# car TIP renewal & requirements



## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Sorry, I think I asked some of this before, but can't remember the answer, or if I even got one.

I have Mexican temporary resident greencard, valid until next September.

1. If I bring in a car on a TIP, is it good until my RT expires? Various people have told me TIPs are good for only six months, but I think they were assuming I would be on a tourist entry permit.

2. I understand that when I renew the RT (next September), the TIP connected to the old RT is automatically expired and I need to renew it. If I renew the RT for 3 years, then renew the TIP, is the TIP then good for 3 years?

3. Do I need a currently valid registration (issued by a US state) for the car to renew the TIP? (I assume so). Or is it sufficient just to have plates and title in my name?

4. If I have a valid TIP, do I need to maintain a valid foreign registration or can I let it lapse as long as I don't drive back to the US?

The state I've registered the car in, Texas, requires annual inspections, and I don't want to have to drive the car back to the US (from Cancun) for that each year. But my current registration is good until next November, so if I renew my RT next September, I will still have a valid registration when I renew. If I get a 3-year RT, and if the TIP is then good until that 3-year RT expires, I can just let the Texas registration expire until the 3-year RT runs out. Then I know I have to take the car back to the US and get rid of it and buy a mexican car.

The reason for not getting rid of the US car now and buying a mexican car now is that I'm not yet 100% committed mentally to living in Mexico forever. I've only been here a couple months and I'm still adjusting. If I decide to move back to the US in a year or two, I'd rather keep the car somehow instead of getting rid of it, buying a mexican car, then having to trade cars again when I move back NoB.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

Take this response with a large grain of salt.

We came in on provisional permanent visas. We got a 3 month TIP at Laredo. When we reached our destination in Mexico we visited whatever Mexican agency (SAT/SRE..) I don't remember and they were very eager to extend our TIP expiration - for the duration of our visa. But I'm not sure they really knew what they were doing. 

In the end we imported the car and had the TIP canceled. We never got back the deposit.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

_1. If I bring in a car on a TIP, is it good until my RT expires? _
Yes. They look at your RT expiry date and put that on the TIP.

_2. I understand that when I renew the RT (next September), the TIP connected to the old RT is automatically expired and I need to renew it. If I renew the RT for 3 years, then renew the TIP, is the TIP then good for 3 years?_
Yes, assuming you go to aduana and do the renewal within the allotted time period after renewing the RT. I have heard various versions of that time period but I always did it within 15 days, which was the shortest period I read about - just to be safe.

_3. Do I need a currently valid registration (issued by a US state) for the car to renew the TIP? (I assume so). Or is it sufficient just to have plates and title in my name?_
I'm sorry, I forget if they asked for my US registration. I seem to recall that they did not but don't bank on my memory.

_4. If I have a valid TIP, do I need to maintain a valid foreign registration or can I let it lapse as long as I don't drive back to the US?_
I am not sure about this since I always kept valid US registration.

_The state I've registered the car in, Texas, requires annual inspections, and I don't want to have to drive the car back to the US (from Cancun) for that each year. _
Why don't you register it in Clay County, South Dakota? That eliminates this problem and they don't require you to ever physically visit SD to register it there.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

In Jalisco state traffic law, it states that your vehicle must be legal to drive in its home jurisdiction, which would mean that you should keep it registered. I would assume that most Mexican states would have similar wording in their traffic laws. Also, your insurance will require that your car be legally in the country and legal to drive. When we came up against the Texas inspection thing, we registered our car in South Dakota, as indicated above.


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

My grain of salt is .... my TIP and Registration are from 2007. Federali only wanted TIP and DL. He said boy that TIP is pretty old. Car will never go back to the US


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

sparks said:


> My grain of salt is .... my TIP and Registration are from 2007. Federali only wanted TIP and DL. He said boy that TIP is pretty old. Car will never go back to the US


I think they call vehicles like that, "chocolate". I have a friend, Mexican, whose US-purchased truck was in Mexico for about 10 years. Then there was an amnesty and for a few thousand pesos, he got it legally registered in Mexico.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Thanks all for the replies. Deciding what to do with my car has been the hardest part of the whole move to Mexico. I didn't realize I was so attached to it emotionally, that really blindsided me. It's a 1995 corvette that I bought new and have babied for years. I was prepared to sell it, then I found out I couldn't get anywhere near what I thought it was worth. Realistically, I'm only going to get 2-3k for it, because it's not in collectors-item shape, and I don't have time to market it, and so its hard to let it go for so little. But it really makes no sense to keep it, and I don't really want it in Cancun, but can find no reasonable way to store it in Texas either.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

eastwind said:


