Gregg said:
I know there were still others who got in trouble of some kind because they did
not turn in their registration paperwork before 180 consecutive days was up.
You are definitely supposed to turn in your car permits by the time they
expire, rather than simply leaving the country. Nowadays the Mexican aduanas
are all computerized and even seem to be pretty well linked to each other, so
every border crossing will likely know whether or not you have returned your
old permits even from other crossings. Not doing so can cause real headaches
(including fines) the next time you try to cross. Apparently one can sometimes
turn them in at Mexican consulates in the US, although I tried to do that in
Albuquerque and they told me it could only be done at the border. That can be
very inconvenient, not to mention expensive, if you live very far away. I
don't know if this is still the case, but it used to be that vehicle permits
were tied to the ID you used to get them, rather than to the vehicle VIN
itself. I once had an expired one that I got using a birth certificate as my
ID. I tried to get a new one online with that ID and was denied because of my
expired one. However when I reapplied using a passport as my ID, it was
accepted! Might have been just luck, though.
Mark Minton
