oladulce - 9-26-2009 at 10:35 AM
We've had a couple of freight/moving companies give on site quotes this week to compare the price of having them move our household stuff to BCS vs
hauling it ourselves, and learned a few things.
According to a very knowledgeable Baja transport logistics man, "Menaje de Casa" is the term for Mexicans who have been living out of the country and
will be returning to MX with household goods.
He says there is no catch phrase for *** "newly-acquired-FM-holders
(foreigners)-one-time-duty-free-moving-of-household-items-in-to Mexico-allowance".
I don't know if this is new, if it's been used incorrectly all along, or if if his info is accurate, but according to him a "Menaje" is not the
correct term for what most of us would be doing. The MX consular website does seems to use the term "Menaje" only when referring to MX nationals...
He confirmed that when you do this ***, you do not go to the Mexican consulate with your list of items first
anymore- you don't need the consular stamp on your list. You still need to do your detailed inventory of household items and especially focus on
electronics. One serial number transposed can trigger a very thorough inspection and unwrapping of your carefully packaged goods.
To correct a couple of inaccurate posts made recently, you have 6 months to do this *** after
receiving your FM3.
He emphasized that your household items are supposed to be "used", and said that the aduana agents aren't dummies. Said he had a client who confirmed
that all of her household goods were "used" and his company had a truck load of her stuff to move to Cabo.
Aduana found the Sears sales sticker along with all the owners manuals still inside her fridge which triggered them to completely unload his truck.
His driver had to pay the import duty for this obviously new appliance and then the lady had the nerve to refuse to reimburse them.
I asked him how aduana agents determine the age of items because I take very good care of alot of my stuff and would like to transport in their
original boxes? He said that if they have doubt if an item is new or used, they have clever ways like checking for dust bunnies underneath or for wear
on belts or moving parts for appliances etc.
In anticipation of the move, for the past few months I've been accumulating the water-saving, max energy efficient appliances that we'll use in the
Baja solar casa so they can look a little worn in. We had the bright idea to put an open bowl of garlic in soysauce in the new fridge we've got in our
garage that's bound for BCS so the smell will give the illusion that it's worn in. DO NOT DO THIS !! Open the door and you got a whiff out on the
sidewalk! We're working on the dust bunnies and Tecate can label smudges instead.
Osprey - 9-26-2009 at 11:18 AM
Things are always changing in Mexico so don't go by me but this is how it went down when I did it. San Bernardino made me do the list twice because I
failed to nail down all the serial numbers and I left some spaces. I had to make the drive from Vegas to San Berdoo a couple of times to get the
maneje right. When I crossed i had a Mexican national meet me at Tecate to help me. Didn't do much good because even though the rule is supposed to be
free I still had to pay an agent $100 dollars for a fee, a form. I was then rushed through with no chance for inspection and on my way.
[Edited on 9-26-2009 by Osprey]
[Edited on 9-26-2009 by Osprey]
vandenberg - 9-26-2009 at 12:57 PM
We did it in the late 80's, so a lot must have changed since than. But my story may give you some ideas. We had movers give us a quote (from
Sacramento) and the cheapest we could come up with was $5000.00. Having a brainstorm, I decided to do it myself and found a large, 24ft cabover old U
Haul, with loading ramp for the measly sum of $3300.00. Got our FM3's, made up a Maneje de Casa, got it stamped for $72.00 at the Sacramento
consulate, loaded the U Haul to the roll up back door ( plus my lumberrack equiped pick up ), and headed for the border. Vehicles were so full, you
couldn't add a phone book to them. Had to go through the SY truck crossing at 7am. They did not accept my MdC, but (and they were very nice, I might
add) made us go to an importer just accross the border (walked us over) and enter our MdC into their computer, charged us another $72.00 and walked
us back to our vehicles. Then, the boss escorted us to the aduana control, handed them our new papers and told them to let us through. They never
looked at anything.
And we had tons of very expensive and new stuff. Too much to even mention.
We had a place in Tripui in those days, while we were building in Loreto. Had all the stuff stored in that U Haul for 2 years, before the house was
finally ready for it.
Drove that U Haul back to Sacramento and after a few weeks sold it for $3400.00.
Overall a good deal I might add.
longlegsinlapaz - 9-26-2009 at 01:53 PM
Oladulce, in 2000, United Van Lines brought a 40' container across with virtually 2 households of possessions in it. Of course it got the red light!!
