BajaNomad

Giving car from US to someone in Mexico.

grace59 - 4-27-2010 at 09:29 PM

Hi all, We have a 1997 Ford F-150 that we want to give to a friend of ours in Mexico. Has anyone ever done this before? What is the right way to do this? Do we have to import the truck? How do we change title? Is there an agency that I need to contact to gather information? Thanks for any help that you can give us. We want to make sure that we do this the right way so that our friend can keep the truck without getting into trouble and in a way where we are no longer liable for the truck. Thanks

mulegemichael - 4-27-2010 at 09:40 PM

...well...i really don't know..really..but i have given three different vehicles away down here without any problems yet over the past 15 years or so...the last one, in mulege this past december, seemed to be easy...i drove it down, gave it to my amigo, and he promptly went to town and got some kind of temporary/permanent sticker on it...he says it's forever..so i don't know..in the little towns where i turned the rigs over, it's no problem as the feds aren't looking but i know in the bigger places it can be a problem...in mulege; a perm/temp sticker seems to foot the bill

TonyC - 4-28-2010 at 03:07 AM

It's not cheap. My amigo (national) was given a truck, and it was over $1100. U.S. for proper paper work..... I admire you for wanting to do it right.

He was told by the cops (Fed) to drive local (San Quintin) and he wouldn't have a problem with them. No drives to Ensenada.

[Edited on 4-28-2010 by TonyC]

Bob and Susan - 4-28-2010 at 05:08 AM

actually it's pretty easy

you bring it down
sign over the title to your friend
he needs the title for cheaper registration
no title it costs more but possible

clear your name with the DMV in the states
that you sold it

your friend takes it to Onapafa or Annapromex (sp)
it will cost about $150-$200 usa and good for 10 years

these places give the new owner a "special" drivers license
to drive it and a sticker for the window

1997FordF150.jpg - 25kB

toneart - 4-28-2010 at 10:25 AM

California has a Notice of Non-Responsibility form that is attached to the Pink Slip (The Vehicle Title). You just detach it, fill it out and send it to the California DMV. I am assuming the State of Washington has something similar.

As for the recipient's requirements for registering the vehicle in Baja, the onus is on him/her to deal with it. Fill out the Pink Slip and give it to him/her along with the vehicle registration. You are off the hook.

grace59 - 4-28-2010 at 06:11 PM

Thanks for the replies. I will check our title for the truck and see if we have a Non-responsibility form on it. If not I will ask the DMV about it.

DENNIS - 4-28-2010 at 07:01 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by grace59
Thanks for the replies. I will check our title for the truck and see if we have a Non-responsibility form on it. If not I will ask the DMV about it.


When filling out the form, don't let an absence of details stop the procedure. I've given away a half dozen cars to friends and some don't even know their own address. Just make up the details. Nobody checks.

Bob and Susan - 4-28-2010 at 07:01 PM

http://www.dol.wa.gov/forms/420062.pdf

wa.jpg - 47kB

grace59 - 4-28-2010 at 08:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bob and Susan
http://www.dol.wa.gov/forms/420062.pdf

Thanks Bob and Susan, That makes things so easy! There are so many helpful people on this forum.

MitchMan - 4-29-2010 at 06:56 AM

This is incredible. Recently, there were several threads that dealt with getting rid of a USA plated vehicle in Baja. Bottom line, it was pretty impossible to do this legally without first nationalizing the car in Mexico(legally with regard to Mexican law). I tried to junk my California plated truck in La Paz because it stopped working altogether, but the junk yard would not take it because it was illegal for them to take a USA plated vehcile under any circumstances... and their junk yard gets checked every 3 months for such illegal vehicle possession.

BTW, taking care of absolving yourself of legal liability with the USA state of registration is never a problem. Just fill out the required form and deliver it to your respective DMV and that's all. The issue is absolving yourself from Mexican liability in Mexico and as far as I can tell, there is no such mechanism by which to do that for a USA plated car.

And now, here in this thread, they are saying that all you have to do is sign over the pink slip to a new Mexican owner? There is a major, major disconnect here.

