# Experience with moving companies from U.S.A. to Mexico



## sw156xa (Jun 23, 2020)

In a few years I will be moving permanently to Mexico to rejoin my family. I am researching moving companies that move household items from U.S.A. to Mexico.

I will only be moving electronics and clothes. I will not be moving any furniture, except maybe a queen size memory foam mattress, if this does not substantially increase the moving cost.

I am interested in other people's experience with moving companies, both good and bad.

If there is already a discussion on this, I apologise. If there is such a thread, please provide me with the URL of that discussion.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I wasn't able to find a company that met my needs. The ones I contacted all had minimum charges around $5000, required me to go through the menje de casa process, and in general were not interested in my small amount of stuff. 

I decided to move the stuff myself. I rented a truck (penske) and drove it to Laredo, but the US truck rental companies will not allow you to drive into Mexico (I asked penske and u-haul), so I offloaded into storage in Laredo with a plan to retrieve it from Mexico later. But my stuff is still in storage in Laredo (4 years later). I'm still working on getting it to cancun. 

The people who seem to have success stories on this forum all move their stuff themselves, generally in their own vehicles (or with their own box trailers). To temporarily import a US vehicle or trailer into Mexico, the official requirement is that you be the owner of the vehicle.

Your "electronics and clothes" sounds like you could fit everything in an SUV. What do you drive? More importantly, what will you be driving in a few years when you want to move?


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## sw156xa (Jun 23, 2020)

Eastwind,

Thank you for your reply. I currently drive a 2015 Honda Fit. I will sell the car before departing for Mexico, and buy another car in Mexico.

My electronics includes desk top computers, monitors, computer printers, flat screen television etc. The Fit is too small to hold everything in one trip.

I will have the same car when it is time to move to Mexico. 

You mentioned that your goods are still in Laredo after four years. I wish to avoid that scenario. I am willing and able to pay a moving company to move my belongings, even if it is $5,000 + . 
Yes, it is a lot of money, but this will be a one time move for me.

After driving from Virginia to Tlaxcala in the past, I do not want to do that again; I prefer flying.

May I ask what companies you contacted?


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## MangoTango (Feb 8, 2020)

It has been a long time ago now, but when we made our move our electronics (computers) were our most important cargo - except for the pets. We really didn't want to let the computers out of our sight. If we would have shipped everything else we probably would have still brought the computers in with us. Sure I possibly could have pulled hard drives etc. (Even today I do not believe in cloud storage).

The brief investigation I did into moving companies from the east coast to Mexico ended quickly when I kept hearing - we cannot mix loads. We didn't really have 20 ft of stuff. If we were at that moment moving into our ultimate home rather than a rental maybe we could have filled our own trailer. We went through a ton of money on kitchen appliance, bedding etc our first couple of week in Mexico. Our rental - which was very nice and in a great neighborhood did not even have light bulbs in the fixtures.


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## sw156xa (Jun 23, 2020)

Mango Tango,

Thank you for your response. I believe that the same electronic item is more expensive in Mexico than in the USA, therefore it may be cheaper to take my electronics into Mexico rather than re-purchase everything else again.

When I buy electronics and shoes for my wife, I buy them in the USA and bring them with me when visiting her in Mexico. She tells me that the shoes are cheaper and of better quality than the shoes in Mexico, and the same electronics are a lot cheaper.

Does anyone know how good is Moreno International, for example?


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

Mexico is a huge country. You might want to look for a local expat forum for the area you are going to be moving to, where you might get more on-point answers. I know I've seen posts about this on the chapala.com webboard from the Lake Chapala area. Plenty of people have successfully hired moving companies, although they may have had a much higher volume of stuff than you do.



eastwind said:


> But my stuff is still in storage in Laredo (4 years later). I


If you haven't seen it or used it for 4 years, you probably don't need it anymore 

I brought my stuff down little by little (no large furniture) over the years. Every summer when I went back and sorted through my boxes in my friend's basement, I found myself wondering why I had even bothered to keep a lot of it.


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## sw156xa (Jun 23, 2020)

Surabi,

Thanks for the suggestion. When I am in Mexico (hopefully in December, if it is safe to visit), I will ask my neighbours and friends for more information.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

The one moving company I can remember the name of was Moreno. 

Keep in mind that you will have to pay import duty on your used electronics, in addition to moving costs. If you go the menaje de casa route, it's still a few hundred dollars for the permit. If you don't, and just pay the duty, it's 16%, but it's 16% of the garage-sale value of the stuff, not what you paid new.

