This article will be helpful for those of you who may want to drive into or out of Mexico having a Mexican national as a passenger.

If you are an American driving into Mexico you need to stop at the Border to obtain a visa for yourself, if you are a tourist, and for your car. Remember that for yourself you now need to have a passport to enter. You will be issued a tourist visa that is valid for up to 6 months (depending on the mood of the official giving it to you.) Try to obtain the full 6 months since it is difficult and time consuming to try to renew the visa once you are in the country. Do not lose the visa paper that you will be given. Depending on where you cross at the border you may have to go to two separate offices to obtain permission to “temporarily import” your car. If you fail to get the proper papers you will be stopped at the 10 mile check point and will have to return to the border to process the permission. You will need the original car title, in your name, a current driver’s license and insurance (they do not usually check the insurance although it is required). Short term insurance id available for purchase on the border at Sanborn’s before entering Mexico.
You will be given a sticker to place on your car window. In effect what is happening is that you are asking for a temporary permit to “import” a vehicle and then are returning the permission on leaving the country. While driving in Mexico it is illegal for a Mexican National to drive your car if you, yourself, are not physically in the car.
As you drive along the highways you will be stopped at various checkpoints and pulled over by Federal Agents who will be checking for drugs. Do what they say. Often you will be asked to get out of the car while they perform a cursory check. Keep your eye on your belongings but do not interfere with their task.

Leaving the country is fairly easy. just remember that you need to turn in your car papers and your tourist visa. If you have stayed longer than the time limit permitted you may have to pay a fine.

As a US citizen you will, of course, have no problem returning to the States. However, if you have a Mexican national with you there are some requirements that you need to be aware of. I experienced this process this past week and found it frustrating. My friend travels frequently to the US, has a valid Mexican passport with the proper US Visa. She usually flies into the US and has never had a problem. It is different in the case of driving into the States. We thought is was a breeze when the official checked her passport and visa and waved us through. However, we were not aware that if a Mexican is going further than 25 miles north of the US Border another type of permission (I 94) is required. This was out intention but since we were not asked where we were heading the assumption was made that we were only going to the border region. We spent a day on the border and then headed north only to be turned away at the check point 100 miles north! We had to drive back to the border and go through US Customs again. only this time we were told that my friend needed forms of documentation which were the same that she had to provide to the US Embassy when she applied for a VISA! We had to have the documents faxed to us, and then we drove to a different border crossing where there was no line. We were treated politely all along the way but all in all we spent 6 hours complying with rules that were new to me. We were told that when one flies into the US this “double” documentation is not required! So, please be aware of all the requirements on BOTH sides of the Border if you are planning a road trip into Mexico