Travel info
The Pan-Am started inn October, 2025 in Tuxtla Gutierrez, which is located in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, just north of Guatemala. Normally, it’s a long two-day drive from Laredo, Texas top Tuxtla. In past years, the convoy of trucks, trailers, and rally cars would stop for the night in Puebla, which is just south of Mexico City, on their way to Tuxtla. From Puebla the convoy would go down to Oaxaca and then to Tuxtla via the city of Tehuantepec. It’s a about nine-hour drive from Oaxaca to Tuxtla.
CROSSING THE BORDER - THE JOYS OF BUREAUCRACY
All vehicles with foreign plates entering the interior of Mexico must have a Temporary Import Permit (TIP), sometimes called a Tourist Permit. The basic rule is: a foreign visitor may bring only one vehicle into Mexico for a maximum period of six months with a TIP. One TIP must be purchased for the rally car and a second TIP for the truck and trailer. Thus, one vehicle must be titled in the name of another member of your travel party or family. That person must be with your party. If your vehicle is leased or financed, you must have written permission from the bank to bring it into Mexico. If it belongs to a company, you must have a official letter giving the driver permission to take the vehicle into Mexico, even if the driver owns the company. Proof of insurance is now required at the border and you can buy it before you leave for Mexico from www.bajabound.com. A husband and wife, both with tourist visas, may import two vehicles. Some Mexican border stations require that the name of the importer be on the “face” or front of the title or registration card. In other border stations, it may be possible to sign over the title on the back to another person. It is also possible to obtain a tourist visa and TIP for a car made during or after 1984 (with a long VIN) over the internet. TIPs for cars older than 1984 must be obtained at the Mexican border station by the owner of the car. Make sure you vehicles have a easy to find and read VIN number
It takes an average of one hour to get a tourist visa and vehicle permits at the border. Think DMV. These are the three big steps in the process at a Mexican border station across the border.:
1. Obtain your tourist card (FMM visa) at the Immigration (Migracion) Office at a Mexican border station. Show your passport, fill out the visa (tourist card) form, and have it stamped by the official. It’s now necessary to pay for your visa at the bank office, the Banjercito, at the border station, before obtaining your TIP, if you are planning to stay in Mexico for longer than a week. Note: Tourist FMM visas and TIPs are normally issued for 180 days, unless you indicate on your application for a shorter period of time.
2. Once you get your FMM tourist visa, step over to the photocopy booth to have copies of all your original documents made—passport, car title or registration card, insurance card, driver’s license, and your new tourist visa. Make sure you have the license tag numbers of the vehicles with you, if the numbers are not on the title or registration. Also remember the credit card used to purchase the TIP must be in the name of the person obtaining the permit. If not, he/she must pay in U.S. dollars.
3. Stroll down the hall to the “Banjercito” window, which looks like a bank window, because it is, to get the Tourist Import Permits (TIP) for your vehicles. The TIP no longer includes a decal for your windshield, just the printed document, which should remain in he vehicle at all times. Hand over all the originals and copies of your documents to the Banjercito clerk and smile. You need not say anything, as the clerks know what to do. Give the clerk your passport, tourist visa/card, original vehicle title or registration, driver’s license, insurance card, and credit card, and one copy of each, except your credit card. After punching your info into the computer, the clerk will print an official-looking form and ask you to sign it on the back. This form no longer has a hologram sticker attached to it. Make sure the VIN number on the TIP is correct before you leave the Banjercito window. Your credit card will be charged around sixty USD for the permit, plus a $200-$400 USD deposit (based on the age of your vehicle) that is refundable when you leave Mexico and cancel the TIP officially at the border before leaving Mexico. You also must also turn in your tourist visa by leaving it at the Migracion desk.
Save all the documents they give you and keep the TIPs in the tow truck and rally car. Do not lose the official TIP document, as you will need it to exit the country and cancel your permit. The permits may also be checked by Federal Police, Customs Officials, and Mexican Army units along the way.
