The border crossing went fairly well. We got the green light at the main crossing. That is where they will tear into you car and check everything for legality. You would also apply for your car papers here if you need them. Since our papers are tied to our visa, then we did not need to renew papers.
The second check point is about 75 miles into trip. This is the customs check. If the man chooses, he can request a written statement of everything you have in the vehicle and then charge you duty of anything of his choosing. Also, they check to make sure you have the car papers in order from your crossing 75 miles back.
He asked for our visas and car papers. I gave him my visa paperwork. Our visas are actually in Mexico City being renewed, but I have a paper stating that we do have visas and they are in Mexico. He then wanted the car papers. I found a copy in one of my big files. He wanted the original. So I handed another big file to my wife. She started thumbing through that while I thumbed through the first one. I took my time and never found the original. Finally my wife found it in her folder.
I handed it over to him with the comment, “It sure does take a lot of paperwork to live here in Mexico.” He casually looked over our papers and handed them back and told us to go on. I think he was afraid that if he asked for anything else it would take 10 minutes.
We were thankful it went so well.