Our Experience with Obtaining Jalisco Plates

[thevalerieleigh]

Finally, the process is FINISHED and our 1998 Honda Accord has been Nationalized and has its' Jalisco plates. WHEW!

I'd like to recount our experience yesterday (Friday, Sept. 20th) in Tesistan to share with others just what a waste of life this process has been and to tell others who may be about to do this what they should expect.

We left Ajijic at 5:15 am, arrived in Tesistan at 6:30 am. Although we were told we would have to show our "Cita" paper printed from their Internet response for an appointment, no one was interested. We were guided where to park and told to wait.

At 7:40 am, a man appeared and asked to see copies of our originals (Title, Pedimento, Identification & CFE Bill). He added our copies to a growing stack of others and continued to move down the long lines of parked cars.

At 8:05 am, another man came by and asked to see the Originals of the items listed above and handed us a paper where we were told to record our VIN number and hand it back to him. He also gave us a small slip of paper with our number "44" printed on it.

At 8:35 am, a different man came to the car, stamped a piece of paper, checked the VIN under the hood of the car and from the driver's side door. He told us to take our 2nd set of copies with us and to close up the car and go to wait in the Taqueria area.

As we were following the masses towards the Taqueria, we were then herded into a single file line based upon on number and told to stand there for yet another revision of our documents. Since we were number "44", we were some distance back from the entrance to the door. We waited in this line from 8:45 am until 9:50 am when our number made it to the front of the line and we were sent to a man sitting behind a counter.

This man reviewed our 2nd set of copies and asked to see the Originals where he verified they were actual copies from the Originals. He stamped, initialed, signed a variety of things and then stapled the Copies together. He returned the Originals to us and told us to wait outside in the Taqueria until our number was called.

At 9:50 am the lengthy wait began....I will say the people who operate the Taqueria were very friendly and the food was actually quite tasty and very reasonably priced. If you don't want that kind of thing to eat, definitely bring something for breakfast and lunch. We waited and waited (No Wi-Fi Internet connection) and finally at 2:30 pm, our number was called by a woman screaming through a P.A. system with very distorted speakers. It was difficult to understand anything she said but we did hear "44".

We jumped up and went to stand in yet another line as there were other numbers that had been called before ours (and not always in numerical order). When our number was called, there were 21 people standing in line waiting for one of the two Teller/Cashier windows to pay the Jalisco taxes and get their plates. We stood in this line 20 minutes.

The taxes for the State of Jalisco on a 1998 Honda Accord were $2806 pesos. We paid that in cash, got a packet with our tags and were finally heading for the parking lot.

We were told to make sure to put the correct plate in the front and back as they are specific, to put the little sticker that's a smaller version of the plate on the back window of the car and the other smaller sticker on the front window. Once everything was in place, we were ready to drive out of there at 3:00.

Of course, many others were trying to do the same and it took 10 minutes to get out of there. WHEW!

SOOOOO, 8 hours and 40 minutes later, we were on our way into GDL to run errands and eventually head back to Ajijic.

I know there are local Facilitators like Jayme Littlejohn, Tim Welsh and Spencer Thornton who provide a service wherein they take your car for you. Believe me, if I'd known I'd be sitting there almost 9 hours, I would have used them!!!

Luckily we had our iPads to keep us somewhat entertained but this proved to be a very long day.....

Valerie

[jguerin]

This was a very long successful day. You must be proud of yourself doing it alone. And yes when we pay for help, we don't always know how much time we save and aggravation. J. Guerin

[khof]

Victory!

[Travis]

What a brutal day. This almost makes me happy we have an unimportable J car.

[Mainecoons]

Yeah but what are you going to do when you have to go Permanente? You're in the same fix we are in. Plus I suspect we both hate to get rid of cars that are not the least bit worn out.

BTW, I think that if you buy a car from another state and go for plates here you have to go through the same all day fun.

