Insurance/papers for Mexico, question about keeping permit.
 

I am a bit confused still on the paperwork needed in and out of Mexico, after my last experience where I chucked a piece of paper I shouldn't have, and had to drive rather quickly to get from the airport to the house, and get it from the burn barrel and back again, I'm looking to avoid a similar issue.

My understanding was that the entry permit or temporary import permit is good for 6 months, and that I could keep it with me instead of canceling and use it on my return trip to save some money. Is that correct? I'm looking online to find which is cheaper, at the border or at a consulate im the USA?
What happens if I must leave the bike in another country south of Mexico because it's time has come?


Also, I see a lot of postings for cheap insurance for Mexico just before Tijuana, I'm thinking of crossing over much further east, as I'm trying to get to Merida along the way, and I have friends in the US I wouldn't mind visiting as well. Thought it might be a decent alternative to the standard Le Paz+ferry route, but I could do it on the return trip as well.

Insurance in Mexico? I've lived here for more than 17 years and always had it. You can go the route of no insurance, and if a drunk walks into your path and you injure them, guess what happens next? If you carry insurance and understand the amparo legal process, you will be fine if you have insurance that sees you amparo'ed for accidents, if you don't have insurance and you are a foreigner you are in for a world of problems.
Sure a guy like Gerry with 30 years in Mexico might not carry insurance but maybe he also knows people that can get him out of a jam here. You likely don't. And ask yourself if you would drive in your home country without insurance and then skip if you had a problem, or if someone injured you and they skipped or had a friend pay someone off how would you feel?
Just because you can get away with almost anything in Mexico doesn't mean the country is better for it. Just my 2 cents. A lone rider traveling through Mexico with zero understanding of the law is just about akin to hanging a sign on your saying "fleece this gringo".
If you don't know anything about Mexican law and don't speak Spanish and have an accident with injuries to another party, you'll have ample time to learn both the legal system and the language, though the classroom will suck.

Sorry, there is no question of no insurance, I will for certain be carrying it. My question is mostly about the most economical way to get the insurance, whether there is anywhere with a comparable price to the price just north of Tijuana Scrabblebiker posted in another thread(74$) either at one of the consulates allowed to issue it in the USA, or at the border, or a third unknown option.
The 2nd part of the question was what I now know everyone calls a TVIP, some people cancel it on leaving Mexico. I read an 8 step process someone posted, and someone else corrected saying you didn't need to cancel and could keep it for the return trip if it would be within 6 months. My question is, if I do not cancel my TVIP, and keep it for the return trip as was suggested there, would I save money, and #2, if the bike were to fail outside of Mexico, and I was unable to return and then not have it logged as having left Mexico would I get in trouble if I came on another trip or is there some way I can notify them that is broken.

You pay for insurance, however long it lasts for.

The TVIP is a sperate document and is what it says, Temporary Vehicle Import Permit. This MUST be cancelled when leaving the country, and on some borders down that way, they want to see the cancelled document at the entry border for the next country. It is just a way of tracking a vehicle into and out of a country and they check that the vehicle matches the paperwork

Hope that helps

Cheers
TravellingStrom

+1 on Mike Mike's statement.
BUt as to papers required ;
the TVIP for 6 months will be good for multiple visits from the USA,
but if you cross the southern border of Mexico they will ask that it be turned in .Then when /if you come back northward through Mexico you will have to set up and pay for a new TVIP.
The tourist card , good for 6 months , is also good for multiple visits from the USA - AND when you cross the south border with the intent of returning through Mexico , you do not need to cancel. Just keep it on you and if you come back within the valid period it will be recognized as acceptable, as long as you make it out of Mex into the US before it expires.

My experience (May, 2010) was different from the two previous posters. When I left Mexico to Guatemala at the crossing south of San Cristobal De Las Casas.

I handed in my TVIP and the aduana fellow asked me if I was planning on coming back. When I said yes, he gave it back to me and said I needed to keep it since I'd need it again on the way back. The same applied to the tourist card, at migracion, once I explained I was coming back. Guatemala did not ask to see if I had properly checked the bike out of Mexico. There was only one country (can't remember which one) where they made sure I had properly checked the bike out of the previous country. On the way back up I was just waved through, coming in from Belize.

Insurance is available online. I even saw agents selling Mexican insurance in Tucson. So it's readily available and I would be quite surprised it it weren't available at the borders further east.

I can't answer the other part of your question since I have no idea what would happen if the bike gives up the ghost further south. Maybe you could check with the Mexican consulate in Vancouver? If you come up with an answer, please do post it here. I'm curious about this myself.


...Michelle
www.scrabblebiker.com

Good you point that out Michelle, about keeping the TVIP at the Cd Cuauhtemoc crossing. There is a different set of rules apparently, depending on which country you enter. I too have found that to be the case at Cd Cuauhtemoc in the past but crossing into Belize from Mexico each time I have been told to hand in and cancel the TVIP. Perhaps it is a new policy designed to increase the tax harvest from the wealthier travellers who seek out Belize.
If you do cancel the TVIP it does save you the problems created if your bike were to expire in CA and beyond.
In that case you should contact the tax/customs people of the country where it is being left and get some sort of official declaration that the bike is being scrapped so that you will not be hit with the full import tarrif and penalties.

Or maybe it's a case of a lack of clear directions and control from above. That would explain the inconsistencies as well. Judging from the many different experiences so many of us had, it's quite imaginable that each officer or each border unit interprets the rules their own way.

Anyway, part of travelling in those areas is to expect things to be different for each traveller. Use what's said here as a rough guideline and then wing it.
:confused1:


...Michelle
www.scrabblebiker.com

You are required to turn in your permit when you leave the country. When I left mexico for Guatemala I did not cancel my permit. I knew I would be back in Mexico before the permit expired so I was going to try to save another permit purchase / deposit and it worked. When I re entered through Belize I sailed on through.

In some countries, all they do is stamp the TVIP as canceled and give it back, and at the next border crossing, 300 meters away, they REQUIRE a copy of the canceled document. I am not sure now which countries this pertains to, but I know I had to show it a few times. Of course, once I was in the new country, I ditched all the paperwork from the old country.

But, as each border is different, even in the same country, it is also different whether it is a weekday or weekend, so I do believe anything is possible down there ;)

Cheers
TS