1

Here's Rollybrook's site on the subject. I recall there are some restrictions on age of the vehicle and yours is pretty old (but sounds like a good one for Mexico).

2

It's very expensive to Mexicanize a car and it has to be done at the border. Just get an FM3 (noinmigrante) and your car will be legal. To protect your deposit of $200 you need to advise Aduana of the change of your status

Rolly's site
http://rollybrook.com/

3

Here's the link to Rolly Brook's site on nationalizing a foreign vehicle.

Cascade Bob - Thanks for reminding me (us) what a wide-ranging, valuable site Rolly maintains.

4

Oh, thanks sparks and oaxoak - I forgot to post the link. speaking of Rolly, haven't heard from him on this thread in awhile.

5

This is what Banjercito told me...

Cars can be imported only at the border. Not even the big SHCP/SAT/HACIENDA building in Mexico City will import a motor vehicle.

Pickup trucks with an open bed are subject to rules different than an automobile, SUV

Only brand new motor vehicles and those precisely 10 years of age can be imported.

A friend imported his 2001 Lincoln Navigator. The process cost him 27,000 pesos out-of-pocket. Took 3 days at Nuevo Laredo. He had to use a broker.

In my state, Michoacan, extraneous motor vehicles, legally imported have not qualified to be licensed, since 2005. Seven years with no ability to license a newly imported motor vehicle. All states are different.

6

Actually the rules have changed and you can nationalize vehicle 8 years old and older. They keep changing the rules and it can be expensive, up to $2,000 to $3,000USD or more and has to be done at the border. The incidence of fraud IS VERY HIGH and some have returned to the interior of Mexico to get their state plates and have been arrested and had their vehicles seized due to fake paperwork.

7

Can she register the vehicle and get plates in Veracruz? I doubt she can with an FMM tourist permit. She will still have to take it to the border to get it nationalized before the six months of the FMM runs out. If she got an FM3 type visa before, the cheapest and fastest way to keep the car in Veracruz is to get the FM3 type visa.

8

CaymanDM,

Can you point me to a source of info (Bancercito) or Aduana (SAT SHCP) that can help me understand "the new rules"? The Aduana.gob.mx website I use has not been changed.

9

First, you need to define exactly what you are talking about. This page has not only apples and oranges, but also pomegrenates.

The rules on cars temporarily imported on FMM, and what was called FM-3 are dramatically changed. And, the online rules reflect it. At one time, if you imported a car temporarily on FM-3, automatically if you updated your FM-3, your import permit was updated as well. Now, you have to go to the local aduanas with your updated FM-3 and a letter described on Rolly's page, BEFORE the ORIGINAL FM-3 and import permit expiration date.

Cars imported permanently, also known as nationalized, have completely different rules. My wife's cousin who has helped his sons import such vehicles, says only a Mexican citizen can nationalize a foreign vehicle. To date, I have not verified his statement, but it sounds consistent with the reasons for allowing importations.

Also, as stated, small pickups and cars have been under different rules. For many years, people who claim agricultural use could import small pickups OLDER then 10 years. Newer cars have different rules.

10

#9 is right in saying that only a Mexican citizen can import a vehicle. At the border you assign the car to a Mexican, that person then regularizes it, and assigns it back to you. All this is moot for the car still has to be registered in the state of Veracruz and a FMM tourist permit isn't good enough. She'll need an FM3 and with a FM3 she doesn't need to regularize the car.

11

Let me add here that several have mentioned six months. Unless rules have changed, that is not six months, but 180 days, which tends to be three days less. Those three days can cause you some expensive problems.

Thanks, #10, for affirming what my cousin said. Mexicans are not always correct, any more than US citizens are always correct about US laws, so it is good to have someone support what he told me.