If you have been reading our blog you will know that we shipped our motorcycle from Vancouver, Canada to Veracruz, Mexico back in October. If you haven’t, you can read about it here ‘From Canada to Mexico with World Cargo.’

Back in Canada, World Cargo took care of all the export paperwork and crating. It was simple, all we had to do was fly to Mexico and enjoy some time in the sun while we waited. This was on October 3rd, day 41 of our journey. The original ETA for the bike was November 10th, 38 days. We went into this fully aware that delays could happen. And, they did. Our bike was re-routed from Miami to Belgium before coming to Mexico. We received our bike on December 28th, day 127 of our journey. The total transit time was 87 days.

Prior to leaving Canada we had researched the process of temporarily importing vehicles into various countries. With the knowledge we had acquired, we were not expecting much more than the usual language barrier challenges. After all, the process is fairly simple when driving into Mexico. Why should it be different when importing from a port?

If you want to skip the long read that follows, the conclusion and final advice (with total cost breakdown) is at the bottom.

Day 1: We had been waiting for this moment for quite some time now. We knew receiving the bike in Mexico was going to be our biggest challenge yet. From the online research we had done, we knew you should only require a few documents to temporarily import a vehicle into Mexico – passport, vehicle registration, tourist visa, and drivers licence. First step, we needed to get the temporary import permit (TIP), which is obtained from the government bank “Banjercito.” We were hoping to be ahead of the game by arriving in Veracruz a few days early to get our paperwork in order. With all my documents together, I (Brendon) headed out to the Banjercito, feeling hopeful. I sat at the clerks desk for 45 minutes, calmly telling her in my best Spanish, that my BC registration was in fact the proof of ownership. And that it was an official government document. She refused to accept it and I refused to leave until she provided me with a list of documents that I required to proceed. At first it was just the proof of ownership, and I pointed out my registration had all the same information her examples from other Canadian provinces had. Eventually we came to an understanding that I needed a stamped Bill of Lading (BL) from the shipping company. I left to get it printed, and returned to stand in line for an hour until the bank closed. She finally came up and told me the document was okay, it just needed a stamp. And, so the fun begins!

Day 2&3: Weekend

Day 4: I calmed myself over the weekend by doing some extensive research; what forms would I need, in what order, and from which buildings. First thing I needed was a re-validated (stamped) bill of lading. To get this I had to go down and pay the freight charges to the shipping company – ECU. The payment was to be made to their account at the Santander bank. Perfect! It was only 2 blocks from our apartment, and bonus, I walked right into the first spot in line. My morale was up, and surprisingly, it stayed there for the 50 minute wait. Until it took the teller another 10 minutes to figure out that I could not pay US dollars into ECU’s US dollar account. He said the bank does not take US money, and I thought it would be a waste of breath to point out the US account number clearly stated on my bill, which was also in US dollars, or the large sign hanging above his head showing the US buy and sell exchange rates for the day. Luckily, ECU also has a peso account. A short walk home to retrieve the local funds and back in line to pay the bill – $386.29 CAD. Progress, slow progress. I sent off the receipt to ECU in hopes of being sent the re-validated BL. They immediately informed me that they can only release the document and my shipment to a customs broker. They referred one, and I sent them the documents they required. This included the packing list filled out at World Cargo prior to shipping. I then spent the rest of the afternoon emailing back and forth, just to be told that I need an official packing list from the Mexican consulate in Canada. They told me you can not bring personal items into Mexico without approval prior to leaving your country.

Day 5: We confirmed that our cargo could not be released without a broker, and the broker would not help us without a packing list from the Mexican consulate. I phoned World Cargo, and had them look into this for us. Their original response was, “you should have everything you need.” But, they went the extra distance and put a call in to the consulate. Now, we wait.

Day 6: Our customs broker was not returning my emails so I phoned her. I received heavy breathing into the phone for 30 seconds then a short unhelpful response, as if I was being a huge inconvenience. This made me realize that I needed a better broker and started emailing other companies, with no luck. Either being told they didn’t do personal shipments or there was an issue with our personal items being with the bike. I decided to go down to the port and see what I could find out; nothing I didn’t already know. When I got home I learned our rep at World Cargo had gone to the Mexican Consulate in Vancouver on our behalf. He was told they “can not and will not endorse a shipment of personal items with a vehicle.” I turned to the Horizons Unlimited website for some advice. To my relief, there was a customs broker recommendation – Enrique Reyes S.C. Even better, he spoke english. I explained the situation, and he simply said, “no problem.” By the end of the day he had our cargo released from ECU, and was getting our paperwork together for the import. Things were starting to looking up.