If you are going to be flying back and forth a couple times, and you have someone in Mexico to leave stuff with (your wife), then you can make full use of the $500 duty exemption per flight and load up with as much as you can manage and more. Checking a suitcase costs around $65 for the second or third suitcase and is by far the cheapest way to get a suitcase-sized load full of stuff to Mexico if you are already buying the plane ticket. Check all your clothes, carry the electronics on board with you. Pay for luggage carts in the airports. You're saving a bundle with this approach.

Air fares are low, your best bet might simply be to make a couple flights back and forth. You could even shop yard sales in the US for old suitcases to use once and then give away in Mexico. Or you can pack in cardboard boxes, the airlines will let you check those.

Apart from the 16% import duty, I'm not sure electronics are that much more expensive here if you shop around. Definitely local stores seem to be higher. But I have bought a few things and I compared Amazon.com.mx: Precios bajos - Envío rápido - Millones de productos to Mercado Libre México to amazon US, which may give reduced rate shipping but adds import duty. Sometimes it's cheapest from Amazon US, sometimes not. 

I just bought a cellphone and ended up getting it from mercado libre.

If the electronics are old, like, say, a 5 year old computer, you're best bet is to leave it behind and replace once here. And if you have a monster flatscreen TV - do you have the original shipping box and packing? If not, just get rid of it on craig's list or whatever, it won't ship well. You'll come out ahead vs what it costs to move it, and it might arrive broken. Stuff small enough to carry on an airplane, bring it yourself that way.

But don't listen to me, I'm a failed example....


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## sw156xa (Jun 23, 2020)

Eastwind,

Thanks for the detailed and logical explanation. I will take your suggestion and load up an extra suitcase each time when I visit my family in Mexico with clothes and my expensive electronics, which are, fortunately, small and portable.

The rest, I will donate to charity, and repurchase when am in Mexico permanently,

Again, many thanks.


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

sw156xa said:


> I will take your suggestion and load up an extra suitcase each time when I visit my family in Mexico with clothes and my expensive electronics, which are, fortunately, small and portable.


That really is the best approach. And as you are allowed to bring a couple of personal electronics with you when you fly, as well as a certain monetary amount of goods duty free, you likely won't end up paying duty on much, if anything. In my experience, Mexican customs isn't really interested in obviously used stuff you bring in with you for personal use, unless you bring a moving van full.

What you want to avoid is bringing in new things, like electronics or kitchen appliances, in the box it came in, which they might want to charge you duty on. Even when I bring new stuff, I take it out of the original packaging and just throw everything sort of hodge-podge in my luggage. I've brought nice cotton sheet sets that I take out of the package and just wrinkle up and stuff in with clothing, or use to wrap around fragile items, which never seems to draw their attention.


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## sw156xa (Jun 23, 2020)

Surabi,

Thanks again for the additional information. I will incorporate your tips for my next trip to Mexico or or when visiting family in my country of origin, as I bring electronics and other things to them as well. 

Electronics are more expensive in Europe than in the U.S.A., perhaps in part due to higher taxes.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Meant to address your printer: I ditched mine as it was old (I think I did, it _might _still be in storage, but if it is, I'll ditch it when I pick up my stuff). The range of printers available here tends to be lower-end and cheaper than what's available in the states - targeted at consumers with less money. If you try to compare on an exact-same-model basis, yes, the same thing is more expensive here. But on the other hand, there are models here targeted for latin america that aren't on offer in the US.

I'm looking at a printer that has refillable ink tanks, for which you buy bottles of ink, instead of those throw-away cartridges. It promises to be a lot cheaper per page printed. I've never seen that option in the US, but there are quite a few models like that here. So if you brought your US printer, you might find yourself paying high prices for less-common replacement ink cartridges, maybe even importing them. And most of the cost of the printer is in the ink anyway. It used to be you could practically get a new printer for the same cost as the full set of ink cartridges included in the box. 

So that's a big box you can plan to leave behind. 

And as you say "a couple of years", you have a lot of time to plan - stretch your current printer to last until you leave it behind, stop buying new electronics of all kinds that you'll have to move, that sort of thing. You'll actually save quite a bit just by delaying those kinds of purchases.

Do you have a CD collection? Rip them to USB's, bring the disks to Mexico and leave them and listen to the USB's until you move.


