Travel info
The starting city this year for Pan-Am will be Veracruz, on the Gulf coast. From there the race will stop for the night in Oaxaca, Mexico City, Queretaro, Guanajuato, Aguascalientes, and San Luis Potosi, before ending for the first time in years at Monterrey.. Veracruz is a 725 mile trip from the border, crossing at Laredo, Texas. After the race Laredo is only two hours away. But in El Paso, the border crossing at Santa Teresa/Jeronimo outside of Juarez, is closer and safer for those trucks and cars coming from the West Coast.
The Chihuahua Express (ChiX) always starts and ends each day at the Sheraton Chihuahua Hotel in the city of Chihuahua, which is 240 miles from El Paso and 145 miles from Presidio, Texas. If you sign up for the Chihuahua Express Updates with Gerie Bledsoe (gbledso@aol.com), you will receive information about the convoys that leave these two towns, normally two days before the event begins. Bledsoe will also supply you with a ton of information about getting across the border and down to the city of Chihuahua and the event. The next ChiX will be scheduled during April 2024.
CROSSING THE BORDER - THE JOYS OF BUREAUCRACY
All vehicles with foreign plates entering the interior of Mexico must have a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) on them, sometimes called a Tourist Permit. The basic rule is a foreign visitor may bring only one vehicle into Mexico for a maximum period of six months. Thus, one of your two vehicles (the race car or tow truck and trailer) must be titled in the name of another member of your travel party or family. The trailer goes with the truck, as one unit, on one permit, so both of those titles should be in the same person's name. If your vehicle is leased or financed, you must have written permission from the bank to bring it into Mexico. If it belongs to a company, you must have a official letter giving the driver permission to take the vehicle into Mexico, even if the driver owns the company. Proof of insurance is now required at the border, but you need it from www.bajabound.com. A husband and wife, with tourist visas, may import two vehicles. Some Mexican border stations require that the name of the importer be on the “face” or front of the title or registration card. In other border stations, it may be possible to sign over the title on the back to another person.
It is possible to obtain a tourist visa and TIP for a car made during or after 1984 (with a long VIN) over the internet. TIPs for cars older than 1984 must be obtained at the Mexican border station by the owner of the car.
It takes an average of one hour to get a tourist visa and vehicle permits at the border. Think DMV. These are the three big steps in the process at the border:
1. Obtain your tourist card (FMM visa) at the Immigration (Migracion) Office at the Mexican border station. Show your passport, fill out the visa (tourist card) form, and have it stamped by the official. It’s now necessary to pay for your visa ($28?) at the bank office, Banjercito, at the border station, before obtaining your TIP, if you are planning to stay in Mexico for longer than a week, like for the Pan-Am. Note: Tourist visas and TIPs are normally issued for 180 days, unless you indicate on your application that you will be in the interior of Mexico for less than a week. Six days for the ChiX is adequate.
2. Once you get your visa, step over to the photocopy booth to have copies of all your original documents made—passport, car title or registration card, insurance card, driver’s license, and your new tourist visa. Make sure you have the tag numbers of the vehicles with you, if the numbers are not on the title or registration. Also remember the credit card used to purchase the TIP must be in the name of the person obtaining the permit, or he/she can also pay in U.S. dollars.
3. Stroll down the hall to the “Banjercito” window (it looks like a bank window, because it is) to get the Tourist Import Permits (TIP) for your vehicles. It no longer includes a decal for your windshield, just the printed document.
Hand over all the originals and copies of your documents to the Banjercito clerk and smile. You need not say anything, as the clerks know what to do. Give the clerk your passport, tourist visa/card, original vehicle title or registration, drover’s license, insurance card, and credit card, and one copy of each (except your credit card). After punching your info into the computer, the clerk will print an official-looking form and ask you to sign it on the back. This form no longer has a hologram sticker attached to it. Make sure the VIN number on the TIP is correct before you leave the Banjercito window. Your credit card will be charged around $59 USD for the permit, plus a $200-$400 USD deposit (based on the age of your vehicle) that is refundable when you leave Mexico and cancel the vehicle permit officially at the border before leaving Mexico. You also must cancel your tourist visa when leaving at the Migracion desk.
