# Moving stuff to central Mexico



## poblanos (Nov 29, 2016)

My husband and I are planning to move to the state of Puebla where we have bought a piece of land. We dont want to take furniture, but have other house items we would like to hold on to. We are giving up our car. What method do you recommend?


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## NCas (Sep 9, 2013)

Would you be moving from one part of Mexico to another?


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## poblanos (Nov 29, 2016)

We are moving from South Florida to a small city near Puebla.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

poblanos said:


> My husband and I are planning to move to the state of Puebla where we have bought a piece of land. We dont want to take furniture, but have other house items we would like to hold on to. We are giving up our car. What method do you recommend?


We moved to central Mexico from South Florida as well. Some people here may not like what I am about to write - but the best advice I can give you is - close the laptop now and start doing your own research. There is good and bad advice available for free on the internet. We were never aware of expat forums when we planned our move - and apparently we accomplished the 'impossible'. Sometimes not knowing what you can't do is to your advantage.

Having said that - we put a lot of effort investigating how to get our stuff to Mexico. We looked into air, sea and land options. We didn't have that much to bring - but it was more than would fit in an SUV. And since we brought our four cats with us we were really committed to driving (although I did visit the local executive airport trying to find someone who would let us hitch a ride on a private business jet  ). In the end we bought a 5 X 8 trailer and towed our stuff. We imported the car and trailer when we got here (impossible) using a commercial import agent in Mexico City (impossible). Later we sold the trailer here for about half what we paid for it. 

There is a ferry that has been in the 'planning' stage for years now that 'may' run from Tampa to Progresso. Here is a link to their website. 2017 is only a month away... 

United Caribbean Lines

Good luck !


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Considering all the bla bla from Trump about Cuba I would not hold my breath about a ferry. We moved to Mexico in 2001 and they were talking about a ferry.. better plan without the ferry.. or store your stuff untill the air clears .
.I used to shop wine from EUrope to the US and I can tell you that shipping less than a container load is asking for theft and breakage.. 
Your realistic options right now is selling everything, hauling it yourself ,ship via freight and the most expensive have movers take care of it.

We sold most of our stuff, shipped the rest via freight lines with a broker in Laredo and drove down with our 3 mastiffs and 3 cats. We had 2 cars.. Then a couple of years later when we knew what we wanted to do, drove back to the border and sold a car.


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## poblanos (Nov 29, 2016)

By freight do you mean ship by train, truck or air to Laredo? How did you find trustworthy brokers in Laredo?


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

By truck. Forget the train as well. When we ,oved I found a freight line with a warehouse on the border and they dropped my stuff in Laredo and they transferred it to their friends on the other side after they cleared customs.

I called a bunch of freight lines from the phone book and asked them if they had a warehouse in Laredo and would transhipped.. I spoke with our custom broker as well who gave me the name of a mover from Guadalajara but I felt I could do better with a freight company. It depends a lot on what you are shipping, how heavy, what the volume is and what the value is. 
I bought the house in March wnr home packed everything with pacling lists in Spanish and English, did the menaje de casa needed by the consulate at the time put everything in storage. went to Mexico with my husband and the pets for 3 months, made a list of what I needed and what I did not need flew back alone, gave the stuff to a freight company who told me they would have to cross during the xmas season so it was not a good ides to move things around then, stored the load in Laredo and then cleared customs via a broker and shipped to Guadaljara.
Meanwhile I sold and gave everything I did not want to move. It was easy to find as everything was marked and on excel sheets.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

As I remember it - if you load a truck in Florida that same truck cannot come into Mexico with your stuff. And - at least one company said that shipments could not be co-mingled. It had to be only your stuff on the truck from the border to your Mexican location. But as I said - we did not go that route.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

Gatos said:


> Having said that - we put a lot of effort investigating how to get our stuff to Mexico. We looked into air, sea and land options. We didn't have that much to bring - but it was more than would fit in an SUV. And since we brought our four cats with us we were really committed to driving (although I did visit the local executive airport trying to find someone who would let us hitch a ride on a private business jet  ). In the end we bought a 5 X 8 trailer and towed our stuff. We imported the car and trailer when we got here (impossible) using a commercial import agent in Mexico City (impossible). Later we sold the trailer here for about half what we paid for it.