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## sw156xa (Jun 23, 2020)

Eastwind,

I brought my printer in 2015 and paid $100 USD for it. I still works great and has less than 50 pages printed. It is a laser printer. I will donate it to charity.

I have realised that a couple of years is not a long time at all. I remembered my wife mentioning when I had eight years left before moving to Mexico. Now it is about three years.

As you mentioned, I have stopped buying new electronics as well as other material items that I can live without. That is a great tip.

I do have a CD collection. I will start ripping the CDs into USBs, and as you mentioned, bring the discs with me the next time I am in Mexico. Thanks for the tip.


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## TurtleToo (Aug 23, 2013)

eastwind said:


> But don't listen to me, I'm a failed example....


I often find myself thinking exactly that. But I guess that's how some of us learn, by trying all the things that don't work first. At least we get to share our experiences with others, potentially allowing them a shorter learning curve than our own.
.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Well, I didn't mean in general  
Just in terms of moving - since it's hard to argue that getting my stuff hung up half way is a success!


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Regarding printers. If you don't use one very often, it is more economical to just put what ever you want printed on a USB thumb drive and print it at some little shop. They are everywhere and you don't have to worry about running out of toner or the print cartridge drying out from lack of use.


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## alan-in-mesicali (Apr 26, 2018)

eastwind said:


> Meant to address your printer: I ditched mine as it was old (I think I did, it _might _still be in storage, but if it is, I'll ditch it when I pick up my stuff). The range of printers available here tends to be lower-end and cheaper than what's available in the states - targeted at consumers with less money. If you try to compare on an exact-same-model basis, yes, the same thing is more expensive here. But on the other hand, there are models here targeted for latin america that aren't on offer in the US.
> 
> I'm looking at a printer that has refillable ink tanks, for which you buy bottles of ink, instead of those throw-away cartridges. It promises to be a lot cheaper per page printed. I've never seen that option in the US, but there are quite a few models like that here. So if you brought your US printer, you might find yourself paying high prices for less-common replacement ink cartridges, maybe even importing them. And most of the cost of the printer is in the ink anyway. It used to be you could practically get a new printer for the same cost as the full set of ink cartridges included in the box.
> 
> ...


 I have used those printers with tanks... worked PERFECTLY at a fraction of the cost of new "cartridges"...a "printer tech" can easily change over a "normal" cartridge printer to a TANK PRINTER....finding cartridges in Mexico is entirely dependent on your living area....


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## alan-in-mesicali (Apr 26, 2018)

First... IS your wife a "Mexican Citizen"? Are you? Are you planning to work in Mexico or 'online for an American company"?
I live in Mexico and have moved back and forth across the boarder several time. While I am located NEAR the boarder [and was once kicked out of Mexico by my neighbor who was head of a small entry port for immigration... his son kept repeatedly peeing in our pool so I would not let him in and his daddy got mad!]
THE BEST WAY - not the fastest - is to package what you are taking into a solid wooden box on a pallet, BANDED WITH METAL AND FULLY SECURED... [unless you can pack a 20 foot container] and have it shipped my one of the premium Mexican trucking companies. Create a 100% accurate "list of contents" to be included in the shipping manifest.,, SHIPPING might be slow... but safe!
UNLESS you are a Mexican citizen... have your wife start all paper work for her to "import her husband"....the government fees are less than $1,000 [including health insurance] and become a legal resident with a work permit [IF needed - if not it is cheaper] This lets you get a Mexican drivers license, open a bank account - IF YOU WILL HAVE INCOME STILL COMING FROM THE US, MAINTAIN A US BANK ACCOUNT AND USE A DEBIT CARD TO WITH DRAW FUNDS!!!!!
IF you are within a few days driving time.. you can also load up your car and make "monthly deliveries" of everything you don't need to continue living in the US....but it would most likely cost you more that shipping a loaded, boxed pallet.
GOOD LUCK!


