Importing from Mexico

Good day Tacoma World community,

Currently I find myself in a bit of a situation, I bought a 2017 Tacoma down in Mexico a few months ago and now want to bring it up and register it in California. (It's a long story as to how all this came to be.)

My plan is to drive the Taco from Mexico all the way up to Sacramento where I currently reside. I want to know from the community if you guys happen to know what steps I should take because honestly I'm not very sure. All I know from talking briefly with the DMV is that I need to bring the title, smog check the taco, weight check it, and fill out some U.S. customs paperwork which I have no idea what that may be. From what I've investigated the truck is supposed to also be up to code to drive in U.S. roads but from what the sticker on the door panel states in English it should be. The truck is no different in Mexico from the one's in the U.S. (Except the speedometer is in KM/H but the digital one can be changed to MPH regardless) so I don't think that should be much of an issue.

If anyone knows what steps I should take in this situation or thinks of where I could get this information or orientation on importing cars I would be really grateful. And if anyone knows how much registering a foreign car or truck could cost that would be pretty great too.

Thank you

 

Service manual makes certain distinctions for Mexico model trucks.
IIRC, Mexico models lack certain emissions systems.

 

If you have to make changes to bring the truck into the US then you will probably be money ahead to sell the current one and buy a US Model.

 

I'd just stay in Mexico. The truck probably runs and performs better than the U.S. models anyway. Plus beer is cheaper in Mexico.

 

No, buy American. Lol

 

Just ship it and fly to US, much better

 

I was in Puerto Vallarta two weeks ago and was blown away by how popular 3rd gen Tacos are. There are almost as many Hillux's.

 

@Taco_Jesus pudiste importarlo?

 

Ya mero estoy en processo, me la voy a traer el proximo mes en mediados de Marzo.

 

Es mucho el papeleo que tienes que hacer? Estoy pensando en ir por una a Hermosillo ya que salen más baratas que aquí

 

Papeleo si es mucho, y tambien si salen un poco mas baratas en Mexico PERO para importarla es mas barato si la haz tenido mas de un año en Mexico. De esa manera te dejas de tener que pagar unos impuestos. Al final puede ser que salga el mismo precio si inclues los impuestos de importacion. Yo te sugiero comprar una en Estados Unidos para dejarte de dolores de cabeza. Incluso ya mande una carta oficial a Toyota USA preguntando por algunos permisos para la linea fronteriza. Dependiendo en su respuesta voy a saber por seguro si la puedo meter al pais o no. Estoy aun esperando su respuesta te dejo saber en algunas semanas con lo que pase.

 

Google translate, don't fail me now...

 

Ill sum up what we just said. He asked if I had imported the truck already and I'm just in the process of doing so should be here some time late in March if everything goes well. He also brought up that he is considering buying one from Mexico also and importing since it's cheaper. However in reality it might end up being the same costs or even more due to importation taxes and what not. Lastly, I've requested some info the Toyota USA for importing the truck and that's about it.

 

I wonder what kind of features the Mexican Tacomas have since the some Canadian and American models have different features.

 

Lol google actually worked for the most part. I'm actually curious what the difference between a Mexican market taco and a US market one is. The difference between a Canadian and US one isn't much, but there still is a surprising amount of differences.

 

Me too.

 

There is hardly any difference besides the speed-o-meter being in kilometers and most of the labels that are in English just got a Spanish label placed over them. I could literally pull off the Spanish label to reveal the English one underneath. And the emission label was missing but I managed to get a new one at a dealer here in Nor-Cal. Besides that it's the same visually and I'm pretty sure mechanically too.

 

I've looked into it for older cars, but it seems like there are three ways you can get it (legally) imported. Don't confuse being able to get it titled and going with being legally imported via the DOT. There are a TON of registered and licensed cars that are not legally imported and subject to confiscation, fines, and crushing if caught. The three exemptions AFAIK:

1. Over 25 years old.
2. a "show" exemption, so you can basically either take it to car shows or use at a track but not on the streets.
3. "substantially similar" to an existing car.

3 is the most likely case here, but CA may have additional hurdles. Assuming largely the same, you'll likely have to switch out the cluster to read miles and some other minor stuff. But worth pointing out that this is likely more of a hassle than selling and repurchasing, since it'll be time and effort to get it legal, and _may_ be subject to that 25% import tax if it is considered a truck or an auto. Not sure if truck is defined as a heavy machinery type truck or _any_ truck.

P.S. Thank Mercedes for all this. It was much easier in the 80s until they got pissed that you could fly to Germany, buy, and import a car cheaper than going down to your local dealer. They managed to get the import laws changed.

 

Extra cubby holes and storage compartments if you know what I mean...

 

De hecho no quería una del año sino una 2013-2015, me dices como te fue pero por lo visto es mucho el desmadre para importarla me dejo de chingaderas y compro una aquí. Me avisas como te va
saludos!