You may also obtain the TIP via the Internet for your tow truck and trailer, or race car made after 1983 with a long VIN number. To use the Internet, learn how to disable your pop-up blocker in your browser, clear your cookies and temp files. Then go to www.banjercito.com.mx and click on "tramites." Click on the English version. You will need your passport, vehicle title or registration card, and credit card as computer files or images to upload when requested. When you start the process, you will be directed to the Mexican Immigration website and it will take around five minutes to get a “portfolio” number that authorizes you to enter Mexico. Then you will return to the Banjercito website with this “portfolio” number that allows you to obtain the TIP. You will be asked to upload images of all required documents. Do not lose your “portfolio” number. Write it down as soon as you get it.
Please note: the different sources for TIPs sometimes interpret the rules and regulations differently. Some border stations will not issue TIPs for 2500/3500 series SUVs and pickups. Some will not issue a TIP for a panel truck with no windows, a truck with a goose-neck trailer, or pickup with dual rear wheels. 2500 series trucks are legal but sometimes the clerks are not sure.
You can also obtain a TIP, but not a tourist visa, at some Mexican Consulates, like L.A., San Bernardino, Sacramento, Chicago, Phoenix, Houston, and other cities ,especially in Southwestern states. If you go to a consulate, you should first get the preliminary permission (portfolio number) to enter Mexico noted above. If you do not complete that step before going to a consulate, then you must go to another office at the consulate to get permission. Normally, that step takes only 15 minutes and costs nothing, if no one is in line ahead of you. Beginning in 2019 you must fill out the forms for a permit via internet and then make an appointment via internet with the Banjercito office in each consulate. However, some consulates will still accept walk-in clients.
Remember where you got your TIPs when you crossed the border, because you will return to this place before you leave Mexico to have the permits canceled Do not go across the bridge back into the USA without having the TIP and tourist visa canceled and getting a receipt for the TIP’s cancellation. At most border crossing there is a roadside booth near the Mexican border station where the TIP can be canceled. It is not necessary, however, to exit Mexico from the same city where you entered. In Laredo and El Paso go back to the building where you got your visa and TIP. There's a booth outside where you can cancel the TIP. Also also remember to turn in your visa at the Migracion desk when you leave Mexico.
If the deposit for the TIP was made in cash, you must stop at the border station and go to the Banjercito to get a refund. Always remember, to get a refund on your credit card and be able to bring a car into Mexico next year, you must cancel the permit properly at the border before leaving Mexico or you will lose your deposit and will not be allowed to obtain another TIP for seven years.
For the Pan-Am, going across the border from Laredo, TX to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico is highly recommended because the people there know the event, and they will usually bend over backwards to get our cars and trucks across. For the Pan-Am, the Columbia Bridge, which is 17 miles northwest of Laredo recommended, especially for long car-hauling trailers. The Pan-Am Office will have someone at the border in Nuevo Laredo to provide assistance in crossing the border, obtaining TIPs and FMM visas, and to guide the convoy down to the starting city about one week before the event begins.
IMPORTING VEHICLES WITH A F.M.A.D PERMIT
If you do not have a title to your race car and have a huge tow truck, plus lots of tires and spare parts, or have all the vehicles in one name or the company’s name, you may want to import your vehicles by going through the Mexican Federation of Auto Sports (known as FEMADAC) and/or hiring a licensed Mexican customs broker. Do not confuse this process with the TIP process described above. These two processes are very different. You should use one or the other, not both.
Here’s the FEMADAC process:
1. Register for the race on the official Pan-Am web site, and then download and fill out the application for the FEMADAC vehicle permits and your racing license from www.femadac.org.mx. Express mail these applications to the FMAD office in Mexico City with the required payment. You need only apply, but not pay for the racing license, at this point. Their address is on the application.
2. Secure the services of a Mexican customs broker in Laredo or another port-of-entry. (The North American Coordinator has some recommendations, or you may use the broker recommended by the Organizers.)
3. FEMADAC will verify that you have entered the race, and will send the approved permits to the Mexican customs broker who you have selected. They will also send you a copy.
4. You make an appointment to enter Mexico with the broker, and go to the his office on the U.S. side of the border at the appointed time, usually Tuesday-Thursday.
5. The broker’s staff member jumps in your truck, takes you across the border (over the commercial bridge in Laredo), and handles the transaction.