We're moving back to Mexico after having to live in the states for the last 4 years. 
We are in a situation similar to yours in that we have more stuff to haul than will fit in an SUV but far less than would be worth paying for a move. Your car/trailer solution is one of the better ones I have been able to come up with - a 5x8 trailer would be ideal for us.

A couple of questions regarding your move logistics:
How much did the import of the car and trailer wind up costing? How much did you pay originally for the 5x8 trailer?


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## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

citlali said:


> By truck. Forget the train as well. When we ,oved I found a freight line with a warehouse on the border and they dropped my stuff in Laredo and they transferred it to their friends on the other side after they cleared customs.
> 
> I called a bunch of freight lines from the phone book and asked them if they had a warehouse in Laredo and would transhipped.. I spoke with our custom broker as well who gave me the name of a mover from Guadalajara but I felt I could do better with a freight company. It depends a lot on what you are shipping, how heavy, what the volume is and what the value is.
> I bought the house in March wnr home packed everything with pacling lists in Spanish and English, did the menaje de casa needed by the consulate at the time put everything in storage. went to Mexico with my husband and the pets for 3 months, made a list of what I needed and what I did not need flew back alone, gave the stuff to a freight company who told me they would have to cross during the xmas season so it was not a good ides to move things around then, stored the load in Laredo and then cleared customs via a broker and shipped to Guadaljara.
> Meanwhile I sold and gave everything I did not want to move. It was easy to find as everything was marked and on excel sheets.


We looked into the companies that do the menaje de casa, and in L.A. there are plenty of them. I'll guess that some are good and honest while others....not so much, famous for tossing out a teaser price, then holding the goods hostage at a warehouse in GDL unless you pay the extra money they demand. I've no idea what legal recourse is available in Mexico in such a situation. Also explored the option some neighbors told us about, filling up an entire shipping container and sending it to Manzanillo, which we're not far from--but we didn't have nearly enough to justify it. So, after getting selling off the furniture and appliances we were left with about 4 pick-up truck loads of which we've taken two so far. We plan entry into Mexico during the Paisano vacation windows when the aduana limit by land is increased to $500 per person. No hurry and I don't mind driving such a long trip if it's done at a leisurely pace.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

circle110 said:


> We're moving back to Mexico after having to live in the states for the last 4 years.
> We are in a situation similar to yours in that we have more stuff to haul than will fit in an SUV but far less than would be worth paying for a move. Your car/trailer solution is one of the better ones I have been able to come up with - a 5x8 trailer would be ideal for us.
> 
> A couple of questions regarding your move logistics:
> How much did the import of the car and trailer wind up costing? How much did you pay originally for the 5x8 trailer?


It was not cheap to import the car/trailer - but it was cheaper than buying a car in Mexico - and since we were the only owners of the car we knew what a cream-puff it was. And there was no way I wanted to return the car to the border. We did have to visit the Aduana complex in Mexico City for pictures and other sorts of verification - for the car, not the trailer. 

We got the name of the import agent - who is a rather large concern with offices in the US and Mexico from Aduana. My wife gave them a call and explained our situation and asked who could we contact for help. I just checked and the place we used does not have a working website at the moment. But we did not begin the investigation regarding importing the car until we were already here - and in the middle of the INM processing. Knowing what I know now - and how things change and some people may be 'luckier' than others - today I would contact Aduana DF before coming to Mexico.

I think we paid 2,000 USD for the trailer (including new spare tire, cargo hooks, etc) - which had one previous owner - a landscaper - who realized after about a month it was too small for his needs.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

Thanks for the info. We need to buy a car - our US car is a 2002! - and I was planning on buying a Mexican car but I just read an article about how inferior they are to US cars regarding safety features so I got spooked and thought I'd at least investigate importation.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

Our car is older than your's but it is in excellent condition with 110,000 miles. It probably has 20 years left. We could easily sell it for the cost of importing it. We also have a 2016 Mexican purchased Subaru Forester - for longer trips...

There is a local business man (Harvard educated) whose family owns a good chunk of the state we live in. He could drive anything but he has the same make/model we drive.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

My 2002 has 250,000 miles on it and I'm kind of just waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop on it. 
I'll be a permanent resident so I can't keep this car without importing it and, as you say, I could sell it for what the import would cost.


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