Yesterday morning we left Laredo, and drove to the Colombia bridge, which is technically part of the Laredo bridge system. It was about a half hour drive to get there.
Some will say just cross the border at one of the main Laredo bridges, as opposed to adding an extra hour of so in travel time by going to Colombia. Here’s the info I’ve gathered about the pros and cons:
Laredo Bridge #3- Colombia Solidarity
The pros of Colombia is that it tends to be less busy, and everything is under one roof – inspections, customs, visas, and getting a vehicle TIP (Temporary Import Permit)
If you cross at one of the main Laredo bridges, then you have to drive into Laredo a bit to finish the process, and I’ve heard that getting there can be a bit tricky. I’ve also heard it’s busier, and can be a bit hectic.
Crossing the Rio Grande
For reference, a link to the Laredo Bridge System website: http://www.ci.laredo.tx.us/bridgesys/Bridge_Index.html
and they also have live web cams of the bridges: http://www.ci.laredo.tx.us/bridgesys/Cameras/bridge4cam.html
Someone else had also mentioned that they ran into some trouble on the road from Colombia back to Laredo (on the Mexico side), specifically with somebody trying to run them off the road, or take their car, or something along those lines. They said that the road is not patrolled by police. We took our chance, and didn’t have any troubles at all. Maybe cartel members aren’t out causing trouble on Sunday mornings. Maybe they’re all at church!
Our Border Crossing Experience
Since this is my first time driving into Mexico, I can really only speak as to our experience crossing at Colombia. Here’s what it was like for us.
Border Crossing
We got a bit of a later start than planned, so we pulled into Colombia about 8:45 on a Sunday morning. They open at 8:00.
We were directed into a small parking lot, where there were 3 other pickup trucks in various stages of inspections, all packed with stuff in the beds of the trucks.
Customs / Inspections
The customs guy had us open our trailer so the custom canine could sniff around. Our trailer was pretty full, so he asked us to empty about half of it. So, we unloaded half of our stuff onto the parking lot. The dog sniffed around, and we were good with the canine screening.
Trailer inspection at the Mexican border, with all our shiz out on display
He also asked if we had any guns. Nope – no sir. We’re that rare breed of Texans that don’t have guns.
Then the customs guy asked what stuff we had in all of the boxes. We started to explain, and then quickly remembered we had a list of everything. I handed him a copy of the list, which had each box number, along with a summary of its contents, in both English and Spanish.
Google Doc – list of of personal items
Pro Tip: If you create your list in Google Sheets, you can use the “=GoogleTranslate” function to automagically translate into Spanish.
=GoogleTranslate(C11, “en”, “es”)
The inspector asked a few questions, mainly about the tools I had, and also our laptops. We had 4 laptops on our list. Hey – we both work online – we live on our laptops!
He said that we were allowed one laptop per person, so we would need to pay a duty / import tax on the others. Plus on all of our other stuff. I started to get a bit nervous, as we have a trailer full of stuff. How will he determine the value? I would guess we had at least $5K worth of stuff. Probably more. I have no idea.
Well, he simply looked at the list I gave him, and then looked around at all the boxes (he never even opened any of the boxes), and then gave us a valuation of $650 US. And with a tax of 16%, we had to pay $104. What a bargain!
We could then pack everything back up in the trailer, and head inside.
Vehicle Temporary Import Permit and Visas
First stop was to get our TIP – the Temporary Import Permit for our Jeep and trailer. This happens at the Banjercito window.
I handed her our passports, and the titles to both the Jeep and the trailer. I also had copies of all of that, which I gave her. She then asked if we had our Visa cards yet. Nope. So she sent us to a small office 20 yards away to get our visas.
At the visa office, we filled out the Visa cards, she stamped our passports, and she sent us back to the TIP lady.
Back at the TIP window, she asked for our visas, which I gave her. She then asked for a copy of the visa. Dang it! Back to the visa office, where the visa lady made a copy, and then back to the TIP window again.
Everything is now in order – pay the TIP fee and deposit (which we get back when we take the car out of the country), and we now have our TIP, including the window sticker which goes on the windshield.
Customs Tax
Next up was customs. We had to pay our $104 customs import tax. We tracked down the customs guy, who took our list of stuff, our passports, did a bunch of typing in the computer, handed us a bill, and sent us back to the Banjercito window where we paid for our TIP earlier.
Hello again, we said to the lady. Nice to see you for the 4th time today.
We paid our customs tax, and took the receipt back to the customs guy, who gave us back our passports, some paperwork showing we had paid, and we were done.
