# Safe to have car painted in Tijuana?



## Tipjar

I live in San Diego. Is it safe to have my car painted in Tijuana? I speak very little Spanish. I have three concerns:

(1) The shop I'm considering is located about 3-4 miles south of the border and I don't know which neighborhoods are safe or not (address is Calle Miraflores # 5A, Colonia el Rubi, Tijuana BC).

(2) Handing my keys over to someone (even a business) in a foreign country. Even though it will be at a business which supposedly has a night security person watching over the vehicles.

(3) What if they modify my vehicle and use me as an unwitting drug mule? I'm aware this sounds irrational and I'm not sure whether it's fueled by sensationalized media stories or too many TV plots. I'd be comforted hearing from a knowledgeable local just how irrational it is. 

Thank you for any input.


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## GARYJ65

If you have so many concerns, I'd say it's not safe AT ALL


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## Tipjar

*Are you in Tijuana?*

Your profile says Querétaro.


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## Tipjar

Better yet, can anyone recommend a place?


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## WintheWin

If you make sure you go to a legit place, and not just a "workshop" there shouldn't be any issue. ie… find out where insurance takes their vehicles to get painted/fixed. It'll be more expensive than a run of the mill carroceria, but it should settle your fears.

Chances of you becoming a drug mule, are nil. I'd say. But hey, stranger things have happened. 

I've gotten a handful of my vehicles painted in Mexicali. Just fine. Not even a mile difference in odometer. (IE… no one drove my vehicles for any other purpose other than to transport them within the shop.) 

If you're willing to go 120 miles out of the way, I can recommend a place. Grandma got her car there, and they handle a bulk of insurance claims.


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## GARYJ65

Tipjar said:


> Your profile says Querétaro.


Then what?
I am Mexican and Tijuana is a hole in hell, I would not take my car there to get any repairs
And if you do have so many concerns, they may come true


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## Tipjar

Thanks for your reply, Win'. Yeah, I might make the drive to Mexicali, please share the name of the place.


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## Tipjar

...


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## Reynaldo

Tipjar said:


> (3) What if they modify my vehicle and use me as an unwitting drug mule? I'm aware this sounds irrational and I'm not sure whether it's fueled by sensationalized media stories or too many TV plots. I'd be comforted hearing from a knowledgeable local just how irrational it is.
> 
> Thank you for any input.


Yes this issue has been sensationalized by the media. It's fairly rare and the people targeted are not one time visitors to Tijuana but people who live there and cross frequently to the US.


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## Tipjar

Thank you, Reynaldo. Good information.


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## jambi

I really wouldn't worry about your car being modified for drug running purposes. In fact, it's pretty absurd that an easily re-tracable body shop would be stupid enough to even consider such a thing. I'd be more worried about that type of thing happening to my car while parking overnight in an unguarded hotel parking lot. 

I drove through Tijuana a couple times, as well as arrived/departed from its airport, and didn't get the impression it was a "hole in hell". Rather well developed, by Mexican standards, actually. 

Now, Nuevo Laredo is another story...


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## soylent_green

I would, but take into consideration whether by the time it takes to go back and forth to El Rubi a couple times in taxi its worth it.

I'd get a price at the paint shops on Main St. in Chula Vista for a comparison. 99% of the painters there live in TJ anyway

How did you find the shop? El Rubi isn't the main tourist "tuck and roll" kind of paint/body shop area like near the border.

===

My experience is the people that worry so much about getting sick in Mexico get sick. The people that are freaked out about getting stopped and hassled get stopped and hassled.

So, I'm putting better than 50/50 odds you will end up with a car full of dope. hahah

But really, if you are all freaked out, then don't go.


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## Tipjar

jambi said:


> ....it's pretty absurd that an easily re-tracable body shop would be stupid enough to even consider such a thing.


Good point, in hindsight, it's highly unlikely a shop would draw that kind of attention to itself. 

For those who are curious or stumbling across this on the web I called Border Patrol yesterday to ask them what kind of trouble an unwitting vehicle owner would be in. The agent was nice enough to say "it's not a dumb question because it does happen." I asked if the chances are one in a million or more like one in a hundred thousand? He said more often than that. 

So just now I looked up vehicle crossings per day at the main Tijuana crossing and found this California government document estimating it's around 50,000: http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist11/departments/planning/pdfs/GSA_SanYsidro_Fact_Sheet.pdf. Which could mean once every two days a (supposedly) unwitting vehicle owner is set up as a drug mule. I understand the agent was speaking loosely, the incident rate is probably not that frequent.

The agent said 90% of the time the driver isn't charged especially if they have something like a receipt for the body shop work. And most of the time when the person (supposedly) doesn't know about it powerful magnets are used to attach the load.


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## WintheWin

Nah, that's a bunch of hooey.
In all honesty, they get drug hooked kids to cross the drugs.
They'll get vehicles and make "a clavo"… or a special storage spot. it's not half assed, it's actually done very well, takes some time to get it right.
They make sure everything is fine with the car, paperwork, etc…
and then they pay the kids/dumbasses pennies to cross it. (Usually some spending cash, plus a little drug…)

and that's how it plays out.

Those people are disposable to the cartels. 
They're loyal too, know where to be found, etc.