Day 7: I purchased temporary liability insurance from Baja Bound, it was the best deal I could find. $105.43 CAD for 14 days. This is required to obtain a TIP (Note: they didn’t end up asking to see it at the Banjercito, but from what we understood it is required in Mexico, and you can be in a lot of trouble if caught without it). I then headed down to Emilio’s office. He expressed concern of proving the bike was mine yesterday on the phone. So I emailed Valley Moto Sport in West Kelowna, where I bought the bike from, and they were able to send me a copy of the invoice. I had a sigh of relief as Emilio said “this will work” when I handed it over. He got all the paperwork together for the TIP, and a rep from his company and myself went down to the Banjercito. The rep conveniently had a “christmas present” for the clerk at the bank. This seemed to make a big difference in her wanting to help us. They barely accepted my invoice and registration as proof of ownership. She wanted the original till receipt for the bike, but I think she overlooked it because of the peace offering we brought. The bank processing fee was $59 US, and there is a $400 US deposit required when you enter the country with a vehicle. This is usually paid on a visa, but after much confusion, it was decided I couldn’t pay visa. But, I could pay with US dollars. Then, after a bit more confusion, I had to actually pay in pesos, even though the deposit was in US dollars. Funny, the convenient store down the road has no issue with my visa but the Mexican government bank didn’t even want to try it, saying their system is bad, and if it fails we will have to start all the paperwork over. After all was said and done, 3.5 hours later we walked out of there with the TIP in hand. At a cost of $593.80 CAD. We drove back to Emilio’s office to sign some papers and get more copies. I should have been happy with the days progress but my brain was reduced to mush after the confusion and stress at the bank.

Day 8: Because it took so long at the bank yesterday we missed the afternoon cutoff for scheduling a customs inspection. We went and paid our fee to Enrique Reyes S.C. which was $632.98 CAD. This included all the paperwork required for the import, the customs inspection, and a truck to drive our crate out of the port and drop it off on the street.

Day 9&10: Weekend

Day 11: Christmas

Day 12: Our broker went down to the port, on my behalf, for the customs inspection. The concern now was whether our personal belongings would be accepted. We had our riding gear, camping gear, tools etc. packed in the bike cases – all the stuff that enables us to live off a motorcycle. Replacing these things would not be easy or cheap. They went down early to “ensure” our things would be okay. I won’t mention the exact definition of “ensure,” but it worked. Now we just had to wait on a letter of release from the Mexican officials, hopefully this would come by the end of the day.

Day 13: We received the letter of release and truck was scheduled to pick up our crate at 8am the next day.

Day 14: Today was the day! We woke up to the first rainfall in months, but we didn’t care. We arrived at Emilio’s office at 10 am to find that their city block had an explosion (those are Emilio’s words) and the power was out. Already having waited a few months, what is a few more hours. He informed us the truck was waiting in line in the port, we just had to wait for their call and we could drive together to receive the motorcycle. By noon we were driving with Carlos, an employee, out of town to meet the truck. 20kms later we pulled down a back road where we saw the crate sitting on a flat deck! After some handshakes with the yard workers we determined the keys for the forklift were locked in the house. All we could do was laugh at this point, Murphy’s Law was in full effect. I could not wait so I hopped on the flat deck and started removing the panels to have a look. Upon first glimpse the bike wasn’t exactly “showroom” condition. Everything was covered in sawdust, two flat tires, the cases were jammed in causing some dings and scratches (thanks to the Mexican customs inspection), and the front third of the crate had actually snapped (like the titanic), causing the plastic above the headlight to crack. If it would have dropped another inch the headlight assembly would have been a write off. But the bike was here and these things could be sorted out. After some time they decided to back the flat deck into a dirt hill and rig up a ramp, rather than continue to wait for the keys. We finished the un-crating, pumped up the tires and rolled it off. After connecting the battery we discovered it was dead, thanks to the GPS tracker I had left connected. After some failed attempts of jumping the bike, Carlos phoned a mechanic for us. Once the mechanic showed up I was happy to see he had a large portable charger. It was clear within the first half hour the battery was not taking a charge, so we bought a new one. (Note: It was difficult for me to let a mechanic look at my bike, especially knowing what the issue was. But, given the circumstances, we needed a mechanics resources. Not only did he have the charger, he drove to pick up the new battery.) Carlos stayed with us this whole time, and ensured we drove out of there safe. This whole process took 9.5 hours, and the battery and mechanic cost ($131.89 CAD).

Best case scenario is that you drive your vehicle where you want to go. But for some, that may not be an option. This is our advice if you are wanting to ship a vehicle between Vancouver, Canada to Veracruz, Mexico. The documents required are: passport, vehicle registration, proof of purchase (bill of sale or invoice), and drivers licence (good idea to have a international driving permit too). You also need a valid licence plate wherever you travel, even though you won’t have the coverage while in other countries. Pre-arrange a customs broker for both countries. World Cargo in Vancouver had amazing customer service throughout the entire process, we would use them again. Enrique Reyes S.C. went above and beyond our expectations, literally doing everything we needed until we were driving away. I would highly recommend them for any imports or exports in Veracruz. I would be careful to include too many personal items with your vehicle shipment. We received all of our things but this was mainly due to the help from our broker in Veracruz. It was a nice thought for us to keep our spot tracker connected so we would always know where the bike is. But the reality was that it didn’t work while the bike was in a steel container, and all we ended up with was a toasted battery. Lastly, give yourself lots of time, delays are an unfortunate possibility.

(Note: We had purchased insurance for the bike during transit, and have yet to speak with anyone regarding the broken crate and damaged plastic.)

Cost Breakdown ($CAD)
$ 2,291.71 – Cost to ship bike from Vancouver to Veracruz, includes insurance
$ 386.29 – Port charges to ECU
$ 593.80 – Bike Import Deposit & Bank Fee
$ 632.98 – Import Agent Fee
$ 104.73 – Mexico Bike Insurance
$ 98.92 – New Battery
$ 32.97 – Mechanic
($ 497.64) – Refund of deposit upon departure from Mexico
Total cost: $3,643.76 CAD