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Confirm Your VIN Is Eligible
Not every car can enter Mexico, temporarily or permanently. Eligibility depends on the vehicle's year, where it was manufactured, and whether the VIN appears on a restricted list. This has nothing to do with permits or paperwork; it's a straight yes or no on the vehicle itself.
Check this before you plan a route, book a residency appointment, or hire a broker. It is the most common reason Canadians get stuck — often after they've already shipped belongings or booked travel.
Check your VIN before you commit to anything.
We run VIN eligibility checks as part of our relocation service so you know whether your vehicle qualifies before you spend a dollar on permits, brokers, or shipping.
Start with a VIN verificationPick the Right Import Type
There are two legal ways to bring a vehicle into Mexico. Which one applies depends on your immigration status.
Temporary Import Permit (TIP)
Use this if you're a tourist, or a temporary resident (Residente Temporal).
- Issued by Banjercito, tied to your immigration status
- Valid for 180 days
- Requires a refundable deposit as a guarantee the car will leave the country
- Must be formally cancelled when you leave or change status; an expired TIP can get the car seized
Permanent Import
Use this if you already hold Residente Permanente status, or you're relocating for good.
- Processed through an authorized customs broker (agente aduanal)
- Involves a customs entry called a pedimento de importación
- Eligibility and import costs depend on factors such as the vehicle's VIN, model year, origin and applicable import rules
- Once legally imported, the vehicle can be registered and plated in the applicable Mexican state
If you convert to Residente Permanente, your TIP ends. At that point you export the car, sell it outside Mexico, or move to a permanent import.
We handle TIP applications directly for our clients, so this is arranged alongside your residency paperwork rather than as a separate errand.
Prove Ownership the Right Way
This is where Canadian imports differ most from American ones, and where guides written for U.S. drivers get it wrong.
Canada has no equivalent of the American Certificate of Title. Provinces issue a vehicle registration or ownership permit instead — and several don't even use the word "owner" the way American titles do.
American vehicles have a Certificate of Title: one document naming the owner and any lienholder. Provinces issue a vehicle registration or ownership permit instead: Ontario's vehicle permit, BC's registration through ICBC, Quebec's certificat d'immatriculation. These name the registered owner, but they aren't titles.
Mexican customs asks for the "titular," meaning the titled owner. A Canadian showing up with only a provincial registration can run into a broker or customs officer applying American assumptions to a Canadian document. This affects:
Whether your paperwork counts as sufficient proof of ownership
What needs to be notarized, apostilled, or translated
Whether a lienholder needs to sign off, since Canadian financing works differently than U.S. titled liens
The registration you end up with once the car is legalized
Work with someone who knows the Canadian system specifically, not a broker who mainly handles American vehicles and treats every foreign document as a title. Getting this step wrong can mean a rejected import after you've already paid duties and shipping.
Before You Do Anything Else
Confirm your VIN is eligible for the import type you need. Confirm your Canadian ownership documents will be accepted as proof you're the titular. Get these two things right first and the rest — permit type, broker, duties, plates — follows in order.
Your Two-Step Checklist
Confirm VIN eligibility
Confirm your VIN is eligible for the import type you need.
Confirm ownership documents
Confirm your Canadian ownership documents will be accepted as proof you're the titular.
We handle the VIN check, and the TIP application, as part of our relocation service, so all two are covered by someone who knows the Canadian side of this, not just the Mexican side.
Start with a VIN verification
Before you plan a route or hire a broker, confirm your vehicle is eligible and your Canadian documents will be accepted.