[Edited on 4-29-2010 by MitchMan]

DENNIS - 4-29-2010 at 07:31 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by MitchMan
And now, here in this thread, they are saying that all you have to do is sign over the pink slip to a new Mexican owner? There is a major, major disconnect here.



As I recall, Mitch, you got advice which ran the gamut from "park it on the sidewalk" to "go through all the bullcrap to do it legally"...whatever that means.
If you choose to listen to the faction here who are afraid to leave their house because they may be breaking a law, you won't get anything done.
You know what I mean. :saint:

MitchMan - 4-29-2010 at 03:36 PM

Dennis, I know what you mean. I think that I will just have go with the flow and "get 'er done".

I was just worried about junking my suv at a local junk yard for parts, but having a Mexican buy it, fix it, use it on the baja highways, cause a fatal accident or use it in some heinous crime, having the police look up the vin number of the suv thru the Calif DMV, trace it back to me (the one with the deep pockets, comparatively speaking), and show up at my baja residence and haul me off to jail and confiscate the house because of my being the one who is now and for the rest of my natural life still legally liable for the vehicle pursuant to Mexican law.

That is possible, but very, very, very unlikely to happen. Nothing to really worry about in the real world. People get killed on the highway all the time, every day, but I still drive everyday. Planes crash from time to time, but I still fly. My neighbor told me two people died last year in my neighborhood from dengue fever, but I still walk around at night with short sleeve shirts letting the potentially lethal mosquitos feast on my arms.

[Edited on 4-29-2010 by MitchMan]

Mulegena - 4-29-2010 at 06:59 PM

We've sold or given away six vehicles while here in Baja, each a unique transaction, none done "quite right" perhaps but all to the satisfaction of local authority, apparently.

"Chocolate" is a slang term which means a car which is in someone's possession and regular usage, I think. It does not have legal status. I get the impression that the government is not allowing Chocolates so much these days, requiring the possessor of the car to register it in some fashion, thereby making it legal.

We bought a business which came with an old funky truck as part of the deal. The truck was never in our name nor that of the previous "owner". It was a Chocolate. We didn't want the truck after Hurricane John and sold it giving a signed written bill of sale to the new Mexican owner. Its been a few years, the same guy drives the truck; we always wave at each other. Don't know if he's ever registered it.

We've sold two others cars to the mechanic rather than do the repairs: one a legally registered Mexican vehicle; the other another Chocolate.

I owned great little car that ended up on my fence, drowned in the flood of Hurricane John. I sold it to the same family who bought the truck. I gave them a handwritten bill of sale and my California pink slip. I mailed the non-responsibility form to the DMV. They registered the car and have since sold it. Three and a half years later and its still running around town.

Sold a boat and Pathfinder the same way as above.

There've been several vehicles pass through our hands while in Baja. The expectation is that we give a signed and dated bill of sale as a part of the transaction.

rts551 - 4-29-2010 at 07:53 PM

A lot of interesting answers. I believe it is still a requirement to leave a deposit on your car when traveling to Mexico Mainland. This guarantees you will bring back out of Mexico.

We don't do this in Baja because it is declared free of that requirement. But does the law still exist requiring the vehicle to be brought back to the US when taken into Baja by a visitor?

Mulegena - 4-29-2010 at 07:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by rts551
... does the law still exist requiring the vehicle to be brought back to the US when taken into Baja by a visitor?


Don't know.
Never heard of this.
Who's checking?

rts551 - 4-29-2010 at 08:02 PM

17 miles below the mainland border there is a checkpoint on all major hwys where you must bond you vehicle with a credit card. upon returning you get your bond back

rts551 - 4-29-2010 at 08:15 PM

This is from 1998 and some of the rules have changed... To what I am not sure

http://www.cavetexas.org/mexico/mextips.html

grace59 - 4-29-2010 at 08:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by rts551
17 miles below the mainland border there is a checkpoint on all major hwys where you must bond you vehicle with a credit card. upon returning you get your bond back

Have never had this happen anywhere I have driven in Baja.

bajalou - 4-29-2010 at 09:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by rts551
17 miles below the mainland border there is a checkpoint on all major hwys where you must bond you vehicle with a credit card. upon returning you get your bond back


I have been through the checkpoint at Caborca in Sonora 4-5 years ago and there was no bond. You must pay for your TIP with a credit card but that is all. Haven't heard of it being any different since then.

