CP
Nomad
Posts: 434
Registered: 7-19-2006
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What is Onapaffa?
People have told me that I should get Onapaffa registration for my too-young-to-afford-importation-fees vehicle. I have read the Onapaffa website and
it doesn't quite add up for me - the website says something like it is an inexpensive method of valid vehicle registration to avoid the high cost of
importing the car and going through 'normal' registration. Why would anyone bother with the standard process if this were true? Is it actually a
valid registration that the people who give tickets would accept?
I was surprised to do a SEARCH and not find anything about this already discussed by Nomads. Makes me think I want to stay away from it....
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Heather
Nomad
Posts: 370
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: National City, CA
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Yea, my husband has mentioned about leaving a car down there with onapaffa. I don't know anything about it either, but he seems to think it is
cheaper than importing a vehicle??? I've only heard about it in the last year or so in La Paz area. Anyone with info.?
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losfrailes
Senior Nomad
Posts: 577
Registered: 11-16-2004
Location: Ejido San Lucas near Santa Rosalia
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Mood: Good!
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It is a way to allow a mexican national (not other nationality) to own and drive a vehicle in Mexico even tho it has foreign plates.
I do not think it is available for a foreigner to have simply to avoid the importation fees.
It places the actual title to the car in the Mexican Nationals name in which it is registered.
It can also, as a complete program, be dissolved without prior notice according to my Mexican step son who has two of my vehicles in his name in this
fashion.
It is not a way to avoid importation fees.
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HaciendaCerritos
Junior Nomad
Posts: 61
Registered: 5-17-2009
Location: Todos Santos, Cerritos Beach
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Mood: Happy
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A whole lot of Mexican's use Onapaffa. Let me explain why. My truck was registered in the US and it was not eligible for importation yet because of
it's age, but my mexican husband could not legally drive it with US plates on it. Onapaffa allows Mexicans to drive vehicles with US plates during the
process of importation (as long as it has an Onappaffa sticker on it and they have the Onappaffa ID card in their name in the vehicle)- which in some
cases can take up to 5 years and you have to pay a fee every year at onapaffa to get a new annual sticker from them. My truck took almost 5 years to
complete but he could drive it legally during that time with no problems.
His uncle did the same thing with a car I brought down for him. The problem is that at the end of the 5 years, he was notified that the vehicle could
not be imported because it was Japanese. He lost all the money he paid out.
I have not known of Americans who use this process, that doesn't mean they don't use it - I am just personally unaware of any. I would think it a
viable option. They say that you cannot cross back into the US with a vehicle that has a Onappaffa sticker on it, we proved that wrong with another
of my vehicles which I did keep valid plates on and we did cross the border with no problem back into California at TJ. Once you have your vehicle
legally imported, there may be some restirctions as to how far you can take it into the US - you may want to check that out if you do plan to return
it to the US.
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comitan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4177
Registered: 3-27-2004
Location: La Paz
Member Is Offline
Mood: mellow
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This is the best description of ONAPAFA that I have ever read, but I will also add that I have Had two vehicles under this program and know of many
more around La Paz with ONAPAFA stickers the police never bothered me with the ONAPAFA sticker.
Be careful of trying to import your vehicle through ONAPAFA. They do not have the legal authority to do this. They are a group formed by local
Mexicans to protest annual license taxes on imported vehicles. (Imported vehicles are required to pay a higher annual license fee than Mexican
manufactured vehicles are required to pay.)
The "permit" that ONAPAFA issues is not an import permit. It is a membership fee to join the protest group and you are required to pay a monthly fee
thereafter. You will be issued a sticker for your vehicle window and told that only the applicant for the permit may drive the vehicle. If you are
stopped by the police for an infraction or inspection the police will ask to see your ONAPAFA papers and verify that you are the authorized driver of
the vehicle.
The ONAPAFA group is lobbying in Mexico City for a change in taxation laws so that imported vehicles are not required to pay higher annual license
fees.