Many boxes were opened & things were unwrapped & not repacked & arrived in La Paz damaged, but a claim to United took care of most. No
Aduana taxes. All my dust bunnies were genuine!
Right now I'm too hard from your post to comment further!
nbacc - 9-26-2009 at 02:36 PM
We did it Last Oct. Had a trailer (hauling trailer) packed full of household things. Our fm3s were more than 6 months old as we had waited for
cooler weather to do the deed. MOST of ours was used from our own house in the states...a good excuse to buy new things for ourselves here. We
declared it all...they looked and we dickered and payed (and had expected to) . If you only payed $100 you got a bargin!!! We went through Mexicali
East. Took 30 min and we were on our way.
oladulce - 9-28-2009 at 10:05 AM
Thank you for your responses and u2u's sharing moving experiences as well as the pep talks.
I think the logistics of moving our stuff to BCS has been so confusing because of an observation we made while back while waiting to import items at
San Ysidro. The Aduana agent and a non-Mexican man in front of us were having a heated discussion, pointing to a thick book which appeared to list the
market value of used goods. We couldn't hear their conversation but it looked like the man's truck full of household-looking stuff was being itemized
and the values questioned.
That left the impression that when it came time to move to Baja, doing a Menaje de Casa and having our list already prepared would make for a much
smoother crossing. Going the Menaje route to avoid paying import duty isn't important at all actually.
But if we can avoid unloading our meager worldly goods in a border parking lot (after spending weeks carefully packing them), or avoid sitting for 8
hours at Otay Mesa waiting for the broker and Aduana and inspectors (as was our experience to import only $3000 worth of solar panels and
batteries!)- it would be HUGE.
Also influencing our decisions was something a broker told us a few years ago: that new items over $5000 value is considered a commercial importation
and it can not be mixed with any personal goods that you won't be declaring. So we were going to have a freight transport company import and bring
down the new panels, batteries, generator, windows, and doors etc.
But the stories and messages from other Nomads seem to indicate that it might be doable to handle the move ourselves- and mixing new items for import
with our used goods might be no big deal. Many have reported experiences similar to nbacc's- they pulled up at the border and flung open the doors of
their trailer which was packed to the gills and said "here it is", and were out of there in less than an hour.
And Loretana shared that the detailed list of items for the huge load of goods that they imported went smoothly also.
The purchase of a much bigger cargo trailer, the time spent packing, a few extra trips up and down the Peninsula, and a game-plan for the border
crossing VS paying someone thousands of dollars to deal with it??? hmmm....
I'll tally up the costs and effort required for both and we'll think on it.
You're right vandenberg, a large cargo trailer would be useful for storage during construction.
oladulce - 9-28-2009 at 10:17 AM
I think I found a clarification of the Menaje terminology morgaine7. (on Rolly's site, of course).
It sounds like a Menaje de Casa can be applied to anyone bringing their household goods when moving to Mexico. But only a Mexican who has been living
abroad must bring their itemized list to get stamped at a consular office prior entering the country.
Foreigners do not need the consular stamp anymore, which is what the mover must have been trying to explain.
nbacc - 9-28-2009 at 02:51 PM
Just remember there are reciepts and there are reciepts.
oladulce - 9-28-2009 at 10:33 PM
This afternoon we received one of the bids for moving our household goods from San clemente to San Juanico (Pacific side). This is from an
international subsidiary of United and Mayflower Van Lines.
The items we're taking don't fill one bedrm of a 2 bedrm condo- no dining table or chairs, one mattress without boxspring or frame, small love seat
and 2 chairs, couple of desks, couple of office chairs, table saw and misc hand tools, fridge, washer.
Hang on to your pants...
$12,000 dollars.
Maybe the google satellite picture BigWooo sent them of 12 miles of washboard road scared them off.
Still waiting for the other quote, but it's looking like we'll be buying a larger cargo trailer and doing the hauling ourselves.
[Edited on 9-29-2009 by oladulce]
bajadock - 9-28-2009 at 11:02 PM
An option, if you have a trailer-friendly vehicle, is to cross south on a Sunday morning between 7AM and 9AM. You can buy a trailer for $1,000 and
use it forever or sell it for $500 when you are finished.
I had two successes with above strategy during my 2007 furniture move. Email me for more, as my reputation as the frugal gringo is growing.
Doc