park. I ended up about a meter from the curb the first time. But they let me fix it with no hassle.


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

Yes, but. Don't want to drive in Guadalajara. (So I'm chicken. )
Would like to know current situation in the Chapala area. 

Also, our parking skills are largely based on what kind of car we're used to driving.......so if they "give you a car", it could be a very different situation than you contend with in your own car. Can you take the test in your own vehicle?


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

If your license is a currant Mexican driver´s license you do not take the driver´s test so do not worry about having to drive in Guadalajara. Just renew you license in Guadalajara, that is what I have done.
I first went to Ocotlan for my license without the help of Alberto and then got it renewed in Guadalajara. Never had a problem, no one ever asked me for a bribe. I never had to take a driver´s test either.


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

Thanks for the info. I would need to hire a driver to get to the office in Guadalajara, since I am too chicken to drive there myself, but that's okay.......I'll hire one. Worth it.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

By the way, that lifetime driver´s license in Chiapas cost me $2,168 Pesos or about $180USD at the current rate of exchange. That is the cost no matter one´s age but the important thing is NO MORE RENEWALS OR EYESIGHT TESTS OR TESTS OF ANY KIND- EVER! Sincé I'm 72 at present, the rest of you had better keep your eyes open for a 2004 Nissan XTrail being driven by a blind, hearing-impaired, bald old geezer in an advanced stage of alzheimers a few years from now because I won´t be slowing down for anyone I can´t see , won´t hear your screams of panic and won´t remember running over you 15 minutes later. For now, however, I´m still lucid so you can head on down to the grocery store in your golf cart to buy your pablum with some degree of confidence.


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

Got mine in Cihuatlan also (Jalisco) and no driving test. Just the computer test and didn't ask for another licence. Gonna have to get that INAPAN card for my renewal


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

lagoloo said:


> Thanks for the info. I would need to hire a driver to get to the office in Guadalajara, since I am too chicken to drive there myself, but that's okay.......I'll hire one. Worth it.


Take a bus from Ajijic or Chapala to Central Vieja, then hop on the Macrobus. Couldn't be easier.


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## JoanneR2 (Apr 18, 2012)

Hound Dog said:


> I just saw a request by a newbie on another fórum concentrating on expats living at Lake Chapala (as do we in the summertime) on the subject of what it takes to acquire a Mexican driver´s license and I thought it a good idea to respond to that inquiry here on the expat fórum with its wider readership. Here are some pointers: * Mexican driver´s licenses are, as in the United States, issued by the individual states under their individual state rules so the rules with which you must adhere are those being imposed by the state licensing authority operating in the state in which you apply for the license and, even further by the potentially corrupt municipality with whom you apply. * I have held Mexican driver´s licenses since surrendering my California driver´s license in 2003 - first in Jalisco (Chapala in 2003) and then in Chiapas (San Cristóbal de las Casas in 2008 and again in 2014). Because I had a valid California license in 2003 when I applied for a license in Jalisco at a Lake Chapala community adjacent to the town of but an integral part of the municipality of Chapala known as Riberas del Pilar, I was not required to take any driver´s test but was required to take a written test administered there in English by crooked transitos who subsequently demanded a bribe in order to agree that I had passed the test and issue the license. The important thing to understand here is that you need to apply for a license here in Mexico before your foreign license expires. Whether or not you pay the bribe if at a crooked transito station as Riberas del Pilar used to be before they shut it down is up to you but be advised that if you don´t pay the bribe you don´t get the license but, by God, you´ll feel mighty good about yourself as, in the future after your act of strict piety, you stand then interminably waiting for a rickety chicken bus to get to the market as you cannot drive in Mexico without a valid license. The other applications I submitted in Guadalajara and in San Cristóbal were processed without any hint of corruption whatsoever which demonstrates to me what I have known all along after 13 years living at Lake Chapala. The transito cops at Lake Chapala are corrupt and feed like vultures off of the expat commuity and weak Mexican community members - a phenomenon that does not exist in my experience in Guadalajara and in Chiapas as a whole. * What you as a foreigner are required to do to get a driver´s license and the cost of acquiring that license (minus the blatant corruption of the Chapala crooked transitos feeding like vultures off of the expat community and weak Mexican residents) is pay some very reasonable fees and, if you present a current foreign license or license from another Mexican state, any written or driving tests may be waived. * Each state is different. In Jalisco, the maximun duration of a driver´s license is four years. In Chiapas, on the other hand, you can get a driver´s license for life as have I and the costs for a lifetime driver´s license is quite reasonable with not even a hint of "mordida". I got my lifetime Chiapas drivers´license without any tests whatsoever just by surrendering my soon to expire Jalisco license to the Chiapas authorities and I had that lifetime license in hand within an hour of submitting my application along with permanent residency documents (including a current utility bill) and my passport. The easiest driver´s license I have acquired. Every state and many jurisdictions within each state will be different. Just remember RULE ONE: Apply for your new Mexican driver´s license BEFORE your current license expires and, if you live in the Chapala municipality, don´t be surprised by anyone ina uniform sticking his hands in your pocket and extracting change for lunch.



