Yes you can get a Cancun licence with a UK one (you'll need an eye test and also a Dr's letter confirming your blood group or they'll test it there). You'll also need an FM3 and the licence will only be issued for no longer than what is left on your FM3. Like anything official here it's a ball ache having to queue to get tickets first thing in the morning and then queuing again in the afternoon in several different queues for eyetest, blood, safety video, photos etc. As far as I know it is perfectly legal to drive on a UK licence which makes getting a Cancun one somewhat of a waste of time. I did get one myself years ago but it was only valid for 6 months (due to my FM3), only reason I got it was it was an easy way to prove local id and get some discounts. In the UK I think you can drive on a foreign licence for 6 months or maybe a year before you're expected to get a UK licence. Re car ownership, as long as you have an FM3 you can have it in your own name, mine is. You will also need to pay tenencia which is bit like road tax in the UK, based on model of car and age. A lot of people dont pay it, and seem to get away with it for some reason. Make sure when you buy a car that the tenencia is up to date or you will most likely become liable for it. Ours is about 3,000 a year. Mexico came up with a great little system for Tenencias where everyone is due on the same day of the year. This used to mean standing for hours in queues at some rundown building, now you can do it online and it's a lot smoother. MOT - no such thing have you seen some of the things they allow on the roads here?! Re your previous post, I keep meaning to get the number for you but the policy is in the car. Yes, our policy covers anyone to drive the car providing they are licensed and have permission. The rates are quite good, ours is about 6,000 pesos a year so about £300 which I guess would be cheaper than the UK. Jannet tells me that GNP wont insure cars older than 10 years.
Thanks Steve, nice one, appreciate all the info. Not sure if i'll bother getting the Cancun license then. What do you do if stopped by the police and they ask or doesn't it really matter? Don't have the time to be queuing up all day unless they're open on the weekends? Also insurance wise, that's 6000 fully comp i take it? What's the excesses like here? Have you ever made a claim and did it go smoothly? I'll always worry that some chump will hit me and i'll end up with the blame because i can't speak good enough Spanish or the other guys paid the police to do the dirty on me!
Honestly I think that getting a license here is a waste of time and money. When we moved here we went to the police station and asked about the validity of my Colorado license. They said it was perfectly valid here. There probably IS a law somewhere that says if you live and drive here you need a local license, but the cops in the police station didn't seem aware of it. And I've been pulled over twice since then and the cops have no trouble with my CO license. They've never razzed me for having a foreign license while driving a locally registered car. My CO license cost me $16 USD for 10 years! The cost here is way higher and, as Steve said, it's only valid as long as your FM2 or FM3 is, so you have to renew it each year. Seems like completely unnecessary red tape to me. And having a valid Colorado license helps me when I go back to the States, no one there has to be aware that I don't live there if I don't want them to be. Some folks I know want a Mexican license in order to easily get the Cancunense discounts from local businesses. But showing them a photocopy of your FM2 or FM3 does the job just fine I've found. Having a cheapskate Mexican husband helps a lot too. And since legally you are required to carry your FM2 or FM3 (or FMT) all the time anyway (I keep a photo copy of my FM2 in the car) I don't see why I need a local license for getting discounts.
Someone told me recently that the law changed and FM3 holders can no longer buy a car in their name - you need to be a citizen or FM2 holder. I don't know if that's true or not, but you might want to check into it before buying.
Thanks, if that is the case i'll put it in the wife or Granddads name (who is getting me the car), hopefully he'll sort out the tenencia etc.. as he's always buying and selling cars and he does everything properly. My compadre apparently gets licenses sorted really quick as he has a friend who works there i have just found out, if that's the case then i might get one just to have some other idea than my FM3, although carrying a photocopy around like Rivergirl does is a good idea, i'll lose the original knowing me! When we asked about the 50% discount for Xcaret, we were told that the FM3 will not give you the discount, you need one of those official Cancun id's for citizens, i've also seen that written on the bottom of other things offering discounts, has anyone else every experienced problems trying to get a discount with their FM3 or FM2? They did tell us at the Marina that i could have got in for 50 pesos with my FM3, of course it wasn't with me but that's the sort of place i don't mind paying tourist price because if i pay 50 pesos for the wife and 120 for me, it works out cheaper than an aquarium in England and it keeps the place going, although it's not quite London Aquarium it does have dolphins and also sting/manta rays that try to remove the nail from your finger if your stupid enough (like me) to listen to the guy and put your finger near it's mouth! Funnily enough the same thing happened to me with one of those macaws in the same place on my first trip here, you think i would learn to keep my fingers away from beaks and mouths by now! Lol!
