# Leaving my car behind for a short exit.



## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

I drove into Mexico with my car and the six month Visa and temporary import.
I have 2 more months left, but my Dad is said to be serious in the hospital. I am not freaking out yet as i feel he can recover, but the doctors report is not in yet after stabilizing him. 
Any way, i have to consider either driving back over 6 exhausting days or leaving my car behind for a few weeks while i take a round trip flight.

My guess says i should be able to leave and come back on a flight whenever i want so long as i take my car out of Mexico before the Temporary import expires.

What do i need to know? Anybody? 

Thanks..


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Orfin said:


> I drove into Mexico with my car and the six month Visa and temporary import.
> I have 2 more months left, but my Dad is said to be serious in the hospital. I am not freaking out yet as i feel he can recover, but the doctors report is not in yet after stabilizing him.
> Any way, i have to consider either driving back over 6 exhausting days or leaving my car behind for a few weeks while i take a round trip flight.
> 
> ...


My understanding is that you would have to take the car out. When you leave you turn in your current tourist permit (not a visa) and are issued a new one when you return. The Temporary Import Permit on the vehicle is tied to your current permit. Visiting Mexico as a tourist on a 6 month permit does not allow you to leave a car in Mexico when you leave the country.


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## Perrier (Dec 18, 2016)

Orfin said:


> I drove into Mexico with my car and the six month Visa and temporary import.
> I have 2 more months left, but my Dad is said to be serious in the hospital. I am not freaking out yet as i feel he can recover, but the doctors report is not in yet after stabilizing him.
> Any way, i have to consider either driving back over 6 exhausting days or leaving my car behind for a few weeks while i take a round trip flight.
> 
> ...


Sorry to hear about your Dad. Hope things work out with your car


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## RickS (Aug 6, 2009)

This question (can I leave without canceling my vehicle permit) has been debated more than almost anything including the chicken and the egg one! 

Many of us (short of finding the exact law and knowing all the interpretations of said!) just look at the Temporary Vehicle Import document which says that the "permit will be valid for the same duration as allowed by their visitors status". The catch is that when you turn in your Tourist card when flying out, that particular tourist card is cancelled.... and you no longer have an official visitors status! And you did not take the vehicle out as was promised by you when you got the permit. So the car is in Mexico illegally. Others say, 'well I didn't use up my 180 days so I still have a visitors status' and I'll be back within the original 180 days so my vehicle should still should be legal'. Unfortunately there has never been an official Mexican government answer to this situation that any of us know about so the debate goes on. 

BTW, Tundra Green, I and others don't think that the car permit is 'tied to the tourist card' but rather to one's foreign Passport. Otherwise how is one able to get a temporary vehicle import sticker online well before one gets to the border to obtain a tourist card?). 

Anyway, it's an ongoing debate. Is the Mexican government's computer system 'good enough' these days to tie any of this together? Has there been any REPUTABLE first hand proof that someone has gotten caught turning in their tourist card while flying out but leaving their car behind? I follow this subject (because I come into and out of Mexico a lot with a car) and would like to hear a definitive answer to this age-old question.

So my recommendation is... don't leave you car behind because it appears to be against the law. But I and others have done it in the past with seemingly no negative consequences (but for me that was well before the governments use of computers). But if you DO, and you get caught, PLEASE let us know! We may even help you pay the fine.


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

I just talked to a US citizen neighbor who also drove and she said she asked about it before at the actually office where she got her vehicle permit. They said it was ok, but then she mentioned that it also depends on who you talk to when you exit at the airport with the car left behind.

I may be in denial but it goes in line with hope, that things will come around for my dad and i should not be so frantic. Its not like i am bringing medical prowess or cures. He is in good hands and can't imagine better hospitals. 
I already told the family it will be a six day drive for me to get back and that i will hold off on the few hours chore of packing up to return ,until they update me on his progress. 

I wonder what the fine is and if paying the fine restores the car to legal status or just frees the car from seizure long enough to deport it... ? If i knew this ,it may be easy to factor the cost of flying round trip and paying a fine versus driving over 6 days and possibly round trip. The drive is over $800 one-way in just fuel, tolls and lodging. Oh and six days of unpredictable journey, maybe car breakdown, maybe fender bender or tickets.....
The roundtrip flight is $450 on short notice for a flight of just a few hours and maybe the TIP fine is forfeiture of the $300 deposit?


