If It Is The Least Consolation...

[MEXICOWANDERER]

The gunman that carjacked the Canadian Rainbirds Jeep, is now way down in the basement shoveling coal for eternity.

I don't believe this "chisme" (gossip) to be idle rumor. There was a massive gunfight just outside of Caleta de Campos, Michoacan a few days ago and the rurales killed more than a dozen sicarios (gun men) at a huge roadblock. One of the -no longer with us- is strongly believed to be -the one- that robbed the Jeep. His name was "Carlos". I believe what my family tells me, not what some yellow journalism website or mass media conjures up.

The "Self Defense Forces" are going house-to-house, routing crooks, drug dealers and scumbags. From Cerro de Ortega to Lazaro Cardenas, hundreds of Templarios have been shot or arrested or fled into the mountains. Rumor has it over TEN THOUSAND gente are taking part in this flushing of the toilet.

Every last PJE, state cop has been fired. Weapons confiscated. Policias Preventivas del municipios (like sheriff deputies) have been forcibly removed from duty, weapons confiscated. Presidentes de municipios have been indicted by the federal attorney general. Same with ministerio publicos. The MP who did the paperwork on the rainbirds Jeep is history. He was an employee of the Templarios.

A massive effort of Marinas and Rurales have cleaned out Playa Azul, La Mira, Arteaga, and are now headed for Lazaro Cardenas.

Enough! Michoacan is one of the nicest, most beautiful states in la republica. I do not expect the governor and his lackeys to survive the most massive cleanup in recent Mexico history. When the public effort gets finished, the state will be cleaner and safer than any other. The rurales are NOT going to go away. They are going to keep working with los marinas and el ejercito until this state is safe for tourism once again.

WHY? You ask, am I so emotional about this? in the parking lot of Bodega Aurrera, with my two grand daughters, a gunfight took place in the street and edge of the parking lot. A bullet chipped concrete and has left a scar across my forehead. It's been this way for five years now. Dalia age 5 wet herself so bad and Pilar kept screaming te sangrear (you are bleeding!) My face and shirt front was soaked in blood. Cinco puntas (five stitches).

I realize some of you could care less. This is your right. But others may be interested in knowing what actually is taking place. Michoacan is a place of peace and beauty. The templarios are learning this the most hardest of ways.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

You seem to see a gps as having no value whatsoever.

No, that is incorrect. It has value. The manufacturer and vendor make money when they sell them to you.

I will repeat this again................slowly......

CAR GETS STOLEN

COMPANY REPORTS POSITION

CUSTOMER IS NOTIFIED

CUSTOMER CALLS "POLICE"

POLICE ARE VERY POLITE (Muchas Gracias, CLICK)

COPS ROLL ON FLOOR WITH LAUGHTER. "The pinche gringos want us to go into EL CHELO's tierra and go get their car?"

You do not know how the cops DO NOT WORK down here, apparently. The ejercito ni marinas do not look for stolen cars. Only preventivas or the SSP. The preventivas are great and looking for mordida. The SSP have to assemble a goddamned CONVOY in order to go raiding a Jefe's turf. Got it? It ain't freakin' going to happen!

Buy a dozen GPS units and plaster them all over your car. When the car grows legs and drives off all by itself, wave bye-bye. You'll never ever ever see it again. Something has to stop the car dead in it's tracks. What is the GPS supposed to do then, send an applause tone to a loudspeaker?

GPS can work in a few limited areas in Mexico - the areas WITHOUT carjacking. The areas where la julia and ministerios publicos are not bought and paid for.

I have lived amongst LA FAMILIA MICHOACANA for 9 years until the sicarios of LOS CABALLEROS TEMPLARIOS took over. I travel to Zihuatanejo. I see Beltran Leva sicarios every day. Go north to Jalisco? Another bunch of cartelos.

