Wrong Topic at LCS’s Town Topic

[OneMexicoExpat]

An overflow crowd of about 75 members of the Lake Chapala Society attended a much-anticipated presentation of “The Nuts and Bolts of Legalizing Your Car” at LCS on Friday, July 20^th. The presenter, Lic. Miguel Humberto Silba of Mexico's Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT), showed Powerpoint slides for an hour about the process of bringing a foreign car across the Mexican border. When audience members pointed out that their expectation of the presentation was to learn about how to permanently legalize a car that is already in Mexico, Silba apologized and said that he was not sufficiently informed about that procedure, but that he would do some research and provide information back to LCS. He continued to take questions on the subject, however, and responded to one questioner that all legalizations performed without the cars physically going to the border were invalid. By this time, the audience lost their remaining confidence in the presenter, and devolved into discussions among themselves for information.

This is the second monthly Town Topic in a row to be poorly handled. June’s meeting included two senior tránsito officials, who presented incorrect information about the legality of foreign cars in Mexico—that cars with expired foreign plates were illegal, among other misinformation—sending waves of anxiety through that audience. That incorrect information was also repeated in LCS’s July newsletter to their full distribution list.

The scheduled Town Topic for August is Mexican Wills.

[twelveoaks]

This entire process is very frustrating. So far both meetings which were on the two most important topics were worthless. LCS needs to start invinting a select non memger such as Spencer McMullin or Spencer from S & S auto that seem to have more knowledge than the presenters.

[Mainecoons]

Spencer was invited and didn't come.

Obviously, there are ways to legalize in country, people are doing it including a friend of mind who went through a customs broker at the airport. His car was inspected by Jalisco, his pedimento was too (they are really looking for fake documents intensely) everything passed, he was given Jalisco plates by Jalisco, the little window tags, the title,everything.

[kindred]

I totally agree with OneMexicoExpat -- as frustrating as the LCS meeting regarding all the new immigration rules and regs held about 6 months ago -- I came away more confused than ever.

I applaud LCS and the lady who was in charge of the meeting yesterday to address possible issues before they happened in the meeting -- but, come on now, I walked out after about 5 questions and too much crosstalk.

I do feel, however, that the idea of LCS and the Chamber of Commerce petitioning (or whatever they want to call it) the proper authorities regarding the vehicle issue once you become Permanente is valid -- I know of a dozen people who already left because of the car issue and also the proof of income.

We cannot afford to lose more of the expats who love Mexico and have lived here for years....the economy just keeps getting rundown by these new laws, regs, etc.

[Mad_Max]

Wonder what the speaker thought of the expat audience? Hopefully the attendees were not as rude as onemexicoexpat implied.

[RVGRINGO]

The border: Well, perhaps we are confused by semantics. Any official Port of Entry is controlled by Customs and Immigration officials; a common fact almost everywhere. As such, one might be able to import almost anything at any official Port of Entry. Of course, they could insist that your vehicle arrive on an airplane or a ship.

[Intercasa]

I was invited but was working in Guadalajara but looks like I didn't miss much. I have too many fires to put out right now with government offices giving slow service and many taking vacation on top of all this and work not getting done.

[Ajijic]

Mr. Silba's answer about the cars need to be at the border is the law. Just because some people have been able to do it from the airport does not make it officially correct. You can always find "easier ways", take chances, pay mordidas..

That doesn't make things legal. Do you people actually think a government official is going to tell you to pay a facilitator to make things easier for you. [mod snip}

Just my take, and I have paid mordidas.

Nice rant but that is not true. There is one remaining Aduana office that is approved to nationalize vehicles virtually and that is at Mexicali. The broker is registered with Aduana. Because the vehicle owner is not at the border they require scanned copy of front and back of a Mexican driver's license. The pedimentos we have are 100% legal and can be checked on http://www.aduanas.sat.gob.mx/soianet/oia_consultarap_cep.aspx The facturas are official receipts with name of broker and company and a breakout of fees paid including IVA. The local Renta office had no problem accepting these documents. This is the same as government approved process in Oaxaca and Chihuahua through UCD. This local process was agreed to after months of meetings with government. This is not mordida in any way and 100% legal as proven.

