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rondavis

Aug 22, 2004, 3:33 PM

Post #1 of 11 (690 views)

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Moving to Mexico By Owner Purchased Cargo Van

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Since I will be moving to Mexico soon and have been checking on the options available to move my household goods, I am considering trading my old small car for an equally old Cargo Van such as a Chevolet Astro Van (10 years old or more).

Money is very tight so I am not considering the use of
Mexican moving companies. My plan would be to return the
Van to the USA and sell it afterwards. Then I would be
free to purchase an older Mexican auto.

The concerns I have are with the temporay importation of this vehicle with Rear Wheel drive and a gross weight of 5600 pounds.

Does anyone have knowledge about this method of moving to
Mexico.

I have downloaded a Aduana Mexican Customs statement on this subject titled Importacion Temporal de Vehiculos"" (excuse the missing puntuation marks on the "o" of Inportacion - not on my keyboard).

After translating into English it appears that this might be possible since the gross weight is between 2727 and 7272 kilograms (5600 pounds). Also there is mention of 50% of General Importation Tax. I don't know what that would be or even if it applies since much of the report is talking about the strip or border regions and it is very difficult to determine exactly what they are talking about.

The move will be to the city of Chapala in Jalisco, Mexico.

esperanza

Aug 22, 2004, 5:11 PM

Post #2 of 11 (666 views)

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Re: [rondavis] Moving to Mexico By Owner Purchased Cargo Van

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Ron, I moved to Mexico in a 1991 Chevy Astrovan loaded to the gills with the household goods I didn't want to entrust to the shipper. I had no problem; nobody even raised an eyebrow. That old van is still cranking along just fine--I drive it nearly every day. I wouldn't bother with the cargo van, just get a regular one and take out the seats. You could store them till you get back to the USA and put them back in to sell the van. Since I was shipping the rest of my stuff on an FM3 anyway, I shipped the seats and re-installed them when I got here.

Or you could just keep the van here and use it. Mine has 178,000+ miles on it and runs like new.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

rondavis

Aug 23, 2004, 5:07 AM

Post #3 of 11 (632 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Moving to Mexico By Owner Purchased Cargo Van

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Great, I am happy to hear that this method of moving is possible. I appreciate your prompt reply.

What do you know about the Ïmportation General Tax"? Does it apply to an FMT-3 move? I already have all the information about the FMT-3 for my area which is different as directed by each different Consulate officer.

ALso when I went to the local consulate in Omaha, Nebraska which is the nearest office for Mexico here. The person I spoke to talked about a wait time of 48 hours on the US side to import a vehicle and 72 hours on the Mexican side for the same thing. The individual was some what vague about this and said that I would have to talk to Customs about it.

Can you fill in any of the blanks here from your experience with this same type of move ?

Rolly

Aug 23, 2004, 5:20 AM

Post #4 of 11 (630 views)

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Re: [rondavis] Moving to Mexico By Owner Purchased Cargo Van

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Those wait times are nonsense. The only waiting you'll do is standing in line to get your papers processed. That can be anywhere from nothing to an hour or so depending on how busy they are.

When you say "Importation General Tax," do you mean import duty on your belongings? If so, you will be changed an import duty unless you have a menaje de casa. If you don't know about a menaje, take a look here: http://rollybrook.com/...o_move_to_mexico.htm

Avoid crossing the border at Laredo. The Columbia crossing is much better. Do a Search Posts to find more info on Columbia. The Columbia crossing is a bit harder to get to than Laredo, but the ease of crossing there is so much better than the crunch at Laredo.

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

(This post was edited by Rolly on Aug 23, 2004, 5:25 AM)

esperanza

Aug 23, 2004, 6:20 AM

Post #5 of 11 (621 views)

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Re: [Rolly] Moving to Mexico By Owner Purchased Cargo Van

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Ron, listen to Rolly. He's an excellent source of information.

To clarify one thing, there are several types of visas: FMT (the tourist visa for vacationers), the FM3 (the visa you're talking about), and some others that you needn't worry about. If you talk to your consulate about an FMT3, you will simply confuse the issue.

Rolly mentioned that you will be charged duty. In fact, you may be charged duty: if you come across the border with an FM3 but without a menaje de casa, you could get the green light at customs and pay no duty. However, you need to be prepared to ante up.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Rolly

Aug 23, 2004, 6:53 AM

Post #6 of 11 (612 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Moving to Mexico By Owner Purchased Cargo Van

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You will be charged a duty vs. You may be changed a duty.

Without meaning to sound argumentative, here is a little insight on an often misunderstood event. When you drive into Mexico you are allowed to bring, duty free, 50 dollars worth of non-personal items (300 dollars if you fly in). If you have more than that amount of goods, you are supposed to declare the items. You are not supposed to use the red/green light as a gamble in hopes of avoiding paying a duty. By all reports, tourists are usually allowed to get away with this violation of the rules (not declaring). But if the authorities choose to enforce the rules, you could be in a lot of trouble. Failure to declare is called smuggling, and the penalty can be the confiscation of the items and a fine of three times their value.