Note: For the TIP – we were able to charge it to a credit card. But for the custom tax, we had to pay in cash (which we paid in US dollars).
Vehicle X-Ray
Back out to the car, we talked to the inspection guys again, and they said we had to run our car through the X-ray machine.
So we drive the Jeep and trailer over to the X-ray area, and drive in between two big ass solid concrete walls.
We get out, stand behind said wall, and our Jeep is x-rayed. Pull out, drive back to the inspection area, and wait for further instructions.
I was very intrigued with what a vehicle X-ray looks like, but we didn’t get to see it. Bummer.
We waited for about 5 minutes, and one of the guys came out, gave us a double thumbs-up, and we were finally good to go!
Welcome to Mexico
Wrap Up
The total time from drive-in to drive-out was about 90 minutes.
It was pretty straight forward and easy. Everyone there was very pleasant. It wasn’t busy, so we never felt we were waiting in lines. Having everything in one place really made the entire process simple.
We also had our two dogs with us. We were fully prepared with medical records, rabies certificates, health certificates, as well as copies of everything. They never even asked about the dogs or any of their paperwork.
Once we left Colombia, we drove back towards Laredo, and then headed South towards Matehuala.
This post is getting a bit long, so I’ll save the rest for another post.
Great post. I will be following closely since we’re following the same drive down in a couple months. Did you have to leave the doggies in the car or were they allowed out while you were getting the paperwork done?
Glory – they were allowed out. That didn’t seem to be an issue at all .There was some grassy area around the inspection area for them to pee. Both my wife and I went insode to do all the paperwork together, so we left the dogs in the car. But there shouldn’t be any issue with them being outside on leash. Once the drug sniffing customs dog is done with his work, he’s right back into his crate.
Great post, very informative! Thank you.
I wanted to ask about the car and trailer titles, … we are planning to just show our registrations for trailer and car. Did they say anything about having your titles, did they ask for registrations? We dont have the title for the truck, only the trailer, so we are hoping showing just registrations will suffice.
Albert – to be honest, I’m not sure. I had the titles for both the Jeep and the trailer.
I also had the registrations for both ready, but once I gave them the titles, they didn’t ask for anything else.
I have heard that if you have a loan on a vehicle, that you also need a letter from the lender stating that they allow you to bring the vehicle into Mexico.
I would guess this is why folks don’t have a title, as they have a loan on it.
But, if you don’t, I would try to obtain a copy of your title, as that seems to make things easy and smooth.
Gotcha, thanks. Yes, you are correct, we have a loan on the truck, but we will be keeping the truck in MX longer than the loan company will allow. So, I have read that many people only show their registrations and get past the border OK. But it would really suck if we got turned around without titles.
Maybe I will get the letter and then risk the delayed return of the truck. Thanks for your reply.
Albert – good luck! Please do share how things work out, as I’m sure others have the same question.
We just purchased a cash car but won’t have the title before we arrive on México, just the registration and bill of sell. Just curious if anyone has updated you about not ha I got a title just registration.
Thanks for all of the help!! Your blog is a one stop shop for all of my hundreds of questions!!
Hi Kalyn,
Sorry – I don’t have any more information to share here; I have not heard of crossing with a vehicle that is paid-in-full but doesn’t have the title.
Sorry – wish I had a definitive answer for you.
Good luck!
Did you have the original title or a copy of it? I guess I’m asking if I can just bring a copy of my registration and title for this process and leave the original in our safe.
Gigi – they asked for the original titles.
I had both original and copies of titles and registrations.
I started off by handing them just copies, but then she asked for the originals.
Once they had the titles, they did not ask for registrations.
Since we weren’t planning coming back to the States anytime soon, and we’re unsure if we’ll sell the vehicle at some point when we’re here, we had the original titles with us.
Your titles in Texas should show your names along with the names of any lenders, in the case of real property, and lien holders, in the case of personal property. Once paid off, the lenders and lien holders must remove their liens and provide you with clear titles.
Gary: Did you start your menaje de casa at the consulate in Texas or just create one to take to the border officials. TIP also — at consulate or just at border? Can you say what the total cost for the TIP for Jeep AND trailer was? I’m trying to get a handle on all this before I drive from Minnesota to the Yucatán next summer. Thanks for doing your blog. It really helps!!
Pat – we did not do a menaje de casa at the consulate.
We simply showed up at the border with our list of items. The custom agent said something about submitting our list at the consulate, but I played dumb, said they didn’t tell us that. Didn’t seem to be an issue at all.