In Mexico DF I got mine by turning up at the relevant office with my electricity bill, FMM and the money to pay. No check on my UK driving license, no test (written or in a car). They took my photo, printed the card and I can now drive legally for 3 years. Could be blind, but what the heck. Explains everything I ever wanted to know about the standard of driving here...


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## makaloco (Mar 26, 2009)

I got my Baja California Sur license with no tests and no bribes, but I had two valid licenses from other countries plus an AAA "International License" attached to one of them. I registered my car at the same time so don't recall which documents were required for which process … passport, INM card, proof of residence, etc. Could have been the same for both. Like Hound Dog, I had my wallet stolen (though not by the police), and it was easy enough to get my license replaced, probably because I had a copy. I had to pay again, but they re-started my three-year period on the replacement date. Starting a couple of years ago, BCS requires a medical certificate for applicants over 65, both for new licenses and renewals, covering diabetes, blood pressure, reflexes, and vision.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Lagoloo you can also take a bus to the central vieja and take a cab from there it would be a heck of a lot cheaper than a driver.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

[_QUOTE=makaloco;3430401]I got my Baja California Sur license with no tests and no bribes... *Starting a couple of years ago, BCS requires a medical certificate for applicants over 65, both for new licenses and renewals, covering diabetes, blood pressure, reflexes, and vision*.[/QUOTE]_

Well, there go any plans I might have contemplated on moving to BCS but, what the hell, I have my "permanente" Chiapas license so a few years from now, you folks in La Paz had better keep your eyes peeled for an ancient, blind and deaf diabetic fatso with high blood pressure, zero reflexes and an Alabama accent driving an ancient NISSAN and going, "Ah beg yo pardon but do you all know the way to the nearest place where Ah can find some cheese grits, bacon and a shot of Jim Beam with mah cawfee?"


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## makaloco (Mar 26, 2009)

Hound Dog said:


> Well, there go any plans I might have contemplated on moving to BCS but, what the hell, I have my "permanente" Chiapas license so a few years from now, you folks in La Paz had better keep your eyes peeled for an ancient, blind and deaf diabetic fatso with high blood pressure, zero reflexes and an Alabama accent driving an ancient NISSAN and going, "Ah beg yo pardon but do you all know the way to the nearest place where Ah can find some cheese grits, bacon and a shot of Jim Beam with mah cawfee?"


Hey, Hound Dog, I'll even drive you to breakfast in my Suzuki Samurai, presuming **I** pass the medical visit next year. Oh, and a well known La Paz street food specialty is bacon-wrapped hot dogs. How many paceños do you think pass the blood pressure test? BTW, I drove a '76 Datsun (pre-Nissan Nissan), from 1985 to 2007 when I moved here. Brilliant little car.


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

DF is one of the states that doesn‘t apply a test (as Joanne mentioned in post #13), so knowing how to drive isn’t actually one of the necessary qualifications. That means it doesn’t matter whether you hold a foreign driver’s license or not. Likewise being a new driver who has never learned to drive yet is not a barrier to getting the license either.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

maesonna said:


> DF is one of the states that doesn‘t apply a test (as Joanne mentioned in post #13), so knowing how to drive isn’t actually one of the necessary qualifications. That means it doesn’t matter whether you hold a foreign driver’s license or not. Likewise being a new driver who has never learned to drive yet is not a barrier to getting the license either.


It's insane that you can get a driver's license in Mexico City without knowing how to drive! Why on earth does this situation exist?


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## michmex (Jul 15, 2012)

Estado de Mexico is similar to the D. F. No written tests/driving tests are required for a license to drive private vehicles - cars. Foreigners must have a Residente Permanente or Temporal Visa. The term of your license is 1, 2, 3, or 4 years with a Permanente Visa. For a Visa Temporal, your license will expire on the same date your visa expires.

A current proof of address and a photo ID such as your passport were required in Tlanepantla. Your CURP was also required which they obtained from the visa.

