BajaNomad

Moving Household Goods into Mexicali with FM-3

CortezBlue - 6-23-2007 at 11:21 AM

I have an FM3 and I am planning on moving couches, chairs, dressers, pots pans etc. to the casa. I went to the Mexican Counselate and picked up the document that has the directions on how to make a list of goods to take in. My question is this. I was told to bring the list back and pay $127 US Dollars for a certificate to take the goods across the border, however, the man told me "I have to use a freight forwarding company" to cross it. I have had several folks tell me that is not true. Can I here some stories of gringos that have personally moved furniture into mexico with an FM3 on their own?

Thanks

Manaja de Casa

CaboRon - 6-23-2007 at 04:55 PM

Hola, In response to your question about preparing your Manaja de Casa to import your houshold belongings duty free. You will find the rules and requirements vary with each consulate, and then they may be interpreted diferently by the Officer at the border (who has the ultimate say about these maters). I am currently preparing mine through the Consolate in Santa Anna (Orange County). As to the use of a customs broker; I simply could not afford the twelve hundred dollars US for this service, so I am preparing the documents and packing myself. I have had experience preparing Carne Documents for customs clearence moving band and show equipment in and out of countries during a tour. And my experience is that customs officers the world over seem very concerned that the inventory matches the paperwork. There have been many posts on this forum about this and you might have some luck using the search option at the top of this page. Now I'll leave it up to people who have actually crossed with their belongings to provide further insite. Good Luck, CaboRon:cool:

amir - 6-23-2007 at 05:33 PM

CortezBlue,

A few weeks ago there was a thread on this Board that discussed your very questions.
Here is the link to it:

http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=24835

Good Luck!
--Amir

Price - 6-25-2007 at 05:40 PM

Two years ago we moved all our household goods from Las Vegas to San Felipe - we had 4 guys from San Felipe come to Vegas - we rented a truck & they got the stuff to SF & turned in the truck in Calexico - total cost was under 1000 - they even put the furniture where I wanted it !! that cost us 2 six packs of cervesa !!!!

BajaWarrior - 6-25-2007 at 09:08 PM

Took a household of furniture, I mean enough for our new three bedroom home complete, beds complete, dressers, 3 couches, dinette set, cart bbq, nightstands, coffee table, end tables, boxes of kitchen goods,whole house, all on my 20' flatbed trailer.

It was all of our previous personal furniture as we remodeled here in San Diego and retired the gently used items down south.

$60 cash, in and out in less than 4 minutes, swear...

Of course, I had a reciept, that I made myself. Itemizing all of the items, and also listed a price at the bottom which I presented. $550

Pretty much priced each item at $30 to $40 and that's what I came up with for a used price in the event we were going the "above board" route.

To use your FM-3 is really just going to cost you a lot more money. Keep your total under $1000. And if some of those smaller items can be stashed in larger items, or in your personal gear bags, all the better, they don't inspect vehicles in the Declaration at Mexicali East.

Also, we brought in every bit of building material the same way at the same border, with the same type of reciept and on the same trailer. Brought down everything but the slab, septic, and brick.

Good luck. U2U for more info.

Mango - 6-25-2007 at 10:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Price
Two years ago we moved all our household goods from Las Vegas to San Felipe - we had 4 guys from San Felipe come to Vegas - we rented a truck & they got the stuff to SF & turned in the truck in Calexico - total cost was under 1000 - they even put the furniture where I wanted it !! that cost us 2 six packs of cervesa !!!!


I was a mover in college. You got really good at putting furniture where it should go the first time pretty fast, told by the homeowner or not. It saves a lot of work, instead of having to move stuff across a room for a second or third time, etc.

I think there are some serious interior decorators out there are disguised as movers. :lol: