You would think that buying a car would be easy. You just go to a car dealership and voila! That’s true for a new car but for used cars the situation is much more difficult. In our opinion they are overpriced at the car dealers.

You must have an FM3 or FM2 Immigration permit to register a Mexican vehicle. You won't get plates without it.

On private transactions, you need to be certain that the used car is not stolen or has some lien on it by a bank or government agency.

Every Sunday there is a used car show in a field at the intersection of Kabah and Coba Avenues (at the stadium parking lot). Here, locals simply park their cars in a giant parking lot and you can walk around looking.

Getting a drivers licence is a major ordeal. You need to have photos, a work permit, an existing licence from home. You will travel around to various counters getting a ton of paperwork filled out. They give you an eye exam, blood test, all kinds of things. And then they take your photo again, even after you brought your own (the photos you brought get used on your file folder, the photos they take get used for your licence. Don’t ask!). One year they made people sit through a cartoon about safe driving.

Update: In 2005 the Transito changed the rules to only issue a drivers licence up until the time of expiry on your FM2 or FM3.