How should I travel into Mexico? (Was "Organ jacking going to Mexico") (El Paso: to live in, bus)

[ShaneSA]

I thought all those cup holders were for beer. The beer bottles fit better than cans. And when I'm finished drinking, I can put the empties in them instead of thowing them out the window. Now I don't have to hold a beer, my telephone, and a burger and try to hit the roll down button to throw out the bottles or cans on the freeway.
Who said new cars are not convienient? It makes me a more concerned driver and one less thing to do while driing so I can pay attention. SA has so many careful drivers who no longer litter.

[svg210]

Hey I drive a gen4 WS7(built) Trans Am. A coule of years ago I took it to mexico. I was about to get carjacked or attempted to. Let me tell the story because I'm getting butterfiles thinking about it.

I went to Saltillo for the weekend and on the way back I stoped on a rural gas station to fill up it was about 3AM. Well the attendent puts about 15 liters about 4 gallons, and gives me were out of gas crap! well thinking to myself and I got an eerie feeling, but I noticed the people standing on the wall where the attendant was hanging out got on their cars and took off. It was a cheap honda prelude(riced out of course) and two Explorers. So at first I made nothing of it, but I still got the chills. Any how I was with god, and I never let the gas fall past half on the tank so I knew those four gallons were going to put me at about 3/4 full so I had nothing to wory about.

Well about 10 miles later as I hop on to Freeway 45 en route to monterey I noticed and recognized that annoying exhaust noise from the honda car. and right behind it were the two explorers. So I figured they were after me by the way they got real close to me and the honda tried to overtake, but I didnt let him. anyhow I decided to play. The Freeway was nice and ample, and well lit by the way. About 5 minutes of them tailgating about 2 cars behind me, So I start to gradually slow down and turned my flashers on. To give them the Idea of me running out of gas. So The honda jumps on the other lane and I start peddeling him. and the Explorer creeped up behind me. I was starting to worry because at this poing if they were armed I was within spitting distance but I tood a risk and.... As soon as the honda gets next to my door and I see his face a young kid by the way. I give him the bird, drop two gears and mashed it! Unfortunately they thought they could keep up and tried to but after a few seconds I lost the explorers. the honda followed till about 130-140 so I took it up to 160 lol the spedometer was bouncing off 170 lol It felt awesome and I thank god the tires held up. I havent took the car down there ever again!

So Imagine what they do for a nice domestic car, Imagine what they do to a nice Beemer?

[Buffyfan]

A friend of mine wouldn't let a Hummer pass in a border town about a year ago. The Mexican cops made him pull over and then handed him over to the guys from the Hummer. They put 2 guns to his head, made him apologize...then beat him. He had to stay in a Mexican hospital for a week.

Don't go.

[FL2NY]

Thanks for sharing your story SVG. After hearing what you went through, I don't think I'll be taking my Beemer to Mexico. I still want to go to Mexico, and really don't feel like taking the plane or a bus. I'm probably going to do this... when I reach SA, I'll just get a rental car... cheapest one that I can get... m/b a KIA RIO or something like that. I'll be sure to fill up on gas in TX, than drive straight into Monterrey & be sure to avoid border towns & rural areas. Oh, and also I will be sure to fill up my tank as often as I can where I feel safe & not let it get too low (lesson learned...SVG). Do you guys think that if I do all those things, it should be relatively safe? Oh, and I'll be sure to be a polite driver and give Hummers & other drug lords the right of way (Thanks Buffy).

Curious though SVG, why did you even take the risk to slow down & give the guy a finger?? Seems like if the highway was open enough, you could have just hauled ass from the get go...

Thanks for everyones input!

[Bowie]

Originally Posted by FL2NY

I'm probably going to do this... when I reach SA, I'll just get a rental car... cheapest one that I can get... m/b a KIA RIO or something like that. I'll be sure to fill up on gas in TX, than drive straight into Monterrey & be sure to avoid border towns & rural areas.

