Decide on whether it is in your best interest to contract a shipping service directly from your Canadian location, or to drive the car to the Canadian-U.S. border. Shipping from Canada to the U.S. is slightly more complicated than shipping from the U.S. side of the border. You will need to clean the undercarriage thoroughly, fill out specific export shipping forms specifying your foreign status and your intentions of driving the foreign vehicle into the U.S. for less than a year. Delivery time is also longer and you can expect a 10 to 15-day transportation time to the U.S.-Mexico border. The shipping company you choose will help you fulfill the requirements and provide the necessary forms for this.
Obtain your car permit online by going to the Banjercito website. Order your permit at least 10 days before your trip, but you can order it as early as 60 days in advance of your trip. Banjercito will mail you a sticker and permit. The sticker must be placed on the inside of your vehicle's windshield just under the rearview mirror, where it can easily be seen from other vehicles.
Contact a car transporter like Z Best Transport, Ship My Vehicle or A-1 Auto Transport. Prepare the vehicle and clean the undercarriage if you plan on sending the car directly from Canada to the U.S.-Mexico border. Expect the transporter company to pick up the car at your home. Fill out the customs forms the shipping company gives you.
Drive the car across the United States border closest to you, if you decide that it is easier to transport the car from the U.S. side of the border. Deliver the vehicle to the car transport drop-off point. This is usually a towing service lot, a car dealership or large mechanical shop. The shipping company will give you the approximate date of pickup. You should deliver the car a day prior to that and get a receipt of delivery from the pick-up location.
Contact the services of a Mexican auto transport company like Auto Traslados, or Transportamos. Explain your desire to ship the car from the Mexican border to the final destination. Get pricing and obtain their pick-up and drop-off locations so you will have these handy when you are at the Mexican border.
Expect the delivery to take approximately 5 to 7 days from the time you drop it off. The transporter will call you when it has been delivered. The drop-off location will keep the car for you for a couple of days without charging you a storage fee, but you should call the drop-off location to ensure delivery has been made and to inform them of your date of arrival.
Get on a flight to the U.S. city where the car is located. Drive across the Mexican border and show immigration your sticker and permit. Be sure to take the vehicle title in your name, your passport and driver's license. Applying for the permit online will save you hours of waiting at the border.
Drive to the Mexican destination or contract one of the Mexican transporter companies you talked to in Step 4. They will again give you a drop-off and pick-up location and a time frame for transportation. This time frame is often 2 to 5 days, depending on the final destination of the vehicle.