DENNIS - 4-30-2010 at 07:05 AM

I haven't heard anyone talk of the bond lately, but I thought it was still happening.
Ask Hook. He lives over there. He'll know.

rts551 - 4-30-2010 at 07:21 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajalou
Quote:
Originally posted by rts551
17 miles below the mainland border there is a checkpoint on all major hwys where you must bond you vehicle with a credit card. upon returning you get your bond back


I have been through the checkpoint at Caborca in Sonora 4-5 years ago and there was no bond. You must pay for your TIP with a credit card but that is all. Haven't heard of it being any different since then.


That sticker you pay to put on your windshield is technically the bonding process

bajalou - 4-30-2010 at 07:29 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by rts551

That sticker you pay to put on your windshield is technically the bonding process


Maybe it is, but there is no charge to credit card and no refund when sticker is removed. Also, the TIP is good for as long as you're legal in Mex. -until the expiration of your FM3 or FM2 - including renewals. Or for FMT's, until they expire.

rts551 - 4-30-2010 at 07:53 AM

Maybe it has changed then, use to be like a thousand dollars. Like Dennis says...Hook aught to know
Quote:
Originally posted by bajalou
Quote:
Originally posted by rts551

That sticker you pay to put on your windshield is technically the bonding process


Maybe it is, but there is no charge to credit card and no refund when sticker is removed. Also, the TIP is good for as long as you're legal in Mex. -until the expiration of your FM3 or FM2 - including renewals. Or for FMT's, until they expire.

rts551 - 4-30-2010 at 07:57 AM

Found this on mex-online

Pay the "guarantee return of the vehicle to USA territory" bond via credit card, according to the schedule below.
Model Year Bond Amount
1999 to present US $400
From 1994 to 1998 US $300
Models older than 1994 US $200

You'll be issued your documents, which completes the process for acquiring the certificate. Keep in mind the full process is not completed until you return the certificate upon heading back into the United States, see below.

rts551 - 4-30-2010 at 08:00 AM

And the US Department of State


Vehicle Permits: Tourists wishing to travel beyond the border zone with their vehicle must obtain a temporary import permit or risk having their vehicle confiscated by Mexican customs officials. At present the only exceptions to the requirement are for travel in the Baja Peninsula and in the state of Sonora, and only for vehicles entering through the Nogales port of entry. To acquire a permit, one must submit evidence of citizenship, title for the vehicle, a vehicle registration certificate, a driver's license, and a processing fee to either a Banjercito (Mexican Army Bank) branch located at a Mexican Customs (Aduanas) office at the port of entry, or at one of the Mexican consulates located in the U.S. Mexican law also requires the posting of a bond at a Banjercito office to guarantee the export of the car from Mexico within a time period determined at the time of the application. For this purpose, American Express, Visa or MasterCard credit card holders will be asked to provide credit card information; others will need to make a cash deposit of between $200 and $400, depending on the make/model/year of the vehicle. In order to recover this bond or avoid credit card charges, travelers must go to any Mexican Customs office immediately prior to departing Mexico. Regardless of any official or unofficial advice to the contrary, vehicle permits cannot be obtained at checkpoints in the interior of Mexico.

turtleandtoad - 5-1-2010 at 08:07 PM

Most of the above information is out of date, but I can't give you any new valid information because, as of today, May 1 2010, new border paperwork comes into play (the FMM replaces the FM-T, the FM-3, and the FM-2, which will impact the TIP and a bunch of other regs) and, like any new set of Government regs in any country, there are a lot of bugs and mistakes. But the big thing is that everything will be computerized and indexed by your passport number, drivers license number, and vehicle VIN numbers.

So, until the kinks are worked out, all I can say is check my sticky at the top of the "RVing in Mexico and South America" forum of the RV.net for what the old rules were. Which is, with few exceptions, it is impossible for a person in Mexico on a FM-T to legally sell or give away a vehicle that is currently registered in a foreign country to either a Mexican Resident or another tourist. Any vehicle brought into Mexico must be brought out!