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Driving a Mexican plated car to the US


Earl

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1 hour ago, Mainecoons said:

Drive up there 2-3 times per year with my Jalisco plates, never been stopped or harassed in any way.  Only in Texas and New Mexico, however.  

 

 

Just to note that in almost 50 adult years in northern California, I don't think I've seen more than two or three Mexican plates, and I've been looking.  Really, plates from the southern and midwest US are almost as rare... 

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3 hours ago, Mainecoons said:

Drive up there 2-3 times per year with my Jalisco plates, never been stopped or harassed in any way.  Only in Texas and New Mexico, however.  

 

 

Agree 100% 

"suspicious" traffic stops being done in the US now.  ?? where and what statistics. I have friends and relatives in the USA with Jalisco plates who have never been stopped. I travel in the USA at least 2 months of the year with Jalisco plates. Stopped once but I was traveling 85 in a 75 zone. Very polite and asked me to please drive slower. 

 
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Since the legalization of marijuana in some states there has been an increase in stops for questionable suspicions. Not just out of country plates either. Besides, the suggestion of a license plate frame is easy and legal .  There have been reports of getting pulled over and if the officer "thinks" he smells marijuana they fabricate a reason to get a K9 inspection and there have been reports of officers planting drugs albeit rare.

I'd rather reduce the likelihood of getting pulled over at all even if I have nothing to hide.

 

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10 minutes ago, ea93105 said:

Since the legalization of marijuana in some states there has been an increase in stops for questionable suspicions. Not just out of country plates either. Besides, the suggestion of a license plate frame is easy and legal .  There have been reports of getting pulled over and if the officer "thinks" he smells marijuana they fabricate a reason to get a K9 inspection and there have been reports of officers planting drugs albeit rare.

I'd rather reduce the likelihood of getting pulled over at all even if I have nothing to hide.

 

Yes surely logic says someone with Jalisco plates would be in the USA to buy  & use illegal marijuana and thus be more likely to be stopped.  hahahaha

If a patrol wanted to play the odds they would only pull over local plates. Far better odds of finding a marijuana user. 

Your suggestion that there  suspicious" traffic stops is a purely emotional one.       As Mr. Spock would  say "not logical" ...nor is it the experience of those of us who drive in the US with Jalisco plates. 

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I'm not saying that having Mexican plates will make you a big target, sorry if it came across as an alarm. I've driven in the US with MX plates as well without any issues. But has America become more of a "us vs them" place, I think so. Sometimes the "them" is simply  someone from another state. Do I think there a cops with prejudices ?, I do. So therefore I chose to blend in and a cheap license plate frame helps to do that ( not a guarantee), even if it reduces the odds of getting pulled over from 2% to 1%. 

Yes, there are people being pulled over simply because they have out of state plates. No statistics, but actual videos of people going through that. I was once pulled over in Arkansas ( my vehicle had California plates) for no reason, agreed to have my vehicle searched. Ended up standing by the side of the road for an hour before they let me go. Do I think if I had a "Go Razorbacks" license plate frame it might have made a difference, maybe

I won't agree to a vehicle search so easily anymore.

 

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, ea93105 said:

I'm not saying that having Mexican plates will make you a big target, sorry if it came across as an alarm. I've driven in the US with MX plates as well without any issues. But has America become more of a "us vs them" place, I think so. Sometimes the "them" is simply  someone from another state. Do I think there a cops with prejudices ?, I do. So therefore I chose to blend in and a cheap license plate frame helps to do that ( not a guarantee), even if it reduces the odds of getting pulled over from 2% to 1%. 

Yes, there are people being pulled over simply because they have out of state plates. No statistics, but actual videos of people going through that. I was once pulled over in Arkansas ( my vehicle had California plates) for no reason, agreed to have my vehicle searched. Ended up standing by the side of the road for an hour before they let me go. Do I think if I had a "Go Razorbacks" license plate frame it might have made a difference, maybe

I won't agree to a vehicle search so easily anymore.

 

 

 

 

Sorry you had a bad experience. Certainly not the norm. And if they asked to search your vehicle their was probably something that caused them to ask ??? And in the videos you are citing I guess the officer admits " i pulled you over for out of state plates"

I am not politically motivated, nor do I believe that Canada, the USA, nor Mexico is and increasingly "us vs them" country

All of my Mexican relatives living in the USA are treated with total respect, and none have experienced an "us vs them" attitude. 

And please don't waste time citing a publicized example that is a 1 in 100,000 event. That happens in every country in the world, but certainly does not express how that countries populace feels in general. 

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Here is one example of being targeted: ( there are many more )

He was pulled over because he didn't have his turn signals on for "5 seconds". Ya right, anyone believe that ? Colorado plates are being targeted because of legalization of marijuana there. In this case he did have some, but that's not the point.

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4 hours ago, Mostlylost said:

Sorry you had a bad experience. Certainly not the norm. And if they asked to search your vehicle their was probably something that caused them to ask ??? And in the videos you are citing I guess the officer admits " i pulled you over for out of state plates"

I am not politically motivated, nor do I believe that Canada, the USA, nor Mexico is and increasingly "us vs them" country

All of my Mexican relatives living in the USA are treated with total respect, and none have experienced an "us vs them" attitude. 

And please don't waste time citing a publicized example that is a 1 in 100,000 event. That happens in every country in the world, but certainly does not express how that countries populace feels in general. 

I should have stated no good reason. I was driving a vintage ("hippie" to them I think ) vw bus and it was very windy. All vehicles were being buffeted around but my empty bus more so than others. I was staying in my lane the whole time however. So the reason for the pullover was to see if I was impaired by something and we know what all vw busses "must" have inside right ?  Plus it was winter, so standing outside in the wind was miserable. I shouldn't have agreed to a search in retrospect, but I had never been asked before and had no idea what was involved.

I had to open rear engine cover for them, they had never seen a such a drivetrain layout, so many potential hiding spots in their eyes I guess.

At least they shook my hand at the end lol

 

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Just a caution on the liability rider in the US on your Mexican policy that most people do not know about.  Your liability rider may be for only $100K and may actually specify the states where it is valid, so read it!  This is legally sufficient in southern states like TX, NM or AZ BUT you may find that the minimum required by law is higher in other states.  When I drove up north there were many states, plus Canada, that required minimum liability of more than $100K, so I had to buy a rider for $300K.  You can check state by state online that you are visiting to verify minimums in the states where you  will be visiting. 

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8 hours ago, BrianInMexico said:

Just a caution on the liability rider in the US on your Mexican policy that most people do not know about.  Your liability rider may be for only $100K and may actually specify the states where it is valid, so read it!  This is legally sufficient in southern states like TX, NM or AZ BUT you may find that the minimum required by law is higher in other states.  When I drove up north there were many states, plus Canada, that required minimum liability of more than $100K, so I had to buy a rider for $300K.  You can check state by state online that you are visiting to verify minimums in the states where you  will be visiting. 

Would that also be a good idea if you live in the USA and travel to different states? I never considered that before. 

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