[RVGRINGO]

Please read his post again. The first sentence explains it clearly.

[AlanMexicali]

Nice rant but that is not true. There is one remaining Aduana office that is approved to nationalize vehicles virtually and that is at Mexicali. The broker is registered with Aduana. Because the vehicle owner is not at the border they require scanned copy of front and back of a Mexican driver's license. The pedimentos we have are 100% legal and can be checked on http://www.aduanas.sat.gob.mx/soianet/oia_consultarap_cep.aspx The facturas are official receipts with name of broker and company and a breakout of fees paid including IVA. The local Renta office had no problem accepting these documents. This is the same as government approved process in Oaxaca and Chihuahua through UCD. This local process was agreed to after months of meetings with government. This is not mordida in any way and 100% legal as proven.

The Mexicali broker that is registered with ADUANA I have spoken with several times stated he can do it for about $65.00 US fee out the door and no Arizona or California smog certificate is needed. An example is a 2000 non luxury pickup or car that is NAFTA built estimated cost is $500.00 US if you bring it to him. I imagine nice SUVs are more. This is quoted in Feb. this year.

My friend had a 10 year old Chevy pickup [a work truck] nationalized by him for $500.00 US several years ago. He needs the vehicle for 1 1/2 days to have it inspected by ADUANA there.

He does on average 100 vehicle of all sorts per month. That indicates he makes after paying expenses on a tiny office and an assistant about $50,000 US per year and is happy with that.

I cannot understand why Nuevo Laredo importers are charging about $700.00 US to $1,000 US fees per vehicle to Expats that are 10 years old. I imagine Mexican Nationals are not willing to pay those fees.

[Ajijic]

I am saying the Aduana approved broker UCD uses at Mexicali can do this. There is an agreement between UCD Guanajuato and the government to allow this process. I suspect the applications for nationalizing must go through UCD for this to happen virtually. I doubt if a person on their own found this broker they could do it as there is no government agreement. Note, this process took months of negotiations. UCD Chihuahua and Oaxaca have similar programs. Chihuahua until the end of this month has been allowed to do non-NAFTA vehicles but that is coming to an end.

This is very similar to the process at Guadalajara airport and S & S Auto but I do not know if they can do it now as most virtual processes were shut down by court order earlier in the month. Has anyone obtained a pedimento recently from either of these?

The pedimentos we receive check out on line and accepted at Renta. And, if a person can not complete the process UCD and my wife promises a full refund in writing. We have gone slow to make sure it works.

The head of UCD Guanajuato is a former senior employee of Aduana. We communicate with him 7 days and week and meet often. I am a Permanent Resident with a 2008 Ontario plated vehicle and can not nationalize until November. His advice is be very careful traveling anywhere outside of SMA. Definitely they are clamping down on at least "chocolates". There are many recent Spanish language articles on this subject.

[sanmiguelfemale]

Your post is very interesting and telling - didn't realize there was such a discrepancy in prices. Would you please post the name and contact info of the Mexicali broker? I'd like to obtain some information from him. Or, feel free to PM me. Thank you.

The Mexicali broker that is registered with ADUANA I have spoken with several times stated he can do it for about $65.00 US fee out the door and no Arizona or California smog certificate is needed. An example is a 2000 non luxury pickup or car that is NAFTA built estimated cost is $500.00 US if you bring it to him. I imagine nice SUVs are more. This is quoted in Feb. this year.

My friend had a 10 year old Chevy pickup [a work truck] nationalized by him for $500.00 US several years ago. He needs the vehicle for 1 1/2 days to have it inspected by ADUANA there.

He does on average 100 vehicle of all sorts per month. That indicates he makes after paying expenses on a tiny office and an assistant about $50,000 US per year and is happy with that.

I cannot understand why Nuevo Laredo importers are charging about $700.00 US to $1,000 US fees per vehicle to Expats that are 10 years old. I imagine Mexican Nationals are not willing to pay those fees.