Save all the documents they give you and keep them in the tow truck. Do not lose the official TIP document, as you will need it to exit the country and cancel your permit. The permits may also be checked by Federal Police, Customs Officials, or Mexican Army units along the way.
You may also obtain the TIP via the Internet for your tow truck and trailer, or race car made after 1983. To use the Internet, learn how to disable your pop-up blocker in your browser, clear your cookies and temp files. Then go to www.banjercito.com.mx and click on "tramites." Click the English version. You will need your passport, vehicle title or registration card, and credit card at hand as computer files or images to upload. The first step in the process is obtaining clearance to enter Mexico. That takes about five minutes the Mexican immigration website another site, and then you must return to the Banjercito’s site with a “portfolio” number to obtain a TIP. You will be asked to upload images of all required documents.
Please note: the different sources for TIPs sometimes interpret the rules and regulations differently. Some border stations will not issue TIPs for 2500/3500 series SUV and pickups. Some will not issue a TIP for a panel truck with no windows, a truck with a goose-neck trailer, or pickup with dualiles.
You can also obtain a TIP (but not a tourist visa) at some Mexican Consulates, like L.A., San Bernardino, Sacramento, Chicago, Phoenix, Houston, and other cities in Southwestern states. If you go to a consulate, you should first get the preliminary permission to enter Mexico described above. If you do not complete that step before going to a consulate, then you must go to another office there to get the permission. Normally, that step takes only 15 minutes and costs nothing, if no one is in line. Beginning in 2019 you must fill out the forms for a permit via internet and then make an appointment via internet with the Banjercito office in each consulate. Some will still accept walk-in clients.
Remember where you got your car stickers when you crossed the border, because you will return to this place before you leave Mexico to have the permits canceled Do not go across the bridge back into the USA without having the TIP and tourist visa canceled and getting a receipt for the TIP’s cancellation. At most border crossing there is a roadside booths near the Mexican border station where the TIP can be canceled. It is not necessary, however, to exit Mexico from the same city where you entered. In Laredo and El Paso go back to the building where you got your visa and TIP. There's a booth outside where you can cancel the TIP. Also also remember to turn in your visa when you leave Mexico.
The cash deposit on your vehicles is collected in cash or on your credit card. To get a refund and be able to bring a car into Mexico next year, you must cancel the permit properly at the border before leaving Mexico or you will lose your deposit and will not be allowed to obtain another TIP for seven years.
For the Pan-Am, going across the border in Nuevo Laredo is highly recommended because the people there know the event, and they will usually bend over backwards to get our cars and trucks across. For the Express the recommended border crossings are Santa Teresa, N.M (near El Paso, TX) and Ojinaga, across from Presidio, TX. For the Pan-Am, the Columbia Bridge, which is 17 miles northwest of Laredo recommended for long, car-hauling trailers. Beginning in 2016, the Pan-Am Office usually provides assistance in crossing the border, and for the convoy down to the starting city about one week before the event begins.
IMPORTING VEHICLES WITH A F.M.A.D PERMIT
If you do not have a title to your race car, and have a huge tow truck, plus lots of tires and spare parts, or have all the vehicles in one name or the company’s name, you may want to import your vehicles by going through the Mexican Federation of Auto Sports (known as FEMADAC) and/or hiring a licensed Mexican customs broker. Do not confuse this process with the TIP process described above. These two processes are very different. You should use one or the other, not both.
Here’s the FEMADAC process:
1. Register for the race on the official Pan-Am web site, and then download and fill out the application for the FEMADAC vehicle permits and your racing license from www.femadac.org.mx. Express mail these applications to the FMAD office in Mexico City with the required payment. You need only apply, but not pay for the racing license, at this point. Their address is on the application.
2. Secure the services of a Mexican customs broker in Laredo or another port-of-entry. (The North American Coordinator has some recommendations, or you may use the broker recommended by the Organizers.)
3. FEMADAC will verify that you have entered the race, and will send the approved permits to the Mexican customs broker who you have selected. They will also send you a copy.
