# I Have No Idea What to Do With My Car



## PlayaExpat (5 mo ago)

Hello,

TL; DR: I want to drive my car across the USA border to Quintana Roo, but idk if it is legally allowed or worth the trouble.

First post here.

I am a US citizen living in California. I plan on moving to Quintana Roo, but what should I do with my car? This car is a Volkswagen Passat with California registration. I don't want to import my car - instead, I want to drive across the country and enjoy some sights and cities along the way. When I reach my destination, I am confused about the legality of my driving.

Here are my concerns:

My car is tinted
I think I need a permit to drive in all areas outside of Quintana Roo, but I don't need a permit to drive in Quintana Roo
If I have a 4-year temporary visa, doesn't that technically mean my registration would expire long before my visa finishes? I don't think I would be eligible for Mexico registration or license plate.
Will I be targeted by nationals more frequently for my California license plate?
Basically, I am curious if this is too complicated, should I just sell my car?

Thanks!


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

You've got some misapprehensions here.

"tinted" I don't think that makes any difference. If anything, deeper window tint is allowed here than in the US. Unless you meant something else entirely by 'tinted'. Tainted perhaps?

There is temporary importation and permanent importation. You need one or the other if you drive more than 25 km into mexico. They have checkpoints, and you'll be asked to show your paperwork, probably right at the 25 km mark, and then likely a couple of times before you reach QRoo. 

With a "Residente Temporale" (Temporary Resident) visa, you can choose either import method. To import temporarily, you get something called a TIP (temporary import permit). It's logically attached to your RT. Your first RT will be for 1 year, but is renewable for a maximum of 4 years. If you renew your RT, you have to also transfer the TIP from your old RT to the renewed one.

You need the same permit for QR as the rest of Mexico. And you need either a US or Mexican driver's license. You can get a Mexican one after you arrive.

You need Mexican insurance. Absolutely. US insurance won't do. 

I believe if your California plates / registration expire, it's probably not a problem as long as the car stays in Mexico. They won't care, your TIP is your Mexican registration, and as long as that's valid, you're good.

But at the end of 4 years, you can't extend your RT any longer. You have to convert to Residente Permanente (Permanent Resident). PR's are not allowed to have a car on a TIP, their only option is permanent importation (which is expensive, involved, and may is not possible for all vehicles).

So at that point, you'd have to drive your car back to the US and sell it. You aren't allowed to sell it in Mexico. But that's 4 years down the pike, and lots can happen in the mean time. If you've let your registration expire in the meantime, you'll have a tricky situation to deal with when you get back to the US with the vehicle. Some expats re-register their car in South Dakota, because that can be done by mail. But CA might take exception to that if they think you're doing it to try to avoid CA taxes. You will still be domiciled in CA for tax purposes unless you move to another state and establish residency there before moving to Mexico.

If your car is a luxury SUV or sports car, you are automatically higher profile and more likely to be targeted. If it's an old beater, the CA plates are not that likely to cause you extra trouble, though you might get stopped and checked more often at check points. In many areas it is not wise to park on the street at night and leave your car unguarded, so you'd probably want to understand what sort of situation you're driving it to, security-wise, especially if it's a nice vehicle.

One option would be to get yourself moved and settled in QR using your car and a TIP, and then sometime before the US registration expires buy a Mexican car. At that point, you'd drive your CA car back to CA, sell it, and fly back to QRoo and wipe your hands of it.

It depends on how valuable the car is, how much of a loss you'll take if you sell it, etc.


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## PlayaExpat (5 mo ago)

eastwind said:


> You've got some misapprehensions here.
> 
> "tinted" I don't think that makes any difference. If anything, deeper window tint is allowed here than in the US. Unless you meant something else entirely by 'tinted'. Tainted perhaps?
> 
> ...


This is literally so useful, thank you. By tint, yes, my windows. I heard some negative information here: Quintana Roo police crackdown on vehicle tinted window with large fines - (mexicodailypost.com)

I think I will do the TIP as a temporary resident, then try to register in South Dakota, as you say. However, I imagine it might be difficult proving residence in South Dakota so I could legally drive the car back into the USA. I will also have to talk to my insurance provider, USAA. Maybe they might have something for international, idk.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Its very easy to get vehicles registered in South Dakota, but I think you have to go there and stay one night. Not necessarily drive there, but people fly there. Search the web, there are businesses that facilitate the whole process. 

If you can fully establish residency in South Dakota instead of California, it will save you from having to pay state taxes to california. That's a higher hurdle than just registering a vehicle there, though.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

The mexican auto insurance system is a little different from the US system. If you have an accident, you and the other driver and the police wait for your insurance company to send a person to the scene of the accident. It's not done later as in the US. So to sell insurance in mexico a company has to have an army of Mexican insurance people spread across the country - an international policy written by a company with no presence in mexico isn't going to work. 

If someone in an accident doesn't have insurance or can't prove it, or their rep won't come to the accident, then the vehicles are usually impounded until the police can establish who the 'victim' is and that the victim has been compensated. If someone is hurt, the other party can be held in Mexican jail until bailed out by their insurance company.

If you're going to drive in Mexico, you don't want to mess around. You want real, serious, Mexican auto insurance from a good Mexican company that will show up when you need them, or you could end up in a very difficult situation.

I had no trouble getting insurance in Mexico with my US driver's license. I had a relationship with a bank, and I went there and bought their policy, which is provided through a partnership with an insurance company that does the work. It was about half the cost of a US policy. But you can find insurance companies online too, which might be easier for you. People here can recommend various providers.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

If you have California plates get a non operable permit or whatever the permit is called before leaving, if you do not you will ow money , when you return and cannot sell the car in the US without a headache. We had California plates and after 3 years we decided to sell the car that was too low to drive where we were driving and we went to Texas to sell the car to that big dealer there.. We could not sell it because California had some kind of an order on the car in order for us to pay the 2 or 3 years we owed them.. We got Texas plates and sold it that way.. but I do not think you can do that anymore. Meanwhile a friend got one of those non operating permit and all he had to do was reactivate the old plates. I then remember that we did that with the gondolas at the winery. After the harvest we got the non operating permit and reactivated the old plates every August.
Make sure you get legal help in your Mexican insurgence It comes in very handy if you are involved in an accident with injury..If you do not have it you go to jail until they figure out who is responsible for the damages and one thing you will not enjoy is a Mexican jail..


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