Shipping vehicle into Mexico.
Hello all you R.V's out there, I am looking to ship my vehicle from Japan to Manzanillo, Mexico next month and wonder if anyone has any experience or knows of others who have. My main concern is...
Forum Discussion
Again, many, many thanks for all your posts with advice and links.
To clarify, I hope to ship into Manzanillo at the beginning of September, leaving Japan around the 25th August next month. I plan to be onboard with the car, hence why I am stuck on this route, otherwise I'd send to the U.S or Canada and fly in. The ship I plan on also carries a limited number of passengers, the only vessel leaving from Japan that is convenient to do so. A fair amount of work involved, but saving on a journey to S Korea to do likewise.
With regard to the documents needed for bringing my vehicle into Mexico, I have the UK registration paper for the car and international and UK driving licences. Insurance I will try to get before arrival and ensure that it is a good policy which provides all cover I need. If anyone has any advice on cover provided: legal help, level of third party liability etc then I would be happy to hear what people think.
Other documentation: temporary import permit I can get either on arrival or in advance I gather. This has a $44 dollar fee, plus a refundable $200 deposit attached (my car was manufactured in 1987 so the lesser of the three amounts quoted for differing ages).
Otherwise my present concern is with making contact with a company/customs clearing agent who can confidently help me clear my vehicle from the port in Manzanillo and get me on the road north. Thanks Remoandiris for the link to NEX who i'll call later when business opens again in the U.S and see if they can help put me in touch with a good agent there. I don't want to just arrive and say, 'Hello, i'm here'. I'm sure Manzanillo is very nice, but I don't want to set up residency there whilst I clear customs. As we say in UK, 'Prior preparation prevents p*** poor performance' and effort made in advance always pays off.
I'm sure there are plenty of people who have shipped into Mexico on TIP, but that number is no doubt dwarfed by the volume of people arriving by land from the U.S and finding someone who has concrete experience to relay in this matter is a little more difficult to lay your hands on. However, I will persevere with the link and continue to approach others in the same way I always do, like a dog with a bone he won't drop.
Thanks to Cekkk, Lotsofstuff and Robatthelake for the advice. I think I'm on top of the document side of things, but if you can spot any omissions I'd be happy to have them pointed out to me. You are right to advise caution in travel to Mexico, like everywhere else really. My government may or may not have advisories on travel to Mexico, but I know they have them for other areas where they advise not to travel: Indian Kashmir, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan; all countries that I happily travelled through whilst simultaneously exercising the right amount and degree of caution, sensing the situation in the present moment and responding appropriately and always taking in to account up to date local knowledge. This is always more difficult as we often don't allow ourselves the opportunity to do so because of some unfounded, excessive fear or paranoia that prevents us getting that close.
Thanks also to Gmcsmoke, but wonder in case of problems going down this route, could you expand on the coyote option?
Thanks once again everyone,
Jon
To clarify, I hope to ship into Manzanillo at the beginning of September, leaving Japan around the 25th August next month. I plan to be onboard with the car, hence why I am stuck on this route, otherwise I'd send to the U.S or Canada and fly in. The ship I plan on also carries a limited number of passengers, the only vessel leaving from Japan that is convenient to do so. A fair amount of work involved, but saving on a journey to S Korea to do likewise.
With regard to the documents needed for bringing my vehicle into Mexico, I have the UK registration paper for the car and international and UK driving licences. Insurance I will try to get before arrival and ensure that it is a good policy which provides all cover I need. If anyone has any advice on cover provided: legal help, level of third party liability etc then I would be happy to hear what people think.
Other documentation: temporary import permit I can get either on arrival or in advance I gather. This has a $44 dollar fee, plus a refundable $200 deposit attached (my car was manufactured in 1987 so the lesser of the three amounts quoted for differing ages).
Otherwise my present concern is with making contact with a company/customs clearing agent who can confidently help me clear my vehicle from the port in Manzanillo and get me on the road north. Thanks Remoandiris for the link to NEX who i'll call later when business opens again in the U.S and see if they can help put me in touch with a good agent there. I don't want to just arrive and say, 'Hello, i'm here'. I'm sure Manzanillo is very nice, but I don't want to set up residency there whilst I clear customs. As we say in UK, 'Prior preparation prevents p*** poor performance' and effort made in advance always pays off.
I'm sure there are plenty of people who have shipped into Mexico on TIP, but that number is no doubt dwarfed by the volume of people arriving by land from the U.S and finding someone who has concrete experience to relay in this matter is a little more difficult to lay your hands on. However, I will persevere with the link and continue to approach others in the same way I always do, like a dog with a bone he won't drop.
Thanks to Cekkk, Lotsofstuff and Robatthelake for the advice. I think I'm on top of the document side of things, but if you can spot any omissions I'd be happy to have them pointed out to me. You are right to advise caution in travel to Mexico, like everywhere else really. My government may or may not have advisories on travel to Mexico, but I know they have them for other areas where they advise not to travel: Indian Kashmir, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan; all countries that I happily travelled through whilst simultaneously exercising the right amount and degree of caution, sensing the situation in the present moment and responding appropriately and always taking in to account up to date local knowledge. This is always more difficult as we often don't allow ourselves the opportunity to do so because of some unfounded, excessive fear or paranoia that prevents us getting that close.
Thanks also to Gmcsmoke, but wonder in case of problems going down this route, could you expand on the coyote option?
Thanks once again everyone,
Jon