FWIW, you will likely have trouble finding a rental car agency that will let you take its cars into Mexico. Some of them won't let even let customers take their cars within 100 miles of the border. You might want to run your plan by the agency before proceeding with it. The article below also discusses the special insurance you would need to do this.

Taking a Rental Car Into Mexico

[Dopo]

I've only been to Mexico once when I was 18 and it was in a mission trip (no fancy cars).

But I grew up in Venezuela (South America) close to Caracas, a city known for having very high crime. In Caracas there's all kind of luxury cars, Hummers, BMWs, Rolls Royce, etc (I'm sure is the same in Monterrey).

The problem is that when you take a nice car you instantly make yourself a "very profitable" target for criminals. To the point that many of them would think it would be worthy to kill the owner of that luxury car.

Whenever I've traveled to Caracas, I wear a $10 watch and I never wear anything flashy (just simple clothes with no brands on them)
Guess what? Nobody ever even looks at me.
They are looking for the people with the rolex, Iphone, football jersey, etc.

Also, the most important thing you can do is find out where's the bad areas(true for any city), that should help you stay away from criminals.

[Revolver]

I'm interested in this, also. I've heard the warnings, and so far, have heeded them.

In Mexico, it is a felony to drive without liablity insurance issued by a Mexican carrier. If your car is financed or has a lienholder, they oftentimes will not let you drive it into Mexico.

[FL2NY]

Hmmm... geez... Good thing I consulted this forum before I made any real moves. I try to be as spontaneous as I can, and I would have had a very rude awakening if I didn't get feedback from all of you. So my latest plans are as follows.... Instead of driving into Mexico, I will probably just take the bus from SA or Brownsville or something into Mexico City. If I were to drive on my own, I wasn't planning on going all the way to Mexico City because I was too worried about logistics. But since I will be taking a bus... I might as well freakin go to the capital. I've always wanted to climb ontop of one of those ancient Aztec temples. So, I will drive to TX, leave my car in a garage or something and take the bus into Mexico City! Oh, does anyone have any suggestions on any good things to do/ sights to see in Mexico? Thanks again for all the helpful input.

PS... I'll be sure to keep a close eye on my kidneys while I'm taking in the sights.!

[Dopo]

I could be wrong, but I believe most of those temples are actually close to Cancun.

I've been doing a lot of research about Monterrey because I want to go over there sometime soon and here's a few things you might find interesting.
- Mexico has great soccer stadiums and soccer games. Monterrey has 2 teams (Tigres/Monterrey) and Mexico City has several and one of the largest soccer stadiums in the World (Estadio Azteca) with capacity for about 100,000.
- There's some nice looking mountains south of Monterrey, here's a webpage that I found of some people that drove around those mountains. The highest point is Cerro del Potosi, close to Galeana at 13400 ft.
TAR Home
- If you are going to Mexico City, I've heard that the state "San Luis de Potosi" is very pretty.

BTW,
there's a section in this forum for Mexico
http://www.city-data.com/forum/mexico/

[firstclassflyer]

Originally Posted by Bowie

FWIW, you will likely have trouble finding a rental car agency that will let you take its cars into Mexico. Some of them won't let even let customers take their cars within 100 miles of the border. You might want to run your plan by the agency before proceeding with it. The article below also discusses the special insurance you would need to do this.

Taking a Rental Car Into Mexico

On the contrary, most of the major car rental firms do indeed let their cars go into Mexico. You'll just need to purchase the Mexican Auto Insurance from them before the car leaves the country. I do this fairly frequently.
The insurance from AVIS runs approx. $25/day. It can be purchased for less, but I'm fairly sure that you need to purchase this insurance from the car rental firm that will be renting from.
The insurance policy usually guarantees your bond as well. If you are involved in an accident while in Mexico, and there is any type of confusion (believe me, there will be) you will most likely be brought to the local police station and be put in a cell until it's sorted out. That's what I meant by "the insurance policy guarantees your bond"...no cell for you.