Buying on the Guatemala Mexico border. Possible?will it work?
hey everyone,
I'm completely new to this site and I need help with paperwork for a bike I want to buy from another biker. I'll copy and paste what info I've been given about the whole transaction from the current owner. is this how things are done around Central America?

First email:
so to make a transaction we have to meet on a border, since the motorcycle has a permanent tourist import permission in every single country that is bounded to the guy that brings in the bike. so if you bring in a bike into a country you have to bring it out again, otherwise you get trouble. so i can not sell the bike in a country and you leave the country to travel. the papers are on my name, so we have to change the title of the bike to your name after i brought the bike out of f.ex. guatemala. you can enter to mexico with the new papers and the bike will be imported as a tourist vehicle on your name.

Second email:
when I asked how you change names on the papers I got this reply:

the paperwork is not a big deal. we write a contract of selling between you and
me. further on we have to invent and print a new title of the motorbike, which would be the plastic card that you give to the police in case of check. that is no big deal. the motorbike has original peruvian papers, all on my name, so dont worry. all the transactions of motorbikes are done like that here in latin america. there is no other way than in a way to false some papers, since we are far from peru, where we could do*the transaction of the vehicle completely legal. so, we meet at the border of guatemala and mexico, i get the vehicle out of guatemala and you get it into mexiko, after that you can*travel whereever you want.

I know it's a lot to read but need to make sure I don't get busted or something because the paperwork is false.

Muchas gracias

It might work , it might NOT work . If they catch you , you can kiss "your" bike good bye .
Import duties for used bikes in Guatemala are not very high ; paying them would be one way to do it legally and to get registration and title in your name .

You cannot ENTER Mexico if the original and legal papers including title are not in your name, and the name has to be spelled out EXACTLY as in your passport and driver license. My wife had her maiden name on her D/L and the bike was on her married name. NO CROSSING allowed until she corrected her D/L.

There is a way around that. My friend drove my Land Cruiser back from Costa Rica to USA and went through Mexico. The title was under my name. We had a notary letter of authorization and that seems to have been okay as the truck is now here...

Can you elavorate on that? I have a friend with jeep with guatemalan plates and I would love to take it back to the States for him. I was told once by the Mexican Embassy, that there was no way around this? to keep stolen cars/motos from being taken across borders, anymore, as a lot of USA stolen vehicles were being taken down to CA for stripping and such.

Well I am not sure about Guatemalan plates - our truck was registered in Arizona. We had a letter that stated that such person was authorized to drive the vehicle, and we got it notarized with proper stamps. I even left it under my passport in Costa Rica and he was able to cancel the importation permit (which was under my name) but had to swear under oath in Spanish...



It's not the first time we do that. we had a group of business owners driving their Jeep to Panama, and most of the vehicles were under the corporation name, so everyone had a notarized letter and it went okay.

I am not sure I would trust the Mexican Embassy on this, I think it depends more on the mood of the custom guy that day, and how serious your letter is and professional your driver looks.

When I was operating Panama Passage we had an Aussie guy buying a bike from a girl from Colorado, and riding it back to the US. They only exchanged papers and cash in Panama City, and he hit the road like this!

So to go back to the original posting, I think it's possible to do it if you play your cards right.