6. After you are in Mexico, the broker’s staff person hands you the paper work, jumps out of your truck, and you are on your way. The truck driver does not need a tourist visa, the truck's document ("pedimento") is all he/she needs. (This process may differ from broker to broker and the port-of-entry.)
See the Entry page for information on contacting FMAD, or go to www.femadac.org.mx.
The services of a licensed Mexican customs broker will cost between $500 and $2000, because it is a negotiable fee for service and the government's fee. You must also provide the broker a list (manifest) of all the spare parts, extra tires and equipment (like welders), and their (yard sale) value that you are taking into Mexico—and that you will return to the USA when the race is over. They may require that it be translated into Spanish.
If you use a Mexican customs broker, you must stop at his/her office on the Mexican side on the way back to the USA to reverse the process above, or he will forfeit his bond that guarantees the return of your vehicles and spare parts. He will not be happy if you fail to stop and cancel your pedimento.
Note: It is now possible now to avoid the FEMADAC permit process and the expense of a Mexican customs agent by using a ATA Carnet. You can obtain more information about the ATA Carnet at www.uscib.com. It is not necessary to use a Mexican customs agent with a ATA Carnet, which reduces the expense significantly. The ATA carnet is not cheap but but covers anything that you bring into Mexico. What you bring determines the cost of the Carnet. These carnets are used primarily by businesses that are bringing items into a foreign country to display at a trade show and then are returned to the originating country. The company issuing the carnet is responsible if you fail to return all the items. The items being imported are checked by U.S. Customs before you enter Mexico and when you return.
HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS
When you register for the Pan-Am, a hotel reservation for a "double room" (two beds) is automatically made in the name of the listed driver of the race car for the eight or nine nights of the race. This room is paid by the entry fee. If you plan to arrive the starting city a few days early, as most do, it will cost you more. The Carrera office usually charges around $165 for each extra night in or along the way, taxes included, or around $1280 for a extra room during the eight-day event for your service crew. Rooms in luxury hotels cost extra. These costs may change without notice. Service crew members no longer allowed to come to driver’s dinners and meeting during the Pan-Am. Please note: The amount charged for hotel rooms has not been announced for the race in 2026. It is also possible that there might be a luxury hotel option.
GASOLINE AND FOOD WHILE TRAVELING
Many brands of gas stations are found on most major highways in Mexico and in the cities. Most stations carry non-leaded 87 octane regular (the green pump handle) and non-leaded MTB 92 octane premium (the red pump handle). Quality is usually OK. Diesel fuel is also generally available (the black pump handle), usually at an island away from the gasoline pumps.
There are small restaurants along the highways and at the larger service stations throughout most of Mexico. If the place looks clean, then it's probably OK. Just eat hot food and only drink from a can or bottle you open. A case of bottled water and a roll of TP in your truck and race car will come in handy.
Never ever bring guns, ammo, or drugs into Mexico. If any of these are detected, you will go directly to jail, and Mexican jails are not nice places. There has been a lot of violence in Mexico in recent years because of conflict among the drug cartels. However, it is highly unlikely that the Pan-Am will run into this type of trouble.
The Mexican people that you meet along the way, especially the children, will be friendly and curious about you and your vehicle. Everyone will try to be helpful if you are having a problem with your vehicles, before, during, and after the rally. However, if you spend the night at a motel on the way to the starting city, it's best to park your rig inside a locked or guarded compound or garage. Most of the better motels and hotels have one. And remember the most important rule: never drive alone in Mexico at night unless absolutely necessary and stay on the toll roads during the day or night. Never stop for anyone but a policeman or Army officer in uniform.
And yes, getting there is half the fun!, and we never know what will happen with importing vehicles at the border until we get there. It is always an adventure! Note that the costs, prices, and rules listed above are unofficial and are not approved by the organizers of the Pan-Am or ChiX. Make sure you read the rules of each event closely.
Viva the Panna!!
Mr. Gerie “Yeri” Bledsoe
Former ChiX North American Coordinator and Pan-Am Rep (2002-2015). A competitor in forty rallies in Mexico.
gbledso@aol.com or geriebledsoe@gmail.com. Last crossed the the border into Mexico in 2024. Cell phone 1-310-703-4476.