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Illegal US plated vehicles in area


kurtvidal

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Then, why does Jalisco traffic law require that a foreign vehicl must be legal to drive in its home jurisdiction?  I think Spencer has posted a link to those laws & they may be still available. Yes, it is in Spanish.  Search, study, read, understand !

In any case, it is foolish to think that any vehicle, on public roads anywhere in the world, would not be required to be legally registered somewhere.  It is either wishfull thinking, or we have a lot of fools about.

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Never been enforced, and when I pushed back, they said it didn't matter. I've read those rules; no need to be patronizing. I have also driven through the US. many times with outdated stickers, returning from here to Canada, and had no problems, even when stopped for speeding. The car is registered; just not up-to-date.

If anyone cared to enforce (and I'm not about to go back and reread those regs), then the OP wouldn't have had anything to comment on.

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Exactly CGuy.  That's the reason I ask.  If the local law is not enforced...why legalize?  That's why I was looking for a guess from someone out there.  My purpose in question: I'm thinking of going that route with a vehicle I own that has expired TIP and US registration (ie: not legalizing lakeside and not driving it any further than Guadalajara).

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OK, then.  What will you do if you have an accident and injure someone? Will you expect to be excused from jail and not have your car impounded or even confiscated?  Those are the times when every detail of the law will be used to your disadvantage.   Are you “special“?

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40 minutes ago, ComputerGuy said:

Never been enforced, and when I pushed back, they said it didn't matter. I've read those rules; no need to be patronizing. I have also driven through the US. many times with outdated stickers, returning from here to Canada, and had no problems, even when stopped for speeding. The car is registered; just not up-to-date.

If anyone cared to enforce (and I'm not about to go back and reread those regs), then the OP wouldn't have had anything to comment on.

Is your car insurance in force NOB if the car's registration is not up-to-date?

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In Puerto Vallarta I'm told there is a system in place for just this problem. First year you pay $1000 pesos and then $500 each year after. That buys you immunity from the local police only. You're on your own with Estatal or Federales. They tell people to avoid the airport with their chocolates because of all the Federales.

Just another example of how we're not in Kansas anymore.

We have a Mexican plated vehicle so not needed but 2 owners in our building are club members and our handyman collects the annual dues and passes them on. Recently one of their cars was towed for being illegally parked. I asked the owner if he was worried about it being impounded for good. He laughed and said no. He bailed it out later that day. No harm, no foul.

 

 

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There is an insurance company which insures U.S. and Canadian vehicles but it is limited to liabilty and underinsured protection. The law requires you carry liability insurance. Lewis and Lewis offer this insurance, and their policy paperwork is impressive/professional. They require that the vehicle be registered in the U.S. or Canada, but the plates do not have to be current. In some States/Provinces, registration is tied to your plates.

There are something like 2.5 million of these vehicles in Mexico. If there ever became an exodus, of Mexicans leaving the U.S.  crossing back into Mexico, that number will double in a very short time. A large percentage of the chocolates here are hoopties. Ironically, the police stay away from hoopties, because they figure they have no money.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hoop-d%2C hoopdie%2C hoopdy%2C HOOPTIE%2C hoop-t%2C hoopty%2C hooptee%2C etc

If your ride is in one of these pics, you will have no problem fitting in at all! Just make sure you get the insurance.

More Hoopties

What is Mexican Jalisco Spanish for a Hooptie?

Sorry to hijack this thread, but this hooptie blogger in NYC is hilarious! Should tell him to visit rural Mexico on his next vacations. I swear I saw this same 1974 Nova in Chapala the other day.

http://nychoopties.blogspot.mx/2014/05/no-va-means-not-going-in-spanish.html

 

 

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In Canada, your province will not issue a yearly sticker unless you are insured. Paying for insurance while not actually residing with your vehicle is not the wisest thing to do. Those who stay here on Temporale will generally not be going back regularly to do such a thing. Thus there is no way to keep up to date. Registration at home, and current Mexican insurance, are what is important.

Temporary Import Permits are, of course, a different beast altogether. However, it is also true that while you have a Temporale, your TIP is in force no matter how long ago you got it at the border.

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7 hours ago, ComputerGuy said:

In Canada, your province will not issue a yearly sticker unless you are insured. Paying for insurance while not actually residing with your vehicle is not the wisest thing to do. Those who stay here on Temporale will generally not be going back regularly to do such a thing. Thus there is no way to keep up to date. Registration at home, and current Mexican insurance, are what is important.

Temporary Import Permits are, of course, a different beast altogether. However, it is also true that while you have a Temporale, your TIP is in force no matter how long ago you got it at the border.

I don't know about other provinces, but this is not true in BC with ICBC. They have something called rate class 919. It is for a vehicle which is non-operational if you are in Canada, or you can get it in the case of what we are taking about here- your vehicle is in Mexico but Canadian insurance would not be valid here, therefore a useless waste of $. They don't advertise this and most people don't know that it exists, but it does. You pay the registration fee, but you don't pay for insurance. I did this for several years, using Lewis and Lewis insurance, until I became permanente and bought a Mex. vehicle.

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This topic is not about insurance, or whether you can get it. It is about the legality of your vehicle being operated on public roads, anywhere, without current registration & plates in its home jurisdiction.  If it is not currently legal to drive your car in the US or Canadian jurisdiction, it is not legal to drive it in Mexico; even if the car has been legally and temporarily imported into Mexico and displays a current Importada Temporal sticker, updated to match the expiration of your visa.     ¡Nada mas!

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19 minutes ago, RVGRINGO said:

This topic is not about insurance, or whether you can get it. It is about the legality of your vehicle being operated on public roads, anywhere, without current registration & plates in its home jurisdiction.  It it is not currently legal to drive your car in the US or Canadian jurisdiction, it is not legal to drive it in Mexico; even if the car has been legally and temporarily imported into Mexico and displays a current Importada Temporal sticker, updated to match the expiration of your visa.     ¡Nada mas!

Not only is this good advice as enforcement continues to tighten in this country, it is good advice given that relations with the U.S. are in a period of readjustment and things aren't exactly warm and fuzzy at the moment and probably won't be for a while.

Never give the police or transitos here any reason to notice you was the advice we got 9 years ago and I think that is even better today.  Right now with the exchange rate pretty lopsided is a great time to swap out that U.S. car if you are here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Our personal experience is that the transito/cop hassles ceased once we got Mexican plates.  YMMV.

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I reread the Jalisco regs completely and can find no reference to that statement. I did find a regulation that says your headlights have to be on all day in Jalisco.

And YES, this topic has to include insurance, for my reasons stated above: no insurance in Ontario, no yearly tags. No yearly tags, no way to be current.

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More than several older US and Canadian plated cars were given to maids or gardeners when the ban on ownership of them for Res Permanent began. These cars wouldn't make it to the border to legalize them.

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TX has wrapped insurance, inspection and plates all together. To get plates you have to have a current inspection which requires current insurance. We've even done away with the inspection sticker on the windshield and there's a growing sentiment to eliminate the inspection process completely.

As for rain, that's easy, when you get 1" or more in a day according to ChapalaWeather, the official season has begun. You guys haven't had any since early Dec?

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