Actually, now you mention it I do remember reading about this. Didnt pay too much attention myself at the time or since, as I now have an FM2. There is a thread about it maybe 6 months back.
You just hand over your UK licence as normal. Last time I was stopped for allegedly going through a red light I had neither licence nor FM2 with me. Jannet talked our way out of it without even a bribe. Actually, it was quite funny the cop kept saying "hmmm I dont know what to do" then walking away (for us to discuss between ourselves how much we would give him) After the third time Jannet told him do what you have to do, but hurry up please. He said "I'm going to let you off this time" obviously not wanting to waste the time dealing with a formal ticket when there were plenty of others he could pick bribes up from. Yes, that's fully comp. Not sure on the excess - I remember it was high enough for us not use it when we had a dented door fixed that cost around 6000 or so. We've claimed once when some uninusred idiot rammed us from behind while we were stationery and it went quite smoothly with the insurance, just the bodyshop took an age getting parts.
Never had a problem claiming local discount with my FM3/2. I used my FM 2 at Xel Ha a month or two ago with no problem and have also used it several times at Xcaret and for hotel deals.
Again, thanks for the info. With the Xcaret thing, it was actually a lady in Las Americas who had said it but i do remember seeing certain notes with some discounts about having to have your official id but maybe the FM2/3 covers this. On a side note (trying not to diversify from original post any more than possible!), someone mentioned to me that now i have a Mexican son, i can move onto an FM2, any chance someone can either explain or point me in the direction of the difference between that and an FM3? Is it worth changing it if i can? I do not work for anyone in Cancun and i do not have a business, i am 'officially' dependant on my wife, would this make a difference? Apologies if this has all been discussed 100 times before! I don't say a word for months and then here i am asking every question under the sun, sorry!
SamCancun - Having a Mexican child or a Mexican spouse puts you on the fast track for gaining Mexican citizenship. But as far as I know it has nothing to do with your qualifying for an FM2 over an FM3. The Mexican law says that anyone coming here with the intention to live, who meets the requirements, can get an FM2 FIRST if they chose to. But the sub-delegado in the Cancun office doesn't do things this way. He makes everyone get an FM3 first, which you hold for 5 years. After 5 years this sub-delegado should approve any FM3 holder for an FM2. In other parts of Mexico many people get an FM2 upon arrival to Mexico. Having an FM2 allows you to either gain permanent residency (called Inmigrado status) OR apply for citizenship. If you want to become a citizen you have to hold the FM2 for a certain length of time before you can apply to be a citizen. If you have a Mexican spouse or a Mexican child you can apply for citizenship after renewing your FM2 twice (so just after 2 years). If you do not have a Mexican spouse or child, but want to apply for citizenship, you have to renew your FM2 4 times (have it for 5 years) before you can apply. If you do not want citizenship then you can apply to become Inmigrado after having an FM2 for 5 years (after 4 renewals) regardless of whether you have Mexican family or not. Alternatively you can get an FM3 and keep renewing it past the 5 years. There's nothing wrong with this. But inherently an FM3 is for someone who doesn't plan to reside permanently in Mexico. So you don't gain any rights towards permanent residency or towards citizenship by holding an FM3. When you have an FM3 you can come and go as much as you wish from Mexico. So snowbirds who come here often might hold FM3s but be out of the country most of the time. FM3s also cost less than FM2 to get and to renew. FM2s cost more to get and more to renew than FM3s. And they come with limits on how many days you can be out of Mexico each year. I forget what the limits are but I know several people who live here but travel out of Mexico enough that they can't get FM2s. The limit to how much you can be out of Mexico with an FM2 in the first 5 years is different from the amount you can be outside Mexico once you gain Inmigrado status. Again I forget the specifics (but I have posted them here in this forum before so search the Archive if you like). Basically both holding an FM2 and having Inmigrado status carry restrictions on how much you can be outside the country. And after gaining your Inmigrado status you can lose it if you spend too much time out of Mexico. When you gain Inmigrado status you can work anywhere, without specific permission from INM. But you cannot vote. If you become a Mexican citizen then you can vote, work and come and go as you please. Once you are a Mexican citizen you can live outside Mexico and keep your citizenship rights. One thing I should clarify. When you have an FM3 you have no-inmigrante status (not planning to stay here permanently). An FM3 has to renewed each year. When you get an FM2 your status changes to Inmigrante for 5 years. And you have to renew it each year. After that 5 years with an FM2 you can gain Inmigrado status. Technically you still hold an FM2, but your status has changed. When you get Inmigrado status you STOP having to renew it each year (so you stop having to pay INM). Hope that helps. We've covered all this in the past here, so if you want more details do search the Archive for posts I've made in Living in Cancun.