> Thanks all for the replies. Deciding what to do with my car has been the hardest part of the whole move to Mexico. I didn't realize I was so attached to it emotionally, that really blindsided me. It's a 1995 corvette that I bought new and have babied for years. I was prepared to sell it, then I found out I couldn't get anywhere near what I thought it was worth. Realistically, I'm only going to get 2-3k for it, because it's not in collectors-item shape, and I don't have time to market it, and so its hard to let it go for so little. But it really makes no sense to keep it, and I don't really want it in Cancun, but can find no reasonable way to store it in Texas either.


I can understand being attached to cars. The last car I owned was 32 years old and had been in my possession for 24 of those years when I sold it.

Assuming you will be in Cancun on a tourist permit or Residencial Temporal visa, why not keep it. If the house or apartment you live in does not have off-street parking you could probably find a nearby commercial garage or rent a private garage. You might pay something like $1000 mxn ($50 usd)/month for the space.

I have a motorcycle that I only use for occasional trips. Sometimes it sits for months without being used. I leave it on a battery charger and it is fine. Of course a motorcycle is easier to store. It lives in a spare bedroom.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I keep going back and forth.

I have, included with the rent, one parking space in an indoor parking garage underneath the condo, with 24/7 security.

I've been very much scared by various posters on this board that have suggested I'll not make it alive driving such a fancy car from Laredo to Cancun, even if I take the NAFTA corridor to Mexico City, drive only during the day, cross the border at 6:00 am and don't stop for anything until Matehuala. Even though it's a 21-year old fancy car that's worth far less than any 5 year old SUV.

Nevertheless, I was all set to give it a shot. I drove the car from Washington State to Texas and transferred the tags & title. I even arranged a secret code with my brother, with one pass code to indicate a ransom request was real and another code to indicate the kidnapping was real but they were going to kill me anyway so tell the kidnappers to perform anatomically impossible auto-erogenous actions.

Then I found out that I had a 3 week wait for the official registration and title documents and my new Texas driver's license to come in the mail. Right now I've got temporary versions of all of the above, and I didn't think those would work to get a TIP. So I parked at the airport and flew back to Cancun. In 3 weeks I'll need to fly back and either try to drive here or sell the car for a song.

I am attached to the damn thing, but it's a constant hassle, and is as impractical for Mexico as any vehicle could possibly be. At this point I've invested a few hundred bucks in driving it to Texas and getting it re-titled, but the issue of having the inspection expire next November put me over the edge of the "too much hassle" line again.

I even investigating having it transported from Laredo to here, but the bozos I talked to wanted to take it by car carrier to florida and then ship it across, and wanted $2600 to do that. I didn't try further with other transporters, that was way more than I thought it would cost - more than the car is worth wholesale.

When I was working on my master's degree back in 1984-1985, one way I got through it was telling myself that when I graduated I'd buy a corvette. The C4 model had just been introduced. When I graduated, I discovered I couldn't really afford both the insurance and the car payment, so I settled for a Pontiac Fiero. Ten years later in 1995 I was ready for a new car and they were still making the C4's, and the price had gone up very little in the 10 years, so it was actually much more affordable for me. I kept the Fiero too, only I had to give it away when I moved in 2000. I still regret that, and the fear of regret is a big part of my reluctance to give up the vette. The reality is I could get rid of the vette and if I wanted one back in a couple years I could easily afford to buy another old one, but it wouldn't be the same one I'd taken such care of all these years. Even after 20 years I still only have 5 scratches and park in the outer reaches of parking lots where I won't get more. And I know I'll get scratched and dinged up down here, but I don't know whether that will hurt worse than practically giving the car away and not having it at all.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

I wouldn't be so worried about being attacked or robbed due to driving a Corvette. I'd be much more concerned about destroying the undercarriage on the first 'surprise' tope (speed bump). Sometimes they put those darn things in the oddest of places and if you are not paying close attention they sneak up on you! Also, some are built up so high that there is no way to go over them without bottoming out at least lightly even if you do slow down to 1 MPH for them.

