A Tip to Help you “Win” Against the Mexican Police When you Retire in Mexico April 15
When you are planning to retire in Mexico, it’s easy to forget that you will be living in territory patrolled by police with very different modus operandi than those in the U.S. and Canada. Earlier this year I wrote a blog about how difficult it is to drive in Mexico and I mentioned a variety of factors that make it so, including the police, who can and will stop you for any reason, then deliberately try to find something wrong, wheedling and threatening in hopes that you will get tired, scared, or be in enough of a rush to give them a bribe.
It’s a topic that I’ve avoided giving specific advice on for those who are retired in Mexico because it’s such a slippery slope and every situation is different. I haven’t been able to find any “magic bullets” that would work in all situations.
I think my husband finally did get it worked out. In short, you must have ALL of your paperwork in order for your vehicle.
“Yeah, yeah,” you say. “Of course I’ll have all my paperwork in order. I always do.” Well, let me tell you, when you retire in Mexico, it can be hard to know about all the paperwork you are supposed to have!
He has a small pick up and is therefore an obvious target for police — because they like to stop people carrying loads, because trucks drivers are likely to be missing some official document or other (more on this below), and because it’s not likely to be some mucky muck lawyer driving a pickup (my guess here). As a truck owner he is subject to more permits and requirements than are car owners. Trucks must have a paper proving they’ve had a recent safety check. The safety checks are supposed to verify the presence of a fire extinguisher, etc. in the truck, but, unfortunately, are rarely done correctly. Also, trucks, when carrying a load, should have a special permission for that particular load.
It seems crazy, but get this: when you live in Mexico you aren’t allowed to move YOUR stuff from one house to another without a special permission. So, when you retire in Mexico, let’s say you start out at a nice little apartment until you can build your dream home on a nearby view property. So your retirement mansion is finally completed, and you own a pick up truck. You want to drive your things from the apartment to your new house, making a trip a day, and taking your own sweet time to set up your new cozy place. Can you do this? NO! The police might see your couch sticking up in the bed of your truck and pull you over. They would ask you for this and that and that and that until they finally find something you don’t have and can start to wheedle for a bribe. Obviously, the average Joe from the U.S. and Canada isn’t into paying bribes, and besides it’s CRAZY because it’s YOUR stuff and YOUR truck. So, you can go to the transportation (transito) office and get a permission to move your stuff, called a menaje de casa (It’s the same name as when you got your permission to move your stuff to Mexico when you first retired here.). Just to make it a little harder, you can’t get the menaje de casa without a current safety check, so if you don’t have that, get that first.
You learn all sorts of things when you retire in Mexico. Who would have thought that there was such a thing? My husband found out about it when he went for his safety check and mentioned to the guy there that he was trying to keep the police from harrassing him. The guy told him about the menaje de casa, otherwise he would never have known.
Well having it really made our latest trip with a load a lot easier. We were stopped by the police twice in the State of Mexico! (Generally, you need to have your paperwork for out-of-state trips because the police pick on people who are outside of their comfort zones and who can’t really come back to pay a ticket later and are thus more likely to bribe). It was like being in the Twilight Zone. Police in the same area had been rude, pushy, threatening, etc. This time, they could find NOTHING wrong with my husband’s documents (he had the menaje de casa) and they were so nice, joking with him, and offering their support if he ever needed it.
In fact, the first police who stopped were really interested in his little half-sheet of paper giving him permission to move his own stuff. They asked him where he got it, how much it cost, etc. Then, they asked him to follow them to a copy store so that they could get a copy of his document so that they could show it to other motorists — all the better to bribe them with, says my husband. They managed to waste a good thirty minutes of our time, but at least they were nice.
Sheesh. What’s the moral of this story? Don’t retire in Mexico without a Mexican spouse!