Personally, I would declare.

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

(This post was edited by Rolly on Aug 23, 2004, 6:56 AM)

moonfam5

Aug 23, 2004, 7:17 AM

Post #7 of 11 (606 views)

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Re: [Rolly] Moving to Mexico By Owner Purchased Cargo Van

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I would declare also, but if they household items (not new, still in the package) by all means do not declare the price you paid for them! If used, they are worth 10% of their original value...that can add up to quite a bit. Hope it helps.
Wink

The more I learn, I less I know.

esperanza

Aug 23, 2004, 7:19 AM

Post #8 of 11 (605 views)

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Re: [Rolly] Moving to Mexico By Owner Purchased Cargo Van

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What Rolly says is true...but...I know people who have declared and have not been charged duty.

And just to clarify how I came across the border in my van full of household goods: my partner and I each acquired an FM3 and a menaje de casa. The majority of our household goods (including those van seats) went with a shipper (not a mover) under one name and menaje. The balance of delicate items and some electronics came in the van under the other name and menaje.

From our home in California we had hired a customs broker in El Paso and faxed all the necessary documents to him prior to our arrival. We arranged an appointment with him early on the day we planned to cross the border. His team of workers inspected our household goods and compared everything with the menaje. When they finished, we were accompanied across the border, paid the customs fee (not duty; the customs charge at that time for processing a menaje de casa was $131.00USD) and went with us through the import process. Everything went very smoothly, although our anxiety level had been sky-high.

This all happened some years ago. The customs broker we hired had never worked with such a small load; his normal business was 53' trailer-loads. He just shook his head when we asked what his charge to work with us was. No charge.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

N2Futur

Aug 23, 2004, 9:36 AM

Post #9 of 11 (575 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Moving to Mexico By Owner Purchased Cargo Van

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I can confirm what Esperanza said about declaring items and not being charged. My husband and a friend took down an SUV load full of household items to furnish our rental at Lake Chapala with a FMT only, no menaje, in March (Laredo). Items included used and new small appliances. I packed and labeled all boxes, postioned the electrical stuff for easy identification of SN#s close to the doors, such as TV, stereo, microwave, etc and typed lists of both, old and new stuff, plus I had receipts for all the new stuff and most of the used items. They went through the "ITEMS TO DECLARE" lane and were prepared to pay the import duty. That was at 5 am in the morning. The customs officer looked at the easily identifiable equipment and had my husband unload 2 more boxes and looked through them. Then came the headscratching and trying to figure out how much import duty to charge. He decided our stuff was'nt worth charging for and waved them through. They were lucky too and got the greenlight both times.
We went back in June with another load full, this time through El Paso and through the "NOTHING TO DECLARE LANE", got lucky again, green lights both times (at border and the 30 km Aduana Checkpoint).

Elke
___________________________
"When choosing between two evils, I always like to pick the one I never tried before." - Mae West

Judy in Ags

Aug 24, 2004, 7:37 AM

Post #10 of 11 (497 views)

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Re: [N2Futur] Moving to Mexico By Owner Purchased Cargo Van

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We went back in June with another load full, this time through El Paso and through the "NOTHING TO DECLARE LANE", got lucky again, green lights both times (at border and the 30 km Aduana Checkpoint).

Has anyone ever had the experience of going through the NOTHING TO DECLARE lane at the border, and then getting stopped at the 30 km (some are much farther, I believe)?

Last time we came through Piedras Negras with our van loaded and although we got a green light, we stopped to declare (it wasn't even clearly marked where to do that) and paid about $50 (USD). We were really glad we had because when we got to the 30 (?) km aduana checkpoint we were stopped and asked for our documenmtation on what we had declared and paid for at the border. They let us through without looking at anything.

The inspector did try to tell us that our vehicle permit was expired. Of course that is what the sticker says, but we explained to him that having a valid FM3 validates the vehicle sticker. (We had verified that both at customs here in Ags. and in Laredo). He checked with his supervisor and told us we were correct and lightened up and was very friendly after that.

esperanza

Aug 24, 2004, 8:17 AM

Post #11 of 11 (484 views)

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Re: [Judy in Ags] Moving to Mexico By Owner Purchased Cargo Van

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On my last driving trip from the border I was stopped at Km 30 after going through the "Nothing to Declare" lane. Like your experience, the officer was concerned about my 'expired' car sticker. I showed him the copy of the law that I keep in my glove box for just such occasions and we had a very pleasant chat about that and a couple of other things. He waved me through without inspecting what was in my van.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com