Foriegner Buying a motorcycle in Mexico

[Daveed]

I bought my Honda Cargo 150 at merimoto in Merida Mexico for 1800 usd. But luckily i got a local resident who bought my sailboat to vouch for my plates. You see any foreigner can purchase a mptorcycle, but they give you 7 days of riding before you are required to buy the license plates and put them on. You have to goto the mexican dmv but heres the catch...you have to have an address with a light bill or a bill with your name on it in Mexico to get the plates.

So what I did was i asked my Mexican friend Picci to let me buy the motorcycle and put it in his name on the title when I made the purchase at Merimoto. (He was not there with me during the purchase). So with the motorcycle in his name we went to the dmv and he took a light bill of his and got the plates. Now the interesting part...In order to get the motorcycle in my name I had to show I purchased it from him. So we wrote a note on the back of the title stating the motorcycle and all associated documents were transferred to Me and he signed it. Then we went to find the "president of the town. (Dzilam de bravo) and this president stamped his seal on it and signed it and I was on my way.

One more catch. In costa rica they wanted to be hard heads so I kinda got into a quarrel over where i was parked with the aduana. He wanted me to put my bike with all my stuff on it out of my view on the side of a building and I told him no because there were several other vehicles parked where i was parked. Long story short he decided he didn't like the way my title was signed over to me. He laughed as he said it and sent me to the superviser in another building. After a lengthy wait. They said I needed to go to the lawyer across the street. (Imagine that) and get another document typed up and stamped and sealed stating that the title was legit....so for two hours I sat and watched this costa rican attorney modify a document to satisfy them and gave him. $30 usd. He said they were just giving me a hard time and he had only done this twice in his career. It did come in handy in Ecuador too though. Beware you have to buy insurance (seguro) at each border crossing, but don't worry it's cheap and readily available usually next door to the aduana.

So there you have it. This was the best $1830 I ever spent. Took me a year to go 17000 miles through twelve countries on super honda and never had a problem. Sold the bike to a guy from Israel living in Bolivia for $450 and a set of $1500 Judaica kosher knives. It's easier if you sell it to another foreigner, just get an attorney to transfer it to them for $20. Then i bought an American Airlines ticket home in La. Paz and flew back to Houston. And by the way I had never ridden a motorcycle. I had a lot to learn. Good luck. volunteer at buenas cosas in flores guatemala. To see the place click here --->. http://helpx.net/host.asp?hostID=13517&network=9

Volunteer on an island in Panama click here ---> http://www.helpx.net/host.asp?hostID=12125&network=9

Sail with the Stahlratte on a 120' 1910 steel ship click here --->. http://www.stahlratte.de/prices-disc...arta-biker.pdf

Volunteer at ONCA in Rurrenabaque with vanessa and andres at the animal rescue center --->. http://www.volunteermatch.org/search/org634180.jsp