Driving in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

You should read this page carefully before you just causually cross the border in your car making the same mistake millions of people do: driving without Mexican insurance.

Driving in Juarez, Mexico is like driving in any other large city which has crowded, narrow streets, lots of pedestrians, and heavy traffic. It is not recommended that you drive in the city on your first few trips. Take some time to acquaint yourself first. If you do eventually decide to drive, you must have Mexican auto insurance. In the United States, auto accidents can become a criminal matter in certain circumstances, but in Mexico an accident is automatically treated as both a criminal and a civil matter.

Although many American auto policies will pay claims in the “free trade zone” (roughly 15 miles in Mexico that does not mean that you are legally insured to drive in Mexico. Only a policy carried by a Mexican insurance carrier will be considered a valid policy by Mexican authorities. Without a Mexican insurance policy you could be arrested and have your car impounded in even a minor accident. Should you be involved in a serious accident without a Mexican insurance policy---well, life, as you know it, is over until the matter is cleaned up. Don't gloss over this matter because of something an insurance salesman told you: there is a fine distinction being having a policy which will pay claims and one which is considered legal insurance in another country. This point is lost on thousands of drivers who feel secure because their agent has told them they are "covered" in the free trade zone. Being covered and being legal are two different matters.

Missing the big point here could cost you time in jail until the damages are paid. Hundreds of Americans drive in Juarez every day without Mexican insurance. Many of them come to drink and enjoy the city's robust nightlife. But the party will be over the day they have an accident involving serious property damage or injuries. The Mexican police are not going to release a foreign traveller until the matter is settled, because that person might decide to skip the country and just never come back. Believe those who think they know better at your own peril. I've just given you the facts.

Here is another thing to remember: if you are found to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, any insurance policy you may have---American or Mexican---is considered null and void in Mexico. So don't consider Ciudad Juarez, Mexico your own private party town, and don't assume a hundred dollar bill will buy your way out of anything on this side of the border.

All that said, I would ask one question: Is it too much to ask of someone to obey the law by getting Mexican insurance and not to drink and drive? I think not...and if you do otherwise, you are playing with your quality of life in a very grave fashion. Things will be just fine until one night...

Once you have Mexican auto insurance, remember the following tips:

• Go slow but flow with traffic. Your only goal when driving in Mexico is to avoid an accident. If you have aggressive driving habits, then I would suggest you just pretend to be in angel training for the period of time you are in Mexico---especially when you encounter aggressive drivers here.
• Be constantly on the lookout for pedestrians. Most Americans are simply not accustomed to the enormous number of pedestrians and non-typical vehicles encountered in Juárez. A child, old person with a walker, a woman carrying a baby, or a man pulling a wagon with a donkey can pop out from anywhere at any time.
• If you cannot see, creep forward slowly at intersections. One of the most unsettling things you will first encounter driving in Juarez is the way people will pull the front of their cars into a street so they can see around the parallel parked cars. You will also have to do so. Just do it carefully.
• Whatever you do, if making a right or left hand turn, do not frantically step on the gas once you are clear to get into the stream of rapidly oncoming traffic. Take another second to look in the direction you are going to see if a pedestrian has stepped into your path, because there is about a 50/50 chance one has...

It was not my intention to make it sound like a miserable experience driving Juarez, because it's not. It's just that being in a foreign country throws a whole new dimension into the risks of day-to-day driving. Be smart: don't drink and drive and get Mexican insurance before you drive in Juarez, Mexico.