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celticunited

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Well, one biggie you better know about. Not only can you not have a car with U.S. or Canadian plates, you must get a Mexican driver's license once you go permanente.

The other biggie is that NOTARIZED COPIES ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE, you must have originals of driver's license, registration, and if you have a TIP, the original of that form as well.

Third biggie: EXPIRED U.S. REGISTRATION is no longer OK. If you are in an accident or stopped for a moving violation and your U.S. registration is expired, the car is subject to being impounded.

Fourth, a reiteration, a Mexican cannot drive your U.S. plated car unless you are in it. If he/she gets stopped, the car is impounded.

Fifth, the transito can ask for your driver's license, proof of current registration, original of TIP form. They cannot ask for your visa or passport. They will not ask for proof of insurance even in an accident.

The car confiscation threat was discussed in detail. In fact, if your papers are in order and your plates/registration are valid, the grounds for confiscation are limited and they sure don't include these phony stops to extort mordita. The commandante made an interesting suggestion--when they pull this one on you, offer to hand them the keys and they will back off.

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Also, the crowd was asked for a show of hands as to whom had been extorted and threatened with car confiscation by the local transitos and that sure livened things up as about one third of the crowd raised their hands. The local commandante got real quiet and the Jalisco restate chief agreed to set up a process where complaints in writing, not anonymous, will be accepted by LCS and/or Hector and forwarded DIRECTLY to him.

You must be willing to give your name, address, phone number but this will NOT be provided to the local guys, your complaint will be routed directly to the state. Very important to name names/identify the transito that accosted you and describe if any actual violation was committed and if the guy solicited a bribe or threatened to impound your car.

It was very interesting. After that show of hands, the head guy basically took over and the local guy got real quiet. No one could pretend any longer that this is an isolated problem. Something that folks have been saying on this web board at least as long as we've lived here, five years.

We all now have a direct route to the top for these complaints. If we don't take advantage of this, it will be our fault if this extortion and threatening behavior by "El Gordito" and some of his cronies like the motorcycle cop, continues.

LCS will be posting the exact procedure for written complaints on its web site together with a summary of the big points made in the meeting. Stay tuned. As I understand it, although the meeting was limited to membership, the filing of complaints will not be.

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Well, one biggie you better know about. Not only can you not have a car with U.S. or Canadian plates, you must get a Mexican driver's license once you go permanente.

The other biggie is that NOTARIZED COPIES ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE, you must have originals of driver's license, registration, and if you have a TIP, the original of that form as well.

Third biggie: EXPIRED U.S. REGISTRATION is no longer OK. If you are in an accident or stopped for a moving violation and your U.S. registration is expired, the car is subject to being impounded.

Fourth, a reiteration, a Mexican cannot drive your U.S. plated car unless you are in it. If he/she gets stopped, the car is impounded.

 

"you must get a Mexican driver's license once you go permanent."

I guess this is because you can't drive a foreign plated car any longer and must get a Jalisco plated car. Question I posted on the Customs and Immigration forum is does this also mean that you can't drive a Jalsico plated car with a foreign license if you are still on a temporary visa.

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BTW, Hector was fantastic. After the show of hands, he looked these transitos in the face and told him the community is very offended by the behavior of the transitos and some are leaving because of it. He also got on them about all the broken traffic lights and when they said it was Chapala's responsibility, he answered that Chapala has been passing the buck to them.

The Jalisco boss agreed to provide lamps for the broken lights if the locals will get them installed.

Hector also presented a petition to them asking that the traffic lights not be all put to yellow on the carretera during big festivals as it makes it impossible to cross the road and he emphasized also the recent deaths on that road. The transitos were put on the spot about their failure to really crack down on red light runners.

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"you must get a Mexican driver's license once you go permanent."

I guess this is because you can't drive a foreign plated car any longer and must get a Jalisco plated car. Question I posted on the Customs and Immigration forum is does this also mean that you can't drive a Jalsico plated car with a foreign license if you are still on a temporary visa.

What I heard is that as long as you are on a Temporada, you can use your NOB driver's license. Technically, after 6 months residence here, however, you should be driving on a Mexican license.

Unfortunately, they didn't cover the extortion at the driver's license bureau. People are getting around this by going to GDL to get licenses. I think if you've been extorted for 500 pesos (or you can't possibly pass the parking test with the cones you can't see) you will want to file a report directly to the Jalisco comandante.

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Also, every transito officer is supposed to display an identification placard on his shirt. If not you have every right to ask to see it.

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Harry, you might want to have Hector make two requests of the Comandante in writing, first that the transitos be subjected to the same screening that was done on the GDL police force in the last year; and second that the transitos be rotated between offices so as to cut down on corruption.