I had a great uncle who explained the facts of living to me at age ten. "SONNY YA GOTTA BE SMARTER THAN THE PROBLEM"

Focus on getting that goddamned car STOPPED DEAD IN IT'S TRACKS. Save the Bluetooth Arduino, wireless garbage for something worthwhile.

[briansue]

I posted this before but as a reminder - well over 700,000 car thefts in the US each year - why would Mexico be the only place we worry about having theft proof devices and GPS tracking? Is this off topic? So it may or may not work? Will locking your car stop a pro? If it sounds like a good idea why not add it to our defense tactics? Or just give up? Listening to the primary naysayer in this thread sounds like there is no hope for any of us and he has given up all hope that we can or should defend ourselves. Psycho-babble if you ask me.

[Tequila]

To me, an investment that is the same as the cost of a tank of fuel is well worth it. If it works, as I suspect it will, all the good, you save yourself months of headaches. I still think a combo of an anti hijack device & a GPS are your best insurance to recover your vehicle if its taken. Mine are going in before I cross next year.

[RonYVickie]

You seem to see a gps as having no value whatsoever. That 2 days is more than enough time to locate the vehicle before they locate the well-hidden and very small gps unit and dispose of it. If they have disabled the vehicle while cutting out all the integral wiring, it won't be moved either. If you, personally, don't want one, don't buy one or have it installed by someone who doesn't tell you where it is in the vehicle. As for me, well I'm thinking it could well be a worthwhile effort, especially if your towed unit would otherwise be stranded. Just my very own and personal opinion, having lived this experience where you have apparently not. Please, moderator, leave this thread to run, there is SOME worthwhile information and communication in it, and our story hasn't played out yet. RYV

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Thieves take car. They get 200 yards. Now how hard is this? There are chop shops all over Mexico. This is the =genuine= problem with car theft. Car gets taken driven 50 to 75 miles on back roads where there are no retenes SSP, and two days after driving into a walled yard, a very expensive GPS tracker gets made into a metal tortilla with pressed IC's and dimpled PCB board. The Canadians Rainbirds Jeep for example will net out to around 15,000 worth of parts. Fenders, engine, tranny, windshield, seats, etc. The rest goes as Chatarra to Monclova or Lazaro Cardenas. The expunged GPS ends up as part of land fill.

Go to México some time. The City. There you can wander through dozens of acres of parts so hot, they don't need night time yard lighting. Oh yeah, they aren't cheap either. But if you need a fresh engine for a BMW 733i it's the hot setup.

[RonYVickie]

Pulled into Celestino Gasca today. Mazatlán was too early to stop and this will save us some time tomorrow on the way to San Carlos. No word from the insurance company yet, they've only had the papers for a couple of weeks - maybe no news is good news !

[RonYVickie]

Sounds like a plan !

[bighatnohorse]

Okay. . .we've worked out a scheme.
The bad guys got us stopped. My wife comes out screaming at me, slaps me in the face, grabs the keys and throws them into the jungle.
At which point I run away from her and she chases me screaming her head off.
🙂

[moisheh]

F. Knowles: Yes the Gov. considers that you imported the vehicle if it is stolen!! And not only does your insurance not cover that 30% they MAY refuse to pay your claim until you have paid the fees. Welcome to Mexico!

Moisheh

[Tequila]

silversand wrote:

A gps tracker and anti hijack device is looking cheaper all the time

....sorry to tell you, but I read on the Internet that: any TSCM (either contractor, independent or other) can locate, and shut down ANY hidden miniature GPS device (or, bug) hidden in any vehicle very quickly. I speculate that IF the Mexican car theft industry (thousands of vehicles per day) is as big as we read about in the "media", "they" probably readily have this countermeasures technology...and probably utilize it within minutes (or hours) of the vehicle theft = no effective tracking possible /?/

That is assuming they know it has one and something tells me they are not going to hang around long trying to renable it. Most of these guys are common criminals and opportunists. Most will abandon the vehicle rather than sit around only 3 or 4 min away from where it was stolen. I still think a combo of GPS and anti hijack is a good investment. I lean to the one made in South Africa where hijackings are very common. I doubt they would still be in business if they were that easy to disable. As far as the gps tracker is concerned, the key is to hide it where it cannot be founnd unless they are actually searching for it. To me the obvious spot is in the plastic housing of one of my side mirrors. They would have to disassmble that to know its there.