I can't tell you how many times I had to apologize profusely to my Honda Accord for scraping (or even bashing) the undercarriage on a tope and an Accord rides higher than a Corvette for sure.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Topes may change your mind about having a low-slung car in Mexico.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

circle110 said:


> I wouldn't be so worried about being attacked or robbed due to driving a Corvette. I'd be much more concerned about destroying the undercarriage on the first 'surprise' tope (speed bump). Sometimes they put those darn things in the oddest of places and if you are not paying close attention they sneak up on you! Also, some are built up so high that there is no way to go over them without bottoming out at least lightly even if you do slow down to 1 MPH for them.
> 
> I can't tell you how many times I had to apologize profusely to my Honda Accord for scraping (or even bashing) the undercarriage on a tope and an Accord rides higher than a Corvette for sure.


Round here - even a BMW needs to go over a tope diagonally. 

Here is a head's up - there is never only one tope. (I always thought that would make a good title for a book).


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## Stare Decisis (Jan 29, 2017)

I'm assuming if I entered on a student visa (valid for 1 year), the TIP would also be issued for the same time period (as previous posts seem to imply)? Not just the 6 months? 

I'm only halfway considering bringing my car down, but it sure would remove the hassle dealing with 3-5 bags at airport security, baggage retrieval, and on transit from airport to home. Plus, I'd get to see more of the country on the drive down.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I think your assumption is correct, but as you can read in my other thread about my corvette, I bailed out on the whole TIP thing so have no direct experience.

On flying with multiple bags, compare all costs when deciding. Driving down costs gas, days and motels. And you'll be lugging those bags from your car to your room every day (or tipping someone to do it for you). And you probably shouldn't stay at the cheapest most insecure motel you can find when you have all your stuff with you.

Bringing them on the plane isn't free of course, you'll have baggage check fees and luggage cart rentals and taxi fares. Plus airfare of course. But it's really a lot safer in a number of ways, and honestly I think less hassle overall. 

You can always do a sightseeing trip later when you're more able to enjoy it and less burdened with things you need to constantly protect.


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## Stare Decisis (Jan 29, 2017)

eastwind said:


> On flying with multiple bags, compare all costs when deciding. Driving down costs gas, days and motels. And you'll be lugging those bags from your car to your room every day (or tipping someone to do it for you). And you probably shouldn't stay at the cheapest most insecure motel you can find when you have all your stuff with you.
> 
> Bringing them on the plane isn't free of course, you'll have baggage check fees and luggage cart rentals and taxi fares. Plus airfare of course. But it's really a lot safer in a number of ways, and honestly I think less hassle overall.


Good points. Also, flying with checked bags would encourage me to pare down my belongings more, because I always end up bringing stuff I don't need. 

I thought it'd be nice to have a car not only to make the move easier, but to use on the weekends to go visit national parks, etc. as I'm very outdoorsy, but I can always rent a car, and not having my own means I don't have to worry about it getting stolen or damaged. 

I'll only be there a year, I've survived in large cities without a car before, and I can do it again!


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

And when you check a bag, most of the hassle disappears. If you have two hands and, say, 5 bags, you either use curbside checkin, if your origin airport has it, or pay up for a luggage cart for the 50 feet from curb to check-in counter. And then at the other end you rent another cart at luggage claim after you clear immigration, and wheel your pile of bags through customs to the taxi again. 

When I made my big move to Mexico, I flew with 2 suitcases, a big laptop bag with laptop and another carry on, checking the two suitcases. That was really plenty of capacity, and I didn't need to rent the luggage carts, but I was pretty loaded down for the sections where I had to drag two suitcases with the laptop bag on my shoulder and the other carry on stacked on the suitcase handle. If I'd had 3 suitcases and one carry on, I'd have been forced to rent the luggage cart and would have arrived a good deal less tired.

Another point is that I wouldn't want to bring a good or even just decent car to mexico until I knew for sure it would have a secure parking situation at night. If you have a rental apartment lined up with secure parking, that's one thing. If you don't, maybe you're better off going back for the car once you're sure you can keep it safe.


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