The fees that are paid to ONAPAFA are not for the expense of an import permit, they are fees to support the expense of their lobbying effort.
Vehicles displaying the ONAPAFA permit have not previously been issued tickets for invalid papers. The protest group has been tolerated by
authorities because it is a "hot potato" political issue. Legally ONAPAFA members are in violation of state and federal laws and risk having their
vehicles confiscated at any time that the government is no longer tolerant of their grassroots protest.
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What\'s Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
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JESSE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3370
Registered: 11-5-2002
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Its basically a scam barely hanging on to some outdated law.
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HaciendaCerritos
Junior Nomad
Posts: 61
Registered: 5-17-2009
Location: Todos Santos, Cerritos Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Happy
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Wow - I guess I missed that part about it being illegal and part of some protest. We imported 2 vehicles using them and had no problem. I had a card
in my name and my hubby had one in his name. But you're right about that I did have to put them in his name for the importation.
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comitan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4177
Registered: 3-27-2004
Location: La Paz
Member Is Offline
Mood: mellow
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It may be a scam but I used this the first time on a vehicle 13 years ago.
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What\'s Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
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JESSE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3370
Registered: 11-5-2002
Member Is Offline
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They been on the goverments radar for years, a lot of scams in other cities. Most Mexicans think of them as an organization that uses some loopholes
in the laws to get away with not paying proper taxes.
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Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
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I agree with Jesse that it is a scam. But I also thought his restaraunt was open on Wednesdays. Who's minding the mesquite?
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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Jesse and others: I'm beginning to get a little tired with your attitudes. There are lots of us way down on the end of this little piece of land who
don't go back to the states, don't drive on U.S. highways and who try to be law abiding citizens of Baja California when we can. I have a Mexican
driver's license, a Senectude card, a fideicommisso, an FM 3, an imported car with Mexican plates, a boat registered in San Jose del Cabo, a fishing
license. One of my cars was and is the wrong year to import so I pay Oonapafa and keep the sticker current. You call me a scam artist. That's not
true, it's not fair and you keep doing it. Step off.
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JESSE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3370
Registered: 11-5-2002
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Osprey
Jesse and others: I'm beginning to get a little tired with your attitudes. There are lots of us way down on the end of this little piece of land who
don't go back to the states, don't drive on U.S. highways and who try to be law abiding citizens of Baja California when we can. I have a Mexican
driver's license, a Senectude card, a fideicommisso, an FM 3, an imported car with Mexican plates, a boat registered in San Jose del Cabo, a fishing
license. One of my cars was and is the wrong year to import so I pay Oonapafa and keep the sticker current. You call me a scam artist. That's not
true, it's not fair and you keep doing it. Step off. |
Osprey, i am not calling you anything. Somebody asked a question about Onapaffa, and i awnsered. It has nothing to do with you personally. Onapaffa
has a very long history with the Mexican authorities, thats a fact. His founder has been arrested many times with stolen cars and guns. The internet
is litered with stories of people who paid fees, paid for importations, only to find out years later their papers are not in order and have their car
confiscated by federal authorities.
Onapaffa in short, is an organization, that "represents" vehicle owners, or "autos chocolate" as we Mexicans call them. That means they represent cars
that cannot legally be imported into this country. What they do, is they basically get an amparo or a restraining order against authorities so they
can't confiscate your car. When the restraining order expires, they get a new one. And on and on and on. Eventually when the number reaches into the
tens of thousands, they bribe many crooked federal politicians so they can issue a special import permit for those cars.
Nothing personal man.
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Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
Member Is Offline
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Not a government entity. That's the key. Maybe if Billy Mays was alive, he could do commercials for them.
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13048
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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scam or no scam....the majority of USA plated cars here have Onapafa stickers and we have a local agent here...it's cheap and seems to work here...I
have it on my $600 truck...it was like 300 pesos and I get to circulate with no problems so why not?
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