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

6.4 For an "IMPORTER" with citizenship other than Mexican, the authorized time period for the temporary import of a vehicle will be subject to the authorization of the National Institute of Migration. The permit ́s validity will be equivalent to the period for which the person is authorized to stay in Mexico, depending on immigration status.In the case of boats and mobile homes the permits validity will be for 10 years.

https://www.banjercito.com.mx/registroVehiculos/Condiciones.do


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

RickS said:


> This question (can I leave without canceling my vehicle permit) has been debated more than almost anything including the chicken and the egg one!
> …
> BTW, Tundra Green, I and others don't think that the car permit is 'tied to the tourist card' but rather to one's foreign Passport. Otherwise how is one able to get a temporary vehicle import sticker online well before one gets to the border to obtain a tourist card?).
> …


Thanks for the clarification RickS. I was responding based on hearsay, probably not a good idea. I have never had a US vehicle in Mexico.


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## RickS (Aug 6, 2009)

chicois8 said:


> 6.4 For an "IMPORTER" with citizenship other than Mexican, the authorized time period for the temporary import of a vehicle will be subject to the authorization of the National Institute of Migration. The permit ́s validity will be equivalent to the period for which the person is authorized to stay in Mexico, depending on immigration status.In the case of boats and mobile homes the permits validity will be for 10 years.
> 
> https://www.banjercito.com.mx/registroVehiculos/Condiciones.do


Yes, chico and thanks. I've seen this before. BUT can you 'define' what that actually means with respect to the question at hand.... does turning in one's tourist card at the airport end "the period for which the person is authorized to stay in Mexico"?


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

I guess the way i am used to making sense of wiggle room in a visa situation is with the term "multiple entry". 
Visa waiver is anither term which means you get in on a waived visa and that means no fees involved per visa charges at least.

So obviously i paid for a tourist visa, but is it a multiple entry? I have not seen or maybe overlooked multiple entry. Haven't heard or read anything "multiple entry" about Mexico's 6 month tourist visa either.

Good news is that me Dad is staying where he is and reversal of fluid build up in his body was the last report. Thats what we all want, that he stays, goes nowhere and then i will stay where i am until i can call and talk to him and see what he says about me making the trip. :fingerscrossed:


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I thought someone wrote on here that they got caught when they flew out, but I don't know how that could be because all they seem to do when boarding the plane is collect a pile of FMMs from the passengers without processing them right then. But all of my experience is flying out of Cancun, other airports may be different.

The person who claimed to get caught said they had to pay $400, but that could just mean the forfeiture of their TIP deposit. Nevertheless, if you have to go you have to go, and I'd simply go but carry an extra 10,000 pesos in cash just in case.


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## RickS (Aug 6, 2009)

_"I thought someone wrote on here that they got caught when they flew out...."_

"About" a year ago there was a report, on some forum, that an elderly man had boarded his flight out, leaving a TIP vehicle in Mexico. Reportedly, 'agents' came on board and took the gentleman off the plane telling him that, and I paraphrase, "he owed a fine for a car". This was picked up and went viral as 'proof that they know' and can/do track you. But later on, the daughter of the elderly man who was flying out was on that forum where it was reported (I don't believe that was on THIS forum) and suggested that her father "was elderly and often was confused about what was being told to him.... especially in a foreign language". 

Any way, the upshot was that his car was not later confiscated or anything but the story still circulates as 'proof' that "they know". I and others simply don't believe the story was initially reported accurately, but you will have to be the judge of that I suppose. At least one person is still reporting this incident on a website as evidence that 'you better not do this'.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

RickS said:


> I and others don't think that the car permit is 'tied to the tourist card' but rather to one's foreign Passport. Otherwise how is one able to get a temporary vehicle import sticker online well before one gets to the border to obtain a tourist card?).


I agree. Doing some online research it seems that the TIP is tied to the expiration date on the FMM or RT, but not to the permit/visa itself. Not that getting a new FMM with a new expiration date will change the TIP as the TIP gets its expiration date when issued and matches the FMM. 

The question then becomes, do I trust the absence of instructions regarding leaving the country as permission to leave the vehicle behind?

The expiration date on the TIP is the final date that you can get your deposit back when you turn in the decal as you drive out of Mexico.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

FMMs have a barcode printed on each half, with a number beneath the barcode (presumably scanning the barcode produces the number printed below it). On a blank FMM I happen to have, the last 3 digits of the number are 357. 

If anyone has one or half of one, and cares to look up their number and post it I'd be interested in whether it matches or not.


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## RickS (Aug 6, 2009)

The exception to_ "the expiration date on the TIP is the final date that you can get your deposit back when you turn in the decal as you drive out of Mexico" _ is..... if one has a TIP and goes Temporal, the TIP can be extended with/at the annual renewal of the Temporal visa. One must inform the gov. when renewing that one has a TIP but if that is done the deposit is 'safe' and will be returned no matter what the 'expiration date' on the TIP paperwork says.