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## alan-in-mesicali (Apr 26, 2018)

alan-in-mesicali said:


> First... IS your wife a "Mexican Citizen"? Are you? Are you planning to work in Mexico or 'online for an American company"?
> I live in Mexico and have moved back and forth across the boarder several time. While I am located NEAR the boarder [and was once kicked out of Mexico by my neighbor who was head of a small entry port for immigration... his son kept repeatedly peeing in our pool so I would not let him in and his daddy got mad!]
> THE BEST WAY - not the fastest - is to package what you are taking into a solid wooden box on a pallet, BANDED WITH METAL AND FULLY SECURED... [unless you can pack a 20 foot container] and have it shipped my one of the premium Mexican trucking companies. Create a 100% accurate "list of contents" to be included in the shipping manifest.,, SHIPPING might be slow... but safe!
> UNLESS you are a Mexican citizen... have your wife start all paper work for her to "import her husband"....the government fees are less than $1,000 [including health insurance] and become a legal resident with a work permit [IF needed - if not it is cheaper] This lets you get a Mexican drivers license, open a bank account - IF YOU WILL HAVE INCOME STILL COMING FROM THE US, MAINTAIN A US BANK ACCOUNT AND USE A DEBIT CARD TO WITH DRAW FUNDS!!!!!
> ...


I FORGOT TO SAY... IF YOUR WIFE CAN COME TO THE US - OR THE BOARDER - YOU CAN LOAD IT ALL IN A TRAILER [NOT A UHALL - YOU HAVE TO OWN THE TRAILER] SHE CAN CLAIM THE ITEMS AS A "MOVE HOME" AND USUALLY PAY ZERO DUTY... AND NEXT TO ZERO INSPECTION... JUST DON'T HAVE ANY GUNS!!!


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## sw156xa (Jun 23, 2020)

alan-in-mesicali said:


> First... IS your wife a "Mexican Citizen"? Are you? Are you planning to work in Mexico or 'online for an American company"?
> I live in Mexico and have moved back and forth across the boarder several time. While I am located NEAR the boarder [and was once kicked out of Mexico by my neighbor who was head of a small entry port for immigration... his son kept repeatedly peeing in our pool so I would not let him in and his daddy got mad!]
> THE BEST WAY - not the fastest - is to package what you are taking into a solid wooden box on a pallet, BANDED WITH METAL AND FULLY SECURED... [unless you can pack a 20 foot container] and have it shipped my one of the premium Mexican trucking companies. Create a 100% accurate "list of contents" to be included in the shipping manifest.,, SHIPPING might be slow... but safe!
> UNLESS you are a Mexican citizen... have your wife start all paper work for her to "import her husband"....the government fees are less than $1,000 [including health insurance] and become a legal resident with a work permit [IF needed - if not it is cheaper] This lets you get a Mexican drivers license, open a bank account - IF YOU WILL HAVE INCOME STILL COMING FROM THE US, MAINTAIN A US BANK ACCOUNT AND USE A DEBIT CARD TO WITH DRAW FUNDS!!!!!
> ...


alan-in-mesicali,
Sorry for the late replied. For some reason, I stopped receiving the auto notification when someone added a comment to this thread.

To answer your question, my wife was born, raised, and lives in Mexico, so yes, she is a Mexican citizen. She speaks zero English.
I am not a Mexican citizen. I am actually a U.K. citizen who is an expat in the U.S.

I have no intention on working in Mexico when I am in Mexico permanently. It is for this reason why I am not in Mexico permanently at this time. I make a lot more money in the U.S. than I would make in Mexico. I know some Mexicans in Mexico who work in Canada, the U.S. and Spain because they make more money there than in Mexico.

My wife has a bank account in Mexico. As you mentioned, I will keep my bank account in the U.S. as I will receive an income from my job in the U.S. when I am Mexico permanently.

My wife completed the paperwork to "import her husband". We have registered our marriage in Mexico, so when I am there permanently, I will be able to become a Mexican citizen in two years.
I will not be able to apply for a residency until I move to Mexico for good, as a resident, I believe, can not live in a foreign country for an extended time.

Driving my goods is not feasible as I am currently working in the mid Atlantic region of the U.S. and our home in Mexico is in the Puebla City metropolitan area, so unfortunately, making monthly deliveries would not be feasible.

As others mentioned, the best thing for me to do is to take my clothes and small electronics in a large suitcase, every time I visit my wife, and to sell or give the remainder to a deserving person or the Salvation Army.


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## sw156xa (Jun 23, 2020)

TundraGreen said:


> Regarding printers. If you don't use one very often, it is more economical to just put what ever you want printed on a USB thumb drive and print it at some little shop. They are everywhere and you don't have to worry about running out of toner or the print cartridge drying out from lack of use.


ThunderGreen,
You are 100% correct. I have used the "internet cafés" many times in Mexico to print documents. As you mentioned, for me, there is no reason to have a printer in Mexico.


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