General Reports

[DJ FourMoney]

It's been awhile since I have been down in Tijuana minus the return trip back from Mexico City.

Looking for affordable accommodations, got any suggestions?

Thanks.

[DJ FourMoney]

You go to small bars and expect the Mexicanas to act like Gringas. In Mexico the guys like to do the hunting and they tend not to like it when the girl makes the first move. You should know this by now. If you see a girl you like, YOU go up to her and flirt. That's how it works. If you want sharks coming on to you first, stick with HK.

Isn't this rule number one dealing with women overseas? They aren't American and since when do American women approach you unless you are obviously attractive or smell of money?

This applies to pros, semi's and non-pros especially, you make the first move, they expect it.

[DJ FourMoney]

My car got too many dings due to HK's valet parking in Pepe. They park cars too tight, always get new dings every time. Finally I side swiped a car and got a big gouge on my quarter panel. It looked ugly, had to fix it.

Found Kali Kustom at the North end of Ave Revo. Alejandro Deras and his wife operate a body shop and car detailing. He said rather than trying to match the original paint, better to repaint the whole car, takes 2 days. Agreed on a good price, made an appointment and drove the car down in the morning. He had 2 other cars being repaired but started on mine immediately, carefully marked down the gouge and all dings, washed it down, knocked out the gouge, patched up all blemishes, sanded them down. I went to dinner with a girl that night, rode back past his shop in an UBER at 10 PM that night, he was still working on the car, his wife and workers eating dinner with food spread out on the floor.

Came back the next morning, the car was all taped up ready for paint. He said he had to work all night with no sleep to finish it on time for me, poor guy, LOL. He sprayed the car multiple passes with a better sprayer than the rip shops on Calle 3. The paint and clear coat looked like original factory metallic paint, smooth and shiny even before polishing very little orange peel problem. This guy is really skilled in his craft. After finish, he carefully removed all little paint smears, also detailed the car, cleaning glasses inside and out, The car looked very good, pretty much like a new car with original factory paint. He said wait 3 weeks for clear coat to harden then bring it back for free polishing. Mexico allows solvent-based paints which are harder, more durable, adhere stronger than US' water-based paints. He also has a guy who can repair leather seats with good prices.

This guy Alejandro and his wife are good, honest, hard working people. He's a perfectionist. His quality and workmanship are far better than any body shop I have used in US and Mexico. Gave him a good propina for good work. Avoid the rip shops around Calle 3. They employ low-skill workers with cheap equipment, do bad jobs and their prices are even high, sometimes higher than shops in US.

Tell him you are a friend of Capitan Solo. He will give you good deals. Contact me for details.

Thanks Capt Solo.

My car was repaired from a minor accident on the last day of 2021.

I still have a small dent in the lower driver's door that I would like repaired.

Also have the car fully detailed inside and the driver's seat repaired since it's coming apart.

Do you think your connection can handle this?

[Phordphan]

Hello guys,

I've seen these shuttles come and go for a long time and was wondering if any of you has used the service to cross the border?

It seems very straight forward, not that expensive if you're going to skip an hour or two of border crossing wait time.

http://sdtjpassport.com/

I haven't seen anyone post their experience using this shuttle service, so if you have, please share.

Their claim of zero wait is BS. All the shuttles work the same as the buses. There's a dedicated bus lane at SY. The bus pulls up to the door, people get out and get processed by CBP and then get back into the bus. CBP processes the bus for contraband and illegals. Now if there are no buses in line, your shuttle will breeze up and you'll avoid a long wait standing in line. If there are two or three buses ahead of you, then YMMV. A lot. If each bus has 30 or 40 people, it can take quite a bit of time to process them all. And you'll be stuck in a crowded shuttle for who knows how long. If you're lucky the driver will leave the A / see on. OTOH, he may not, making your wait even more enjoyable. I crossed a couple of times on a shuttle, years ago, and liked it so much I never did it again.

[Jim0129]

Hello guys,

I've seen these shuttles come and go for a long time and was wondering if any of you has used the service to cross the border?

It seems very straight forward, not that expensive if you're going to skip an hour or two of border crossing wait time.

http://sdtjpassport.com/

I haven't seen anyone post their experience using this shuttle service, so if you have, please share.

[Captain Solo]

Cocr,

Make sure you have a good case and the laws are in your side. After you got all the facts straight and have tried all means without success, you may want to engage your local US rep.

Don't get your US rep involve in shaky, unlawful cases, as the rep may retaliate and agencies may refer you to DOJ for prosecution.

[Cocr Brotheler]

Travv,

The attorneys will milk him for $5 K to 10 K form some stupid bullshit work, cause further delays, more complications and may make his situation worse.

I know you like to spend big money on chicas and attorneys, but these admin cases can be solved and much better solved by the affected parties themselves without the need for attorneys with their bullshit and high fees. I know a few guys who were lied to, strung along and milked big time by these attorneys who did very little work besides bullshitting their clients and lost the cases.

Go in DHS web site, read their regulations and keep writing to them asking for redress. After having all their evidences and arguments you can ask for a trial by an admin judge. In most cases DHS' attorneys would cave way before the trial. Their bosses would never let their high-priced attorneys screw around with a guy who just wants his GE card reinstated.

I almost did this one time when the Navy Reserves would not release me from active drilling status. After emailing him (a very powerful defense committee chair person) a staffer quickly called me back but I declined to proceed. I don't know what transpired after that however soon thereafter I was released from active drilling status.

The 2nd time very recently I had a dispute with the VA and all I had to do was copy his name in a letter to the VA and the VA very quickly resolved the issue in my favor.