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## RickS (Aug 6, 2009)

eastwind said:


> FMMs have a barcode printed on each half, with a number beneath the barcode (presumably scanning the barcode produces the number printed below it). On a blank FMM I happen to have, the last 3 digits of the number are 357.
> 
> If anyone has one or half of one, and cares to look up their number and post it I'd be interested in whether it matches or not.


Mine says "425".....


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

The FMM indicates the method of entry into Mexico. If you entered by car, but flew out and back, you have given yourself away in the event of an accident/crime or other trouble involving you and your car. Your insurance requires that the car be “in Mexico legally“, which it will not be when you fly out & will not magically become legal again when you fly back in. 
Some take that chance; others are smarter. Illegal vehicles can be confiscated & drivers arrested & jailed.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

RVGRINGO said:


> The FMM indicates the method of entry into Mexico. If you entered by car, but flew out and back, you have given yourself away in the event of an accident/crime or other trouble involving you and your car. Your insurance requires that the car be “in Mexico legally“, which it will not be when you fly out & will not magically become legal again when you fly back in.
> Some take that chance; others are smarter. Illegal vehicles can be confiscated & drivers arrested & jailed.


It says that you entered by car, but it doesn't state that it was your car nor were you driving the vehicle.

Just for the sake of argument, just what bit of information is used to "tie" the FMM to the TIP? Trying to find a pdf of a current FMM and TIP has exhausted me and my search on the internet. Anyone got copies that they can upload so as to see the "tie" connection.


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## RickS (Aug 6, 2009)

joaquinx, on the FMM/tourist card itself there is no direct 'tie' to a TIP. "We" fill out that form when we enter and the information we provide is: Name, DOB, Nationality, Passport #, Sex, Purpose of Trip and 'Entering By" (Land, sea or air). No info about any possible TIP.

And remember that one can get their TIP online prior to actually crossing the border so they couldn't tie it to something that had not been produced at the time.

Now, since they do have your Passport # on both those documents, nothing's to say that they can't later tie the two together indirectly via a computer system at some point.... but it isn't evident on either of the documents per se.


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

Even if the FMM and or TIP can be obtained online they still must be validated at the border crossing.
Who knows what happens at that time? 
Also remember that the FMM will be stamped with the date of entrance and in that stamp there is a profile of an automobile showing you entered by car ( an airplane if entering by air and a boat if entering by sea) so if the airline or customs agent that collects the FMM at the airport upon departure catches the automobile on the FMM there will some explaining to do.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

chicois8 said:


> Even if the FMM and or TIP can be obtained online they still must be validated at the border crossing.
> Who knows what happens at that time?
> Also remember that the FMM will be stamped with the date of entrance and in that stamp there is a profile of an automobile showing you entered by car ( an airplane if entering by air and a boat if entering by sea) so if the airline or customs agent that collects the FMM at the airport upon departure catches the automobile on the FMM there will some explaining to do.


This scenario assumes that the person on the TIP is the one leaving by air. I could be the person in the passenger seat who is leaving. 

Is the passport number on the TIP? If so, then they could "tie" the TIP to the FMM. There must be a common field on both the TIP and the FMM to create a tie-in.


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## RickS (Aug 6, 2009)

chico, I have gotten several TIPs online but have not had them 'validated' at the border when I went in to get my tourist card. What does that 'validation' look like? Have I been screwing up by not doing so? Remember that a "whole car full" of people could come into INM at the border to get a tourist card but only one of them needs to have a TIP, so how do they know/why would they want to validate something for everyone?

Very definitely an FMM obtained online MUST be validated at the border but I've not heard nor have I done a validation on a TIP I've obtained online.

*joaquinx:* Yes, as my Post above mentioned the Passport # is a common field on both the TIP and the FMM.


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## DebInFL (Dec 1, 2016)

Is there not a provision for emergency exits and reentries while leaving your car in country? Of course, you'd have to prove you have an emergency, but for a medical emergency, that shouldn't be too hard, should it? 

I mean, what is someone had their car there and had to be flown out via chopper to TX or somewhere for emergency medical treatment? I don't know. Mexico is a very family oriented place, so maybe there is a provision for short periods of exit/reentry.


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## RickS (Aug 6, 2009)

_"...so maybe there is a provision for short periods of exit/reentry."_

Nope~


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

DebInFL said:


> Is there not a provision for emergency exits and reentries while leaving your car in country? Of course, you'd have to prove you have an emergency, but for a medical emergency, that shouldn't be too hard, should it?
> 
> I mean, what is someone had their car there and had to be flown out via chopper to TX or somewhere for emergency medical treatment? I don't know. Mexico is a very family oriented place, so maybe there is a provision for short periods of exit/reentry.


You are making a faulty assumption that logic and compassion have any bearing on bureaucracy.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

There is no valid reason to leave in a medical emergency, as Mexico has fine medical care available to you. Yes, you might have to pay for it.


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