Cost of the license: 1 Year=$371 MXN, 2 Years=$496 MXN, 3 Years=$663 MXN and 4 Years=$882 MXN. (My recent 4 year renewal of my Michigan Dr. Lic. $20 USD)

A payment document is printed according to the term of your license which you must pay at a bank. A photo is taken and you are off. Total time was about 20 minutes with 2 individuals in line before me.

As a note, back in 1996, the D.F. required you to take a written test which many passed by making a convenient payment. The test was discontinued as it was basically meaningless as evidence of your ability to drive. No driving test was required due to traffic congestion present in the D.F. and the fact that many seeking a license did not have access to an automobile to take the test.

My wife has a license from the D.F. that does not have any expiration date, a measure that was intended to cut down on congestion caused by return visits to renew. The experiment lasted several years and was discontinued. 

Link to Estado de Mexico site for Drivers License including locations where they can be obtained.

http://sistemas.edomex.gob.mx/TramitesyServicios/jsp/Contenido.jsp


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

Isla Verde said:


> It's insane that you can get a driver's license in Mexico City without knowing how to drive! Why on earth does this situation exist?


As far as I know, it’s because the former system with driving tests was riddled through with corruption. My husband tells of getting a drivers license back when there was still a test (some 30+ years ago). The ’alternate line-up’ where you paid a ‘fee’ and skipped the test was so streamlined that he didn’t even realize that it was ‘alternate’ and that what he’d paid was a bribe until it was all over and he was standing outside the license office with his new license and wondering why he hadn’t done a test. Then the penny dropped.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

maesonna said:


> As far as I know, it’s because the former system with driving tests was riddled through with corruption. My husband tells of getting a drivers license back when there was still a test (some 30+ years ago). The ’alternate line-up’ where you paid a fee and skipped the test was so streamlined that he didn’t even realize that it was ‘alternate’ and that what he’d paid was a bribe until it was all over and he was standing outside the license office with his new license and wondering why he hadn’t done a test. Then the penny dropped.


Call me a dreamer, but that doesn't mean that a corruption-free system couldn't be set up in the D.F. someday if the powers-that-be want it to happen.


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

Indeed, there has been a lot of cleaning up since then. One example is - how many trámites do you have to pay at the bank and then take your proof of payment back to the respective office. Driver’s license is just one of many. They used to collect the fee at the office, now they don’t handle money any more.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

If all you have to do is buy a licnse and there are no other requirements , yo have a corript free system maybe not an accident free system but then no one else has that either. If you cannot meet the requirements change the requirements...That is what all the famous management companies taught us way back then.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

[_QUOTE=makaloco;3430937]Hey, Hound Dog, I'll even drive you to breakfast in my Suzuki Samurai, presuming **I** pass the medical visit next year. Oh, and a well known La Paz street food specialty is bacon-wrapped hot dogs. How many paceños do you think pass the blood pressure test? BTW, I drove a '76 Datsun (pre-Nissan Nissan), from 1985 to 2007 when I moved here. Brilliant little car.[/QUOTE]

_You´re on Amigo. Dawg loves bacon-wrapped hot dogs, especially with a side of Herradura zingers to wash down the rancid meat and accompaniments. If you do not pass the medical tests next year to renew your license, we will venture forth with my perpetual Chiapas license and, what the hell, might just head on back up to Lake Chapala where we can get you a new license if they can detect a pulse which, if you do not have one, we can simulate with a 30 peso wind-up watch we can buy on the carretera in Ajijic.


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## terrybahena (Oct 3, 2011)

I got a driver license in Guerrero for about 250 pesos. No test. Showed my visa, they took my picture and I was done. In Sonora, 200 pesos. No test. There was however some weird confusion and I had to be interviewed by the chief of police....who looked at my Guerrero license and told me to enjoy my stay. Stamped my application- we went back and I was given the license. (I think the guy had wanted me to give him money and then my Mexican husband showed up....the guy stumbled and gave him some baloney and hubby showed his displeasure...hence the trip to the police chief.....) haven't applied here yet.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

maesonna said:


> My husband tells of getting a drivers license back when there was still a test (some 30+ years ago). The ’alternate line-up’ where you paid a ‘fee’ and skipped the test was so streamlined that he didn’t even realize that it was ‘alternate’ and that what he’d paid was a bribe until it was all over and he was standing outside the license office with his new license and wondering why he hadn’t done a test.


That is exactly what happened to me when I obtained my D.F. drivers license at a facility located at the airport - in the mid-1990s.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Isla Verde said:


> Why on earth does this situation exist?


You can ask the same question about many things we encounter in Mexico, without ever receiving a logical answer.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Longford said:


> You can ask the same question about many things we encounter in Mexico, without ever receiving a logical answer.


I know. My question was more rhetorical than anything else.


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