Getting unknowing tourists to cross stuff seems quite farfetched, logically and logistically.


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## chicois8

But if you wheels wobble at 20 MPH..........LOL


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## WintheWin

chicois8 said:


> But if you wheels wobble at 20 MPH..........LOL


Nothing a 299 peso alignment in a Mexican suspension shop can't fix.


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## chicois8

WintheWin said:


> Nothing a 299 peso alignment in a Mexican suspension shop can't fix.


Didn't quite get it eh,LOL


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## WintheWin

chicois8 said:


> Didn't quite get it eh,LOL


I got it. I got it.

Just pointing out, you can get a 20$ alignment in Mex. 

(BTW, it's easier to put drugs in the spare tire well, they check that less often than the road tires, CBP always asks me quite suspiciously why I got new tires, when I have them.)


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## mes1952

Most expats I've met here in Baja over the years say that if you can wait (or afford it) have the work done in the U.S. And i wouldn't drop the car off and come back later for it; I would stay there to make sure they are doing everything properly. The biggest complaint people here seem to have about body work is they missed areas on the body itself or when they got the car back there were dents that weren't there before. Also paint quality here seems to be a big issue as well. Most people I've talked to that had body work requiring painting say that after a year the paint is peeling off. Same goes for mechanics. Most say if you can, take it across the border.
Yes many of the employees in the shops might live in Tijuana but the big different is that in the shops in the U.S. they are more regulated and have different standards. 
My neighbor just had a supposedly high recommended shop replace a windshield and they somehow broke the A/C in the process. 
So it's BUYER BEWARE when dealing with any work here in Mexico esp. those not experienced living here and dealing with it on a daily basis.


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## Isla Verde

mes1952 said:


> . . .
> So it's BUYER BEWARE when dealing with any work here in Mexico esp. those not experienced living here and dealing with it on a daily basis.


I would add that when having work done anywhere in the world, use people you trust and whose work you know, not just someone who will do the work for the lowest price.


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## ZaPatton

WintheWin said:


> I got it. I got it.
> 
> Just pointing out, you can get a 20$ alignment in Mex.
> 
> (BTW, it's easier to put drugs in the spare tire well, they check that less often than the road tires, CBP always asks me quite suspiciously why I got new tires, when I have them.)


People watch to many Cheech and chong movies


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## GARYJ65

Who would really think that having a car painted or serviced in Tijuana is not risky?
They may do something to it, anything from stealing parts to put drugs and follow it back to the states, using the owner as a patsy, why not?

If someone here is soooo saavy as to know how drug lords work, why don't you go working as advisors to the DEA or PGR?


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## GARYJ65

ZaPatton said:


> People watch to many Cheech and chong movies


I don't think anyone watches cheech and chong movies anymore, not for the las few decades


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## coondawg

GARYJ65 said:


> Who would really think that having a car painted or serviced in Tijuana is not risky?
> They may do something to it, anything from stealing parts to put drugs and follow it back to the states, using the owner as a patsy, why not?
> 
> If someone here is soooo saavy as to know how drug lords work, why don't you go working as advisors to the DEA or PGR?


Gary, they don't accept help from Americans. That is why El Chapo is free "again".


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## GARYJ65

coondawg said:


> Gary, they don't accept help from Americans. That is why El Chapo is free "again".


Or perhaps they don't want to wait so long to recapture Chapo as they did with Osama
Or miss the capture as with Pancho Villa...


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## Waller52

GARYJ65 said:


> Who would really think that having a car painted or serviced in Tijuana is not risky? They may do something to it, anything from stealing parts to put drugs and follow it back to the states, using the owner as a patsy, why not?


Gary, smile, it's the second best thing you can do with your lips.



> If someone here is soooo saavy as to know how drug lords work, why don't you go working as advisors to the DEA or PGR?


Advise the DEA on how to work symbiotically with their drug lords? This is a good idea? :confused2:


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## GARYJ65

Waller52 said:


> Gary, smile, it's the second best thing you can do with your lips. Advise the DEA on how to work symbiotically with their drug lords? This is a good idea? :confused2:


I am smiling!
It was a joke to me!


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## adrianoexpat

*Mexicali paint shop recommendation?*



WintheWin said:


> I've gotten a handful of my vehicles painted in Mexicali. Just fine. Not even a mile difference in odometer. (IE… no one drove my vehicles for any other purpose other than to transport them within the shop.)
> 
> If you're willing to go 120 miles out of the way, I can recommend a place. Grandma got her car there, and they handle a bulk of insurance claims.


Hey there, I'm looking to get my 90 Miata painted, and am thinking Mexico. I've been many times, though not in the past 15 years. I'd appreciate the *name of the place you say you can recommend in Mexicali *(or other cities). thanks


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## Isla Verde

adrianoexpat said:


> Hey there, I'm looking to get my 90 Miata painted, and am thinking Mexico. I've been many times, though not in the past 15 years. I'd appreciate the *name of the place you say you can recommend in Mexicali *(or other cities). thanks


WintheWin had not been on the forum since early March, so he may not see your message for awhile, if ever.


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## adrianoexpat

Isla Verde said:


> WintheWin had not been on the forum since early March, so he may not see your message for awhile, if ever.




Thanks for that. 
If anyone else reading this as any ideas for me over the long run, please chime in 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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