4. You make an appointment to enter Mexico with the broker, and go to the his office on the U.S. side of the border at the appointed time, usually Tuesday-Thursday.
5. The broker’s staff member jumps in your truck, takes you across the border (over the commercial bridge in Laredo), and handles the transaction.
6. After you are in Mexico, the broker’s staff person hands you the paper work, jumps out of your truck, and you are on your way. The truck driver does not need a tourist visa, the truck's document ("pedimento") is all he/she needs. (This process may differ from broker to broker and port-of-entry.)
See the Entry page for information on contacting FMAD, or go to www.femadac.org.mx.
The services of a licensed Mexican customs broker will cost between $500 and $2000, because it is a negotiable fee for service and the government's fee. You must also provide the broker a list (manifest) of all the spare parts, extra tires and equipment (like welders), and their (yard sale) value that you are taking into Mexico—and that you will return to the USA when the race is over. They may require that it be translated into Spanish.
If you use a Mexican customs broker, you must stop at his/her office on the Mexican side on the way back to the USA to reverse the process above, or he will forfeit his bond that guarantees the return of your vehicles and spare parts. He will not be happy if you fail to stop and cancel your pedimento.
Note: It is now possible now to avoid the FEMADAC permit process and the expense of a Mexican customs agent by using a ATA Carnet. You can obtain more information about the ATA Carnet at www.uscib.com. It is not necessary to use a Mexican Customs Agent with a ATA Carnet, which reduces the expense significantly. It is not cheap but covers anything that you bring into Mexico (that’s legal.)
HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS
For the Chi-X, you may make hotel reservations at the Sheraton Soberano, the HQ hotel, though the race organizer, or you may do it at another hotel nearby on line. The paddock is in the hotel's large parking lot and garage.
When you register for the Pan-Am, a hotel reservation for a "double room" (two beds) is automatically made in the name of the listed driver of the race car for the eight nights of the race (Thursday thru Thursday nights). This room is paid by the entry fee. If you plan to arrive the starting city a few days early, as most do, it will cost you more. The Carrera office usually charges around $165 for each extra night in or along the way, taxes included, or around $1280 for a extra room during the eight-day event for your service crew. Rooms in luxury hotels cost extra. These costs may change without notice. Service crew members no longer allowed to come to driver’s dinners and meeting during the Pan-Am.
GASOLINE AND FOOD WHILE TRAVELING
Many brands of gas stations are found on most major highways in Mexico and in cities. Most stations carry non-leaded 87 octane regular (green pump handle) and non-leaded MTB 92 octane premium (red pump handle). Quality is usually OK. Diesel fuel is also generally available (black pump handle), usually at an island away from the gasoline pumps.
There are small restaurants along the roads and at the larger service stations throughout most of Mexico. If the place looks clean, then it's probably OK. Just eat hot food and only drink from a can or bottle you open. A case of bottled water and a roll of TP in your truck and race car will come in handy.
Never ever brings guns, ammo, or drugs into Mexico. If any of these are detected, you will go directly to jail, and Mexican jails are not nice places. There has been a lot of violence in Mexico in recent years because of wars among the drug cartels. However, it is highly unlikely that these races will run into this type of trouble.
The Mexican people that you meet along the way, especially the children, will be friendly and curious about you and your vehicles. Everyone will try to be helpful if you are having a problem. However, if you spend the night at a motel on the way to the starting city, it's best to park your rig inside a locked or guarded compound. Most of the better motels have one. And remember the most important rule: never drive in Mexico at night unless absolutely necessary and also stay on the toll roads during the day or night.
And yes, getting there is half the fun!, and we never know what will happen with importing vehicles at the border until we get there. It is always an adventure! Note that the costs, prices, and rules listed above are unofficial and are not approved by the organizers of the Pan-Am or ChiX. Make sure you read the rules of each event closely.
Viva Rally Mexico!
Gerie “Yeri” Bledsoe
ChiX North American Coordinator and former Pan-Am Rep (2002-2015). A competitor in forty rallies in Mexico.
gbledso@aol.com or geriebledsoe@gmail.com. Cell phone 310x703x4476.