[mudgirl]

Wow, you got off easy! My plate experience (living in Nayarit) went as follows:

Had to drive to Tepic (2 hours) to get the "tenencia" paper. Found the tiny office in the huge govt. building at 8:30AM, where I presented my papers. They gave me another paper for the payment, which I had to take downstairs, stand in line to pay at the caja. Take the payment receipt back upstairs, wherein they gave me another piece of paper and told me to go back downstairs and wait for my name to be called which would start at 11AM (it was 9:45). They started calling names at 11:30, and mine was not in the first batch, so had to wait for the second batch to come out. Then the 2 hour drive back to Sayulita. Total elapsed time, 7 and a half hours. $350 pesos gas.

Next day drove to San Vicente (40 minutes) to the motor vehicle office. Presented the "tenencia" and the rest of the paperwork. waited for 30 minutes while the "perito" lay under my car in the parking lot with a used diesel-soaked rag, which he rubbed onto the 4 VIN #s on various places on the engine, then pressed a little piece of scotch tape over to try to make an impression. Then waited at the taqueria downstairs for and hour and a half while he phoned Tepic to "verify" the tenencia (how might I have obtained the paper and why is there a need to verify it, one might ask) and waited for them to phone him back. Then waited for my turn to get the paper I needed to make the payment. Went to another desk, one meter from the first one, where the woman again checked my papers and sent me to the caja window. Took about half an hour while they did lord knows what on the computer, at which point I paid the $, then had to go back to the woman's desk to get her to photocopy 2 of the pieces of paper he had just given me (wow, they didn't make me go down the block to the farmacia copy machine!), then go in another door to get the actual plates and stickers. Total elapsed time, 6 hours, 150 pesos gas.

13 and a half hours. Like I said, you got off easy. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger?, but honestly, what a ridiculous process.

[daisy2013]

_{wow, sorry it now takes so long, when we registered ours 3 years ago, it took about 10 minutes the most}

[Kevin K]

We mistakenly bought a D.F. plated car here locally and had to have it switched over to Jalisco plates, and the process for us took just as long as Valerie's. We had the owner of the car there with us for hand-holding and her Spanish skills (and unwilllingess to fork over bribes requested by folks in the office there at a few key points) were invaluble. Still, never again!

[holdrja]

Thanks for the informative post, ValerieLeigh!

Question -- if you buy a new or used car down here from a dealer -- does the dealer take care of getting the car registered and getting the plates for it? Or do you have to go thru the same rigamarole?

[thevalerieleigh]

I was told yesterday that this is something one DEFINITELY wants to negotiate with the Seller. If it's a Dealer, they can do this for you before you take the car and I would definitely suggest it. If you buy it from a private party, they most likely will not be interested in going through this process unless they are a very motivated Seller.

I've been Permanente for 3 years or so but the enforcement of this law was pretty non-existent. In the last 9 months or so, it has become a "hot topic" for local Vialidad so finally had to bite the bullet. Drove up to Nuevo Laredo to Nationalize it and then to GDL to get the Jalisco plates. Guess I can drive by Vialidad now with a bit less stress...

Valerie

[Travis]

When we bought our Jalisco-plated car a few years ago from a private party, we didn't have to re-plate or go through that nightmare. Took care of everything with a transfer of "title" in Chapala. Hopefully that hasn't changed.

[hensley]

Thanks for the informative post, ValerieLeigh!

Question -- if you buy a new or used car down here from a dealer -- does the dealer take care of getting the car registered and getting the plates for it? Or do you have to go thru the same rigamarole?

No you don't have to do anything like that it is very simple they take care of everything. If you buy from a private person with Jalisco plates it is also very simple in Chapala to switch everything. We have bought 3 Jalisco plated vehicles here and it is a piece of cake.

[Ajijic]

And the process varies throughout Mexico. In San Luis Potosi it takes about 3 hours max. In SMA you apply, and in 2 months you go back and get your plates and registration. So, for those in other parts of Mexico your experience will vary widely.