BTW if you do not dissable the anti hijack device, the only way to restart the vehicle is with a code of rapid ignition on & offs. Normally you get some warning signals to diaable it before it kills the engine. In my mind, for Mexico, it is best to disable those signals so they think there is just a problem with the truck.

[Tequila]

silversand wrote:

Moisheh wrote:
Silversand: There are no policies for tourists in Mexico that are even close to what you mentioned. Certainly no replacement value policies.

...I suppose if I were "paranoid", I would probably "bring down" a fully depreciated truck (ie. buy a $7000 pickup just for Mexican road trips) and grab a well-used (dry) trailer in Arizona, and who cares if the truck is stolen in Mexico (very low value, easy and equitable insurance payback, and forced "duty" payment on $7000 value is very edible).

We are still hoping that "the Tampa" ferry project comes through (Tampa to Progreso, Yucatan {LOL}), so we can bypass the massive drive across North America, and through parts of Mexico I have already seen (too many times). Also, a Cuba vehicle ferry was "in the works"; which would be interesting, too.

I don't really fancy bringing down "the trailer Queen" unless some form of equitable insurance would be available; so personally (this is just my preference), I would go the old used pickup and used trailer approach...YMMV.

I would like to know the answer to that one as well. I want to get together with Ron & vickie once their situation is completeley resolved to see how it all played out. They live a few blocks from me.

[silversand]

Moisheh wrote:
Silversand: There are no policies for tourists in Mexico that are even close to what you mentioned. Certainly no replacement value policies.

...I suppose if I were "paranoid", I would probably "bring down" a fully depreciated truck (ie. buy a $7000 pickup just for Mexican road trips) and grab a well-used (dry) trailer in Arizona, and who cares if the truck is stolen in Mexico (very low value, easy and equitable insurance payback, and forced "duty" payment on $7000 value is very edible).

We are still hoping that "the Tampa" ferry project comes through (Tampa to Progreso, Yucatan {LOL}), so we can bypass the massive drive across North America, and through parts of Mexico I have already seen (too many times). Also, a Cuba vehicle ferry was "in the works"; which would be interesting, too.

I don't really fancy bringing down "the trailer Queen" unless some form of equitable insurance would be available; so personally (this is just my preference), I would go the old used pickup and used trailer approach...YMMV.

[Francesca_Knowl]

Canadian Rainbirds wrote:
If the vehicle is not recovered, the Mexican Authorities consider it SOLD and you have to pay import duty on the vehicle's value, about 30%, IF you want to get your temporary import permit cancelled so you can get a TIP in the future for another vehicle.

I don't understand- do you mean to say that if your vehicle is stolen and never recovered you actually have to pay the Mexican Government a 30% penalty? If so, will your insurance cover those "fees"?

[Canadian_Rainbi]

moisheh wrote:
Silversand: There are no policies for tourists in Mexico that are even close to what you mentioned. Certainly no replacement value policies.

Moisheh

And to add: If the vehicle is not recovered, the Mexican Authorities consider it SOLD and you have to pay import duty on the vehicle's value, about 30%, IF you want to get your temporary import permit cancelled so you can get a TIP in the future for another vehicle.

As for insurance: Our vehicle was taken February 18th. We were told by Qualitas that they should be able to send the cheque LAST WEEK. No word on that yet. The value was acceptable.

[moisheh]

Silversand: There are no policies for tourists in Mexico that are even close to what you mentioned. Certainly no replacement value policies.

Moisheh