Jeep stolen on Michoacan coast
First, let me say that I DO NOT wish this to turn into a Mexico Travel Bashing thread. This thread is intended to RVers WHO TRAVEL IN MEXICO. Moderator: I would be happy for you to delete uninformativ...
Forum Discussion
Many cars have been traced and found here in Mexico when people have left their cellphones with GPS in the car. Mexico also has companies such as LoJack.
I've met several Mexican rvers or Mexican rving residents who have a label made to put on their vehicles that says, "esta unidad cuenta con localizador satelite". It works for companies who track their vehicles by GPS.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but I have said it before. Mexico is still a paper document oriented country. All passports, ownership titles, registrations, photos, should all be downloaded on to a USB stick, a CD and also sent to your easily accessed email address.
It will save a lot of time, energy and hassle. I now understand that Canada does not issue titles but they do issue a document when you purchase a vehicle be it a registration, invoice, etc.
In Mexico, we have to have the original invoice issued by the car dealership when the car was first purchased off the lot by they first owner. It is then handed down from owner to owner. In the case of the 10 year old vehicles that are purchased in the U.S. and brought across, there is a long paper trail created.
This last year I helped a woman purchase a Mexican vehicle in Guanajuato. We took it to a government vehicle inspection station. It was interesting to see how cars can be traced. The guy carried a hand-held computer and literally looked in places I would have never thought of where the VIN numbers can be found.
Mexico also has vehicles that look similar to those used by Google Earth and they randomly roll down the streets of Monterrey and the cameras capture all the license plates running them through a computer. Yep, it's a big city with lots of money and we have reduced car thefts dramatically.
Just posting info for general information (early morning and a cup of coffee). There is no one magic solution to keep bad guys away. If they can find an opportunity, they will. We have met foreigners who over the last few years who were brave enough to take on the bad guys and win. Most of them are wusses who wouldn't know what to do with a gun if you showed them a video. To each his own. That's what insurance is for.
It's funny though, this type of thread can go viral. Post this same situation in another forum and it just sits there and people say, "wow, too bad, it can happen anywhere". But here . . . .
I've met several Mexican rvers or Mexican rving residents who have a label made to put on their vehicles that says, "esta unidad cuenta con localizador satelite". It works for companies who track their vehicles by GPS.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but I have said it before. Mexico is still a paper document oriented country. All passports, ownership titles, registrations, photos, should all be downloaded on to a USB stick, a CD and also sent to your easily accessed email address.
It will save a lot of time, energy and hassle. I now understand that Canada does not issue titles but they do issue a document when you purchase a vehicle be it a registration, invoice, etc.
In Mexico, we have to have the original invoice issued by the car dealership when the car was first purchased off the lot by they first owner. It is then handed down from owner to owner. In the case of the 10 year old vehicles that are purchased in the U.S. and brought across, there is a long paper trail created.
This last year I helped a woman purchase a Mexican vehicle in Guanajuato. We took it to a government vehicle inspection station. It was interesting to see how cars can be traced. The guy carried a hand-held computer and literally looked in places I would have never thought of where the VIN numbers can be found.
Mexico also has vehicles that look similar to those used by Google Earth and they randomly roll down the streets of Monterrey and the cameras capture all the license plates running them through a computer. Yep, it's a big city with lots of money and we have reduced car thefts dramatically.
Just posting info for general information (early morning and a cup of coffee). There is no one magic solution to keep bad guys away. If they can find an opportunity, they will. We have met foreigners who over the last few years who were brave enough to take on the bad guys and win. Most of them are wusses who wouldn't know what to do with a gun if you showed them a video. To each his own. That's what insurance is for.
It's funny though, this type of thread can go viral. Post this same situation in another forum and it just sits there and people say, "wow, too bad, it can happen anywhere". But here . . . .
