Driving car purchased in Mexico in the U.S....

Our next door neighbor in California brought his new diesel Ford made in Mexico pick up back with Baja Sur plates last month. Not even a question at the border, and so far, no hassle here. Yes, he has his permanent residency papers for Mexico readily at hand.

Technically, in California, if you are employed here, own property, or live here more than 30 days, you only have 30 days to reregister your vehicle here.

Just buy your USA Insurance at the border you can keep your Mexico Plated car in the USA for one year. Good luck having a house built I hope you have done a lot of research.

Hello all. I'm new to the board. Although I Have yet to post, I've scoured the chain of data going back over the past few years on the site and have gleaned very helpful information. I've been visiting Zihuatanejo for the past 20 years and after a lot of consideration have decided to build a home (I acknowledge that a smarter individual would probably just buy one of the numerous properties available - probably at a good price - but my love of architecture, design and a project has convinced me to build. I will be spending the month of February in Zihua and am considering purchasing an automobile while there (ultimately, I want to leave a car at the house - when finished - so I have it available when visiting). Although the home probably won't be finished until the fourth quarter of next year, my thought was to purchase the car in February so I can use it during the month I spend in Zihua and then enjoy a road trip back to the United States. When the house is finished, I would drive the car back down and leave it at the property. My question is ( I probably provided more information then needed) will I have a problem driving a car purchased in Mexico (with Guerrero plates) back in the United States? I would probably have the car for about nine months in the US before bringing it back and leaving it in Zihua. Appreciate any advice available. Gracias

As a "closet architect" I designed our place in Zihua and found a good architect/contractor, Luis Trevino, to build it. About 12 years later the roof needs major repairs. It's unclear whether the cause is crappy material or the local climate, which wants to destroy anything man-made. We still love it there; returning in December. Just be prepared.
As to owning a car there: we had one for a couple of years. When we left, we plugged the battery into a trickle charger and added fuel stabilizer to the gas tank. Upon our return, a year later, we'd fire the Jeep up to go to the grocery store but the injectors would plug up about half way there and the engine would quit. We sold it. Bottom line: it's less expensive to have someone else do the driving. The added advantage is that you can enjoy the view, instead of constantly watching for other traffic. For contact info for our driver, e-mail me directly.

We live in Zihua about 6 months a year (permanent residency visa now) and purchased a Mexican car a few years ago. We are now on our third drive back to the USA in that car with absolutely no problems entering USA or getting it back into Mexico. Have driven it all over the western states and only once been questioned.
The first time out we purchased USA liability insurance before crossing - this was a bit of a problem because all companies required us to have a Mexican Driver license. After a lot of confusion and help from some locals we finally found insurance without the license. Mexican D/L is very easy to obtain so get one.
On our second trip we discovered that our Mexican insurance policy included liability and limited collision coverage for USA and Canada so border insurance was not needed unless you want greater coverage.
Be sure to carry all your insurance and ownership documents. We were stopped once at a Fish & Game checkpoint in rural New Mexico and the Ranger required everything before letting us go.
Another poster mentioned clogged injector problems. We don't trust the cleansing quality of Mexican gas so we always bring back a few small bottles of Chevron's Techron additive and add it to our tank periodically. No problems so far.