The total cost we had to pay for trailer and Jeep was 6,856 pesos (about $360 USD).
5,727 is a deposit, which we should get back when we leave the country.
And the remaining 1,129 is the TIP itself.
Hi Gary, congrats on your successful journey. I wanted to ask if you guys had applied for your temp or perm residence cards in TX, before crossing?
I’m asking because that might have affected how your list of household goods were perceived.
Thanks
We got perm residence cards. Here’s a post discussing our visa process.
I didn’t get the impression that temp vs perm visa had any bearing on our household goods, but I can’t be sure.
Hi Gary,
It is my understanding from some relocation specialists if you have your Temporary or Permanent Residence Visa and your Menaje De Casa from the consulate you don’t have to pay duty and customs on your personal household items one time in the first six months. So you could have saved the $106.
Deb – thanks for the tip! Too late for me, but I’m sure this will help others. Thanks!
Hey Gary,
Since you ended up with Permanent Resident VISA’s how is your Jeep legal in Mexico beyond the 16 mile border on a TIP?
Because we’re perm residents, our TIP is good for 30 days. My understanding is that we don’t need a TIP in Quintana Roo, as its a border state (borders Belize). So as long as we don’t leave Q. Roo, we’re fine.
To be honest, I’m not positive what we’ll do long term. Maybe keep the Jeep as a Q. Roo-only vehicle. Maybe drive it to Belize and sell it. Once I figure that out, I’ll do another post with details.
Thank you for your blog.
I am in fact about to go get my SUV in Austin to bring it to Quitana Roo as well.
My situation is a little more complex as I just recently bought the SUV with Navy Federal CU.
Here is where it gets tricky. The registration is under my name and I am currently in the process of getting my 10 year green card after 3 years of marriage. In other words I don’t have a physical green card.
My wife being an American citizen can do the request for me but its been impossible to request the TIP via internet. They simply say that I didn’t submit the necessary paperwork.
I will follow your example and go directly to the border fully prepared with Title, registration, marriage certificate, letter of authorization, etc and hopefully they will let us in.
I will keep you posted.
Jose – hopefully it all goes well for you. Please do report back – I am definitely interested in hearing how it works out.
Driving our expired registration because mail is impossible in time and expired inspection sticker back to Texas with our TIP from Mexico any suggestions to do as we cross?
Hi Randall,
We haven’t made the drive from Mexico back into Texas, so I don’t have specifics for you here.
Can you renew your registration online – which should allow you to print out the paper that shows that your registration is current?
I’m planning a move to Guanajuato City with 5 cats, in crates, 1 parrot, in crate, and 2 dogs, loose in back of car (behind pet barrier). I am wondering how i will manage the vehicle x ray–I didn’t know about that. Would I take everyone out and stand and wait? Will they bring the car back to me or will I have to somehow figure out how to transport the animals to the x ray site after the x ray is completed? I’m traveling by myself and this sounds logistically overwhelming….
Hi Ann,
You drive your car into the x-ray station, then you and your pets step away into a safe area while they do the x-ray.
I don’t think they x-ray every car, so you may not even have to deal with this.
But if you do, I would think you could simply unload the crated animals and move them to the safe area, and then take the dogs on leashes. Our dogs were just on leashes – not in crates. The safe area is close to the x-ray area.
Once they’ve done the x-ray, load up the dogs, then the crated animals, and then drive away.
All of the people we dealt with there were nice and friendly and helpful – so I wouldn’t sweat this.
AS I said, it may not even happen, but if it does, I don’t think it would be a logistics issue – you can do it!
Thank you for your detailed posting. It will help us with our first drive to Mexico next winter. How do you get your deposit back when returning to the US?
My understanding is that you stop at the Banjército office on your way out with your vehicle and all the documentation you received when you got your permit and they process the refund.
Wow! I am just reading all of your posts! Thank you SO much for all of the detailed information! It’s just the info I have been anticipating to read! I will be headed across the border next year doing the same thing! May I ask what size trailer you used? It looks just about right. And did you sell it once in Mexico? Or do you need to bring it back out of the country with your Jeep?
Hi Critz,
Glad you found our posts helpful!
The trailer is 5×8 feet. It was perfect for us. We did not sell it. Not even sure we can.
Since we’re permanent residents, we’te supposed to take the Jeep and trailer out of Mexico.
But we haven’t yet. We’re not really keen on driving 4 days back to the US border.
At this point, the trailer is being used for storage.
Cool! Thanks so much for responding back so soon!! I can’t wait to read more of your blog! Have a great day!!! 😃