Guatemala Expat Forum

sfnwpvguatfa
Joined 2015
Posts: 10

8 years ago

Getting Guatemalan license plates for an American car

8 years ago

Does anyone know how to convert an American car into a Guatemalan car? There are many articles about how to "nationalize" a U.S. car into a Mexican car, but not too much about nationalizing to Guatemala.

This is what I would be doing:

1 - Buy a new car in a U.S. state such as Florida
2 - Drive that car to Guatemala
3 - Get rid of the Florida license plates and replace them with Guatemala license plates (i.e. "nationalizing" the car to Guatemalan)
4 - Occassionally drive back into the U.S. with the now-Guatemalan vehicle

The reason I would want to buy a car in the U.S. and not Guatemala is because I've heard that there are certain EPA "standards" for importing cars into the United States and Guatemala-origin cars might not meet those standards (if I were to try driving to the U.S. from Guatemala). I've also heard that even with the import fees/taxes, it is still cheaper to import a car rather then buy it in Guatemala.

In order to convert an American car into a Guatemalan car, would I have to be a resident or temporary resident of Guatemala first?

Would there be any issues with occassionally driving a Guatemala-plated car (via Mexico) back into the United States? Would it be OK for me (a U.S. citizen) to be driving a foreign-plated car in the U.S.? Would I be hassled by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol? And would I need an international drivers permit?

Also, does anyone know anything about Guatemalan car insuarnce? There are many articles online about how someone who drives in Mexico MUST have Mexican car insurance (not U.S./Canadian insurance), but I can't really find any information about whether it's OK to use American car insurance in Guatemala (or if Guatemala, like Mexico, requires it's own internal country-specific insurance).

If anyone knows the specific steps required to convert an imported American car into a Guatemalan car (i.e. "nationalizing" it), and required taxes/fees, that would be helpful.

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