Buying a new or used car from Kavak in Guadalajara can be very frustrating and disappointment from my experience. I purchased a used car from another state and the salesperson said that it should be easy to get the plates and registration. That was very wrong.
After purchasing the car which was a month long process, I finally went to pick up the car and after they brought it out I noticed the windshield had been damaged. It had a crack. I talked to the person who checks the car and they said, wow, how did that happen?
After insisting that they fix the window, I received a paper to get the window fixed for free, but it had to be done in Guadalajara. I live in Ajijic, so another trip to Guadalajara.
Then the nightmare started. Getting the plates. Before leaving Kavak with the car, we had gone to what was the equivalent of a DMV in the USA to get a temporary plate because Kavak did not provide that service. A few hours later after paying a fee, we were able to get a temporary plate for 5 business days (one week), and used that to drive the car back to Ajijic.
Yeah, I have a car, but wait, now I need the actual plates and registration before the 5 day temporary plates expires.
The car originally came from Baja California so it was considered out-of-state and needed a special inspection that could only happen in Tonala (Guadalajara). How did we find this out? After multiple trips to Chapala’s DMV (or equivalent).
The first trip we waited in line to get up to the counter only to find out we needed an appointment. Ugh. Then we went to the appointment line, paid for an appointment and the person at the computer just printed out a page, ignoring the fact that the appointment was after the temporary plates expired.
Then the second trip after standing in line for a long time, the next person said you must go to Tonala.
Then we had to make third trip to go to another government building in Chapala to get another temporary plate. The person at that location after looking at the papers said we needed an appointment at Tonala. So without the paper showing an appointment she could not issue the temporary plate.
On the fourth trip to Chapala to get the temporary plate, she said the printer was broken, come back the next day.
The fifth trip to Chapala she was not there after telling us to come back the next day, and she was the only person who could print the temporary plate.
The sixth trip to Chapala she finally was able to print the temporary plate.
Then it was time to schedule the Tonala trip. That was very difficult due to end of year timing.
After many frustrating attempts to make an appointment, we were able to use a 3rd party in Tonala to schedule the appointment and get all of this done.
After spending 8 hours in Tonala, we finally had the plates and registration.
Lesson learned:
- Do not buy a car from Kavak
- Do not buy a car from out-of-state if possible
- Do not go to Chapala to get plates without making an appointment first
- Make sure you have all of the original paperwork when you show up for your appointment
- Make an appointment in Tonala if your car is from out-of-state