Customs rules for drivers to Mexico are flexibly enforced. Don't stress out. Aduana (customs) isn't out to get you, unless you are smuggling a lot of stuff. If you have a lot of stuff to take to MExico, pay the customs duty.

The exact procedure for crossing the Mexican border and when you encounter Mexican customs agents varies from crossing to crossing. This is general border crossing info. When driving to Mexico, you may or may not be inspected by Mexican customs officers (aduana) two times (except for Baja and Sonora).

When driving to mainland Mexico, when you first drive across the Mexican border, you will either get a get a green or red light (no, this has nothing to do with a red light district). Green means you do not get inspected by Mexican customs (aduana). Red means you do. After driving about 21 kilometers into the interior of Mexico, you will go through the same customs inspection process.

Do not confuse army checkpoints with customs. The army does not care what you have as long as it is not drugs or guns.

Driving to Sonora, you will encounter the customs guys at the 21 kilometer mark. Driving to Baja, you may never see Mexican customs or immigration officials.

Personal Effects

Those driving to Mexico are technically only allowed $75 of personal effects per person when driving to Mexico. This is only enforced if you get a customs inspector on a bad day - or you are blatantly bringing a lot of stuff that a tourist would not need. A satellite dish - please!. Practically, you can bring in a reasonable amount of personal effects. I can't tell you exactly what that means because it varies according to the customs inspector. True, there is an official list of what is permitted, but it is seldom followed. In general, as long as you do not have too much stuff, don't worry about it. A laptop is no problem.

One time I was having a hard time with a computer until I told the official that I was a writer. "What kind of stories do you write?" he asked. "Like James Bond, 007." He beamed and waved me through. I have known people who have been turned back from one border crossing, who have driven to the next border crossing or waited for the shift to change and gotten in. New clothing with the tags still on, even a couple of shirts, will almost always cause you trouble.

Another time, I had a new shirt and the customs officer at the secondary stop (approximately twenty-one kilometers from the border) and talked my way out of it by saying that my girlfriend thought I had such bad taste that she bought me a new shirt. Some of you may be saying, "Yeah, it's easy for him to say, he speaks Spanish. I don't." Most visitors to Mexico do not speak Spanish. Most customs officials speak some English and many are fluent. Don't worry about it. If you really want to learn Spanish, check out the course offered here.

What customs is looking for is new items that could be sold. The secret is not to have new-looking items with you. For example, if you have new clothes, take the tags off. If you have new camping gear, take it out of the shiny boxes and throw some dirt on them to make the boxes look old. Get the idea? Of course, just to make things complicated, Mexican customs officers frown on taking old, used clothing to Mexico. Say what? In fact the best way to get bothered by Mexican customs officials is to have bags and bags of used clothing. I know you only want to give it away. They won't believe you. While the duty on stuff like that has practically disappeared in this decade, guns and drugs are often smuggled in with used clothes. And yes, you will see tractor-trailers with bales of used clothes running down the highway. Who said life was fair?

A journalist friend of mine was moving to Mexico and had a lot of stuff, including a desktop computer. The customs inspector wanted to do his job, but he was a practical man. "Your computer," he asked, "it is small, no?" "Si," the scribe replied, "muy pequeño." Be honest and friendly and things will work out. Be arrogant and I guarantee that you will have trouble.