Interesting Mexican Beetle on ebay

I think that if somebody from a place like where I live bought the carthere

How about this one:

is a 03 Ultima Edition. The very last ones to be built. Really. Thisseller had it listed a few different times, it expired with no bids and Idont think he has relisted it. Concerinig the above vehicle, I think if you lived in an inspection state you would be up a creek. The Mexican VIN # will not match any insurance co or State DMVs VIN listing. Some people would simply use a VIN plate and title from a dead or nonexistant Bug to license one of these. Definately illegel in all 50 states. Also the person who owns the above car runs the risk of haveing it confiscated by the feds. Not likely perhaps but they could and would do it if the opportunity arose. In short, its a lot of risk to take. My .02 worth.

About the legality of either of these cars. I suggest that the owners give me them lest "someone" drops a dime on them.

They may be out of money on the deal, but they'll stay out of jail. LOL

-ANT

Stop that. To reply change my ISP to @hotmail.com

> I think that if somebody from a place like where I live bought the car> there

It is a 03 Ultima Edition. The very last ones to be built. Really. This> seller had it listed a few different times, it expired with no bids and I> dont think he has relisted it.>

Agreed on taking a chance with ANY Mexican "new" classic Beetle.

I know why the guy didn't get any bids on the Ultima. $11,500 as a starting price? The only went for around $8,000 US. I suppose a collector would pay that, but I wouldn't for something I couldn't even drive.

I just bought a Mexican Beetle. It's a 2003 with 6000 miles. I called my BMV and title agency and explained the situation. They told me to get a notarized bill of sale with the VIN number on it and the notarized Mexican Registration Document when I picked up the car in El Paso. They verified the VIN number and gave me a title. I didn't even have to take the emissions test even though it has a catalytic converter and would pass no problem. My insurance company also had no problems with the VIN. It's insured as a 2003 Beetle even though the VIN didn't pop up in his computer. Some states are cool with this, some are not. I live in Ohio and made sure that I would be able to title and license the car before I bought it. Worked out for me!

Ben Boyle wrote:

I think that if somebody from a place like where I live bought the car there> would be no problems. But I wonder how well it would work if somebody in an> inspection state bought it?>

>

> I think that if somebody from a place like where I live bought the carthere

True. These are known as "Grey Market" cars and don't meet NHTSA safety standards, most notably air bag and crash protection. The local state MDV may register them, but as was noted, if the feds get wind of it, they CAN seize the car and impose fines for illegally importing an unsafe/unapproved vehicle.

Just FYI, you can check out the Import Regulations here:

In digging further, I found that, according to NHTSA, the Mexican "old style" Beetle year model 2000 is even ineligible for importation, even just for show or display purposes. They don't mention other years, but I wonder why they singled out the 2000????

> > > I think that if somebody from a place like where I live bought thecar

Every so often you see a conversion, though. I saw a BeetleMex VW a few months ago on Ebay - 1970's pan and every other component a new bug. went for 5-6K IIRC. Legal to drive in all 50 states.

I'm more interested in this part: "Because of the mountainous region it came from it has the 1800cc engine from Volkswagen."

> ory=6019

The previous winner may have been a flake, he had registered with eBay within the same week as his bid on that car. Zero feedback too.

-ANT

Stop that. To reply change my ISP to @hotmail.com

> > ory=6019

They came with an 1800 as an option, was even listed at Btlmex in it's time, i believe.

J.

I heard these were supplied by GEX

-ANT

Stop that. To reply change my ISP to @hotmail.com

"skydivertu" wrote

Where in North Carolina and what was the name of the dealer?

-- Scott

They were also sold in New Mexico (if memory serves, maybe it was Arizona) by a different importer who got into a lot of trouble and customers and dealers actually got cars confiscated by the authorites.

-ANT

Stop that. To reply change my ISP to @hotmail.com

BeetleMex is legit, though. They take an old pan and replace every last complonent with new parts.

Does anyone else do simmilar conversions? I wondered because I could get a 2-5 year old Bug from mexico, ship it over, and - the question is - how much to do such a conversion. BeetleMex wants some ungodly amount to do it.