Do involve them when you have a solid case. That is why they are elected and most will get involved and make those harassing you very uncomfortable. I learned this while on active duty and sometimes having to deal with very difficult civil servants (sand crabs).

[Phordphan]

If I stay the night at a hotel like Ticuan or even somewhere like Premier, is it safe to leave your car parked there overnight? Don't know how many of you actually drive into Tijuana as opposed to just using taxis and Ubers.

If it's not safe I suppose I can leave my car at home and just take the trolley to the border since I live close to a trolley station. It would just be more convenient to have my own car to get around. Just not sure how good security is at these hotels for vehicles.

All of the love motels have their own parking garage in each unit (except the really old ones like Paraiso that have a gated lot). So, parking is quite secure as you're literally sleeping on top of your car. And nobody is coming in and out of your garage at night.

Ticuan, and all the decent hotels, have monitored parking.

This all presupposes that you drive a "normal" car. If it's a Ferrari, or Lambo, or some other six-figure car, well. Maybe it's better to leave that at home. No sense in tempting fate. If you drive around you'll see lots of expensive vehicles. There's money in Tijuana. Nobody gives my 20 year old Beemers a second glance.

[AmorPorFavor]

If I stay the night at a hotel like Ticuan or even somewhere like Premier, is it safe to leave your car parked there overnight? Don't know how many of you actually drive into Tijuana as opposed to just using taxis and Ubers.

If it's not safe I suppose I can leave my car at home and just take the trolley to the border since I live close to a trolley station. It would just be more convenient to have my own car to get around. Just not sure how good security is at these hotels for vehicles.

Ticuan is safe. They have 24 hour security and there is only one way in and out of the garage. I have parked there overnight many times. You may see some $80 k+ cars in there.

[Nothing24]

If I stay the night at a hotel like Ticuan or even somewhere like Premier, is it safe to leave your car parked there overnight? Don't know how many of you actually drive into Tijuana as opposed to just using taxis and Ubers.

If it's not safe I suppose I can leave my car at home and just take the trolley to the border since I live close to a trolley station. It would just be more convenient to have my own car to get around. Just not sure how good security is at these hotels for vehicles.

[Phordphan]

Guess it depends on how often and how long are we prepared to wait. I used to wait till after midnight during the week. Or leave before 9 AM on a Sunday.

I usually drive across. I have TSA precheck and passport card. Global duplicates these and I guess allows to drive in Sentri lanes? My vehicle will be too old for a Sentri so I figured to wait 6 months and do all this paperwork while registering a newer vehicle. But I no longer live in Baja or visit hktj as often as previously.

I can't find anything on the CBP web site about vehicle age. How did you determine your car is too old for SENTRI? I cross regularly in a 20 year old car and have done so for a long time. I have a 28 year old Mustang that has been approved to cross but it's too nice to take to Mexico.

[Gregyyr]

Guess it depends on how often and how long are we prepared to wait. I used to wait till after midnight during the week. Or leave before 9 AM on a Sunday.

I usually drive across. I have TSA precheck and passport card. Global duplicates these and I guess allows to drive in Sentri lanes? My vehicle will be too old for a Sentri so I figured to wait 6 months and do all this paperwork while registering a newer vehicle. But I no longer live in Baja or visit hktj as often as previously.

Exactly. I don't go that often so for now I just need to choose my return trip time specific to the normal times when the crossing is not busy. See the following web site for details and the graph is attached.

https://bwt.cbp.gov/historical

Sunday evenings are not good. But Friday nights later and Saturday are good times to return it appears. Or very early morning could work as well but not as good as at night. This is a historical chart attached so I am sure staffing levels could change from year to year but I think it's a good graph which seems semi accurate for the couple times I have been down there since the Global got pulled.

G.

[DonCarlos1234]

Guess it depends on how often and how long are we prepared to wait. I used to wait till after midnight during the week. Or leave before 9 AM on a Sunday.

I usually drive across. I have TSA precheck and passport card. Global duplicates these and I guess allows to drive in Sentri lanes? My vehicle will be too old for a Sentri so I figured to wait 6 months and do all this paperwork while registering a newer vehicle. But I no longer live in Baja or visit hktj as often as previously.

[Gregyyr]

Greggy,

Sorry it happened to you. This is serious business having your privilege canceled in light of the extreme delays in foot and car crossings at San Ysidro.

However, I am not aware of DHS' requirement for GE holders to report changes of permanent address. I lost the card twice recently, sent $25 for replacement and they just mailed new cards to me within a week. If DHS requires notification of permanent address changes I would have noticed and complied. DHS only needs your mailing address to mail the cards to you. Update of permanent address is done at the next renewal applications.

GE cards can only be pulled if the holder has been investigated and found errant by DHS or FBI. A DUI or any felony conviction will void GE / SENTRI / NEXUS cards. DHS may have made a mistake in your case, may be mixing your name with some bad characters. I have known it to happen.

You should write to the Ombudsman to find out the real causes and fix them.

Another bro mentioned the Ombudsman as well and I plan on giving that a go as it can't hurt.

Thanks,

-G.

[Gregyyr]

I've been crossing every week and sometimes twice a week by car and never been asked to verify my address. They just ask if anything to declare and where I am headed. Not sure how they would know or care to pull Greg's card over a simple address change. It would seem like a simple fix by the CBP to let you know to update for next time if it was really an issue. GE card is a life saver whether driving or flying.

It was two years ago that I moved so it has been quite a while. So that's what I am thinking may have caused it?

It's one thing for the GOV to say we pulled it and we make the rules. But they state they will tell you in detail what it was pulled for on their own web site. They need to follow through with the rules that they made and advertise to over 330 million people!

G.