Registering bike in Mexico
 

I have just arrived in Oaxaca and planning to buy a bike here. Have been to the Honda dealership where they have a good deal on for the Cargo 150 but I am after some advice about getting it registered. From what I can tell this is going to be difficult without having a good grasp of Spanish (and I am not at this stage yet) or finding someone local who is willing to help. Any info greatly appreciated!

First of all you are going to need something that states a local address like a phone bill or a water bill or an electricity bill (this is called the "comprobante de domocilio"). Since you don't live there, you will have to borrow one, and it doesn't matter if it is not in your name and if you don't live there. Without that, you won't be registering anything. The second absolutely necessary document is the "factura" or bill of sale. You need originals and a copy of both of these or you are going nowhere.
You will need your passport and your tourist visa (or your FM document if you have a number 2 or 3 type) for identification. It is quite a simple procedure, you show up with the paperwork and then you go to a bank to pay and then you return with the receipts stamped and they will give you your plate with a document that corresponds with it and also your "tarjeta de circulacion" which is your registration for the vehicle. You will get two documents, one for the plate and one for the bike, and the plate itself and don't lose any of these.
If you bought the bike at a dealer they likely have a "coyote" who you can pay to do pretty much everything for you. It is an easy process, just time consuming standing in line but the coyotes usually have a connection and move to the front of any line or hand the request to someone in the office that will do it quickly.
If the office you are registering it at is a busy one, they will probably have experience registering vehicles for foreigners. They will ask you for your "credencial electoral" which is the voter registration ID card that almost all Mexican adults have for universal identification in Mexico. You don't have one so you will use your FM tourist or resident document and your passport. This might confuse them unless they have worked with these documents before, but they will sort it out with a little time.
Don't go paying a fortune for this, the coyote should do it for less than $500 pesos maximum and if you have the time and the documents you can do it yourself, get there early in the morning and smile a lot. Don't listen to someone telling you that you can't do it because yes, you can get the registration. They might say that just to get some more money out of you. If you use a coyote, go with them because they will have your papers and a power of attorney that you have signed (carta de poder). I recommend you do it yourself.
The only difficult part is that it is boring. Even with the most basic Spanish it is not difficult, you just have to follow the bureaucratic procedures. It is also very likely that if you are not pushy and not loud, someone in the office will spend some time with you and help you and they probably will speak enough English to get you through it.
It is Mexico, and you generally will find someone around to help you out.
Don't even think about riding a bike that size on any toll highway, stick to rural roads and stay off the highways. Stay well to the right, way over on the shoulder if you do have to go on a highway. That bike will do about 80kmh flat out with you and luggage and it will take a long time to get to that speed. Also, those little bikes are among the most stolen in Mexico so get a good lock for it and keep it safe or it will disappear fast. Big bikes are rarely stolen, it is the delivery models that get ripped off all the time.

Thanks a lot for that - exactly what we needed to know.

Remember, the price for the coyote's service does not include the price of the registration and plates. Usually, the state hacienda office will charge you a fee based on the value of the bike on the factura bill of sale. It will be a percentage of the price of the bike and each year it will change when you renew your registration. If you fail to renew your registration you risk a fine and having your bike impounded or at least a hefty bribe to avoid that. When you sell the bike and the new owner goes to register it, they have to pay the previously unpaid registrations.
Many foreigners can get screwed badly if they don't understand the past registrations must be paid before a new "alta" will be given in someone else's name.
You are buying new so that is not a problem.
If you buy used, demand complete proof that all the previous "tenencias" registrations have all been paid in full.

Motorbikes successfully registered in Oaxaca :-D
 

Thanks Mike for your great advice.

Today we successfully registered our two new motorbikes in Oaxaca!

We borrowed a water bill from a very nice girl that works at the hostel we are staying at, and that proved sufficient.

An additional step we had to complete was taking the bikes to an office of "direccion de transito y validad del estado". There they took rubbings of the chassis number and engine block number and transferred them to another form, I believe called "Formato de impresiones de calcas". Only once we had this form signed and stamped could we proceed with the registration exactly as described by Mike above. We had to pay 903 pesos for each motorbike (we bought them for 28900 pesos each). The whole process took us 3 hours from start to finish, nowhere near as long as we were expecting! Everybody involved was extremely helpful.

For anybody that is interested, in Oaxca the 'rubbing' office is at 804 Naranjos and the registration office is on the corner of Heroica Escuela Naval Militar and Heroico Colegio Militar - it looks like a bank from the outside and indeed has a counter for paying in the same building.

Colin.

Hi Colin, congrats on the bike purchases.
I'm thinking of maybe a cg125 for my trip.

Just wondering if the 125 cargo sold in Mexico is pretty much the same bike?
Also it appears the cargo, at least in Mexico comes in a 125 and a 150.
Is that correct ?

Would you know if the 150 cargo is available in chile or elsewhere in S.A?

The cg 125 is readily available but did a search on chile autos and can't find a cargo 150.

Any info would be appreciated and hopefully you will post some reports on how the bikes handle.

Cheers,

James

I BELIEVE the Cargo 150 is assembled in Mexico to avoid the import taxes. I think Honda uses the same Mexico assembly with the CGL-125. The Cargo 125 is Brazilian Made and is more expensive (because of the importation?). I am not 100% on all of this, but this is the impression I have.

Cargo 150 ($20,900) Cargo 125 ($29,800) CGL-125 ($14,900) from the Honda website.

Congratulations on the registrations.
I haven't seen the rubbings done for ages, usually if there is an issue they just take a picture here, because the ID number is on the "factura".
Enjoy the riding and have lots of fun!

Any reason why the 125 Cargo is 30% more than the 150?
And the Cargo 125 twice the price of the CGL. Similar bikes no?

I think PabloKoh was trying to write that the difference is due to import taxes and labour costs. If I understand correctly, the CGL is made in Mexico and has no extra duties, whereas the 150 is imported (from Brazil I think) and does have duties.

My guess is that the Cargo 125 is made in Japan, and has even higher duties and labour costs, but is probably considered by locals to have higher manufacturing standards (although whether that's true is another sotry).

ok, thanks for clearing that up