Customs and port of Manzanillo | Vehicle Shipping

AVOID!!! This is not a good place to receive your vehicle.

Customs restrictions into this port is very strict. They can and will find a reason to delay you. It seems as though it might be a way to charge storage and other port fees.

Even if it is not a scam, the customs process here is problematic and slow. Read below to see what you might have to deal with:

- It takes at least 1 full day to get a vehicle import permit (compare to about 30 minutes other places).

- Customs officers will take between 3-7 days to give you paperwork that you are required to have.

- If you broke a rule (I accidentally had approx 1kg of rice and some spices in my truck), you will need a revision.

- Appointments for all paperwork are on customs officers schedule, and they can delay/cancel indefinitely.

- Revisions to paperwork will take at least 7 days, during which time they will charge you port storage and administration fees.

- You are not allowed into the port. Therefore port workers and customs officials will open your container and go through all your items without you being present. This defeats the purpose of having a locked container.

In all, we have been at this port for 14 days and have still not released our container. Compared to the "slow" process in Colombia, this has been absolutely insane. It can take another 5 days or more to get our vehicles, for a total of 3 weeks.

I would recommend going somewhere else. It isn't worth the effort here.

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Do not ever ship a car here!
It is a nightmare and a ripoff
No agent like to help with cars

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