This commandante seemed to be putting the burden on rooting out the crooked transitos on the public when in fact there is plenty he could and should be doing on his own.

Just a thought. As i noted earlier, Hector was fantastic in that meeting, he made a very definite impression on those two IMO.

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i think they are supposed to receive the same screening. Whether it has been done is another question. Rotating between offices is a good idea. I bet some are going to get rotated after yesterdays meeting. Told him so in our meeting this am.

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"you must get a Mexican driver's license once you go permanent."

I guess this is because you can't drive a foreign plated car any longer and must get a Jalisco plated car. Question I posted on the Customs and Immigration forum is does this also mean that you can't drive a Jalsico plated car with a foreign license if you are still on a temporary visa.

So you are saying that if you are Permanente you must have a Mexican driver's license. This thread also says that Transito can not ask you for immigration documents. How then, will they know that you are Permanente. Seems to be kind of a moot point.

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Hopefully Spencer will be able to discuss the notarized copy vs the actual immigrante card. After having my purse stolen once, I am NOT going to carry my original card. It is way too expensive and difficult to get a replacement.

Go get 'em Spencer.

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I'm also still, well, stunned by the news that you can't drive on expired U.S. plates down here. I was under the assumption that Mexico didn't give a rip whether your U.S. registration was up to date. I can't renew my registration in California without proof of insurance and a biannual smog check ... but California doesn't care that my registration is expired as long as I don't drive it up there.

Show of hands, how many drivers of foreign-plated cars are driving on expired plates?? A quick survey of cars parked streetside says, a LOT.

I've talked to people who've done it for years with no problem. Is it a new law, or is it just rarely (make that selectively) enforced? Sounds like they can impound your car, maybe even arrest you if they decide to. Perfect situation for extorting mordida. And it also sounds like an insurance company might be able to deny a claim if you're in an accident with expired plates.

I guess it's South Dakota plates for us ... unless this information is wrong?

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So you are saying that if you are Permanente you must have a Mexican driver's license. This thread also says that Transito can not ask you for immigration documents. How then, will they know that you are Permanente. Seems to be kind of a moot point.

If you are driving a Mexican plated car, you have to have a Mexican DL. If you are permanente, you have to have Mexican plates.

Apparently the crack down on expired U.S. plates is new. And yes, it is going to be a lucrative source of mordita.

Face it, you can't drive around the U.S. on expired plates of any kind and you can't live there with Mexican plates. The problem is not that the rules are unreasonable, what is unreasonable is the way the change has been abruptly imposed, with constant alterations, and the ridiculous and expensive BS you have to go through to get Mexican plates for your existing car, if you can at all.

NOB, any car that meets U.S. emission and safety standards can be nationalized and the cost is low. That is the difference IMO.

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The expired registration thing has been argued on this board for YEARS. The archives must be full of threads on it. If I remember correctly, the law used to say that a car had to be legal in the jurisdiction that it came from. That means currently registered etc. Some insurers used the same language and declined claims where cars were not currently registered.

Yes that is why you see so many SD plates.

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I don't know why current plates would make a difference to Mexico or an insurer because current registration is a tax. The taxes are supposed to pay for roads so why would Mexico or an insurance carrier care if roads are being supported in SD? I'm sure the county in SD loves it because it sells us its plates, collect the tax and we never use the roads.

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What bothers me the most is that people needing a drivers' license are given the unhappy choice of being extorted in Chapala or driving to Guadalajara to get a fair shake.

This is one of the most important things that needs to be sorted out at the top level. For one thing, not everyone gets stopped by a crooked cop for mordida, but nearly everyone will need to obtain a drivers' license.

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So you are saying that if you are Permanente you must have a Mexican driver's license. This thread also says that Transito can not ask you for immigration documents. How then, will they know that you are Permanente. Seems to be kind of a moot point.

maybe spencer can clarify this point. it does seem ilogical.

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the point is that government expects cars to be legal in their jurisdiction of origin, not unexpected

Not having a road tax paid, the license tag, doesn't exactly make a vehicle illegal. It only means a tax hasn't been paid. Why would Mexico care if a tax is paid in another country? If I have SD plates Mexico shouldn't care if my plates are current in SD.

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Not having a road tax paid, the license tag, doesn't exactly make a vehicle illegal. It only means a tax hasn't been paid. Why would Mexico care if a tax is paid in another country? If I have SD plates Mexico shouldn't care if my plates are current in SD.

Maybe not, but it sounds like, at least in Jalisco, they are going to care and it could be a problem for all of those driving around on expired plates here in the future.

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