Anyone can now get a Sentri Lane pass.  If you go to TJ a lot if may be worth it.  I have one and it's a big plus when I am in a hurry.  The following is the Sentri Lane info:

First, you need to call 619-690-7600 to make an appointment. The Sentri office is located at the Otay Mesa border building. It took me four months to get my appointment to go in but right now they said they have speeded up things. If you call now, you may only have to wait two months.

At your appointment you bring in paper work (you can download it from their website (which is linked to this post) and they fingerprint you. You pay a one time fee of $49 and the FBI does a check on you. It took another four months to get called to say I was approved. Right now, they say the wait is 3-5 months. So overall, I waited eight months. People applying today might only have to wait 4-6 months.

Once called to say you are approved, you can go down the next day or when you want (they give you an appointment time) to get your pass and transformer which they attach under your rear view mirror on your front window.

You go down there and you have to have your car empty and cleaned out. They inspect your car. Once approved they put the tranformer with velcro on your front windshield. You must have two license plates on your car, have proof of current car insurance and have a current registration on your car.

The fee is $80 for two years and the renewal is $105. The San Ysidro Sentri lanes are open 5:30 AM-10 PM Monday-Thursday, 5:30 AM-midnight on Friday, 8 AM-midnight on Saturdays and 8 AM-10 PM on Sunday on federal holidays.

Juan

I forgot to include in my post that the Sentri Lane is the driving lane all the way to the right where you don't have to wait to get back to the US.  Usually a five minute maximum wait.  Normal driving waits can be anywhere from 15 minutes to over two hours.  The worst times are mornings and the weekends.  There's nothing worse than having a great time in TJ and then sitting in your car over an hour waiting to cross.  

If you drive to Mexico, I would recommend Mexican insurance.  If anyone needs a good place to purchase it, let me know and I will post the place.

Juan

Please post the place you recommend getting Mexican auto insurance.  Thank you.

...you have legitimate business reasons.  Otherwise you are risking your freedom, as well as just asking to have to pay a bribe, and your luck will run out faster than you think.

Crossing the border with your car will cost you a lot more than you expect in the long run if you do it with any regularity.

But if you decide you are going to cross with your car, look it up online and buy the annual collision insurance instead of the short term day by day policies.    Ten single days policies equal the cost of an entire year policy.

As far as theft is concerned, a nice car in TJ is not safe if left unattended, even behind closed doors.   Park your car in a lot where you already know the management so that they will look after it or else you may not find it when you return.  Even junkers get broken into just for the speakers or parts.

Oh, and by the way, make sure you tip the lot attendant well.  That is the best theft insurance policy available.  

One other thing you need to know to minimize paying bribes, is that your car must be in perfect running order and you have to obey all the traffic rules perfectly.  And that includes having the front plates in place.

Anything that is out of place will cost you money so keep your real money hidden so that when you get pulled over, it will appear that you only have $30 or less (and most of it in american coin!!) so that they won't take it all from you.

The long and short of it is:

Advising people to get a Sentri pass is extremely poor advice and is only recommended if you have no choice and must drive across anyhow.

Your friends cannot ride with you and the government has an electronic record of the crossing which if you are married, may not be exactly the kind of evidence that you want anyone to collect.

And don't forget that drug smugglers will be watching you and will plant drugs on your car because they know that you have a sentri pass.  It is basically a big target with your face as the bullseye.

One last thing Lakers forgot to tell you, is that he is just patting himself on the back and could not resist a chance to tell everyone about it.  He hasn't had the pass for very long so consider the source very carefully.

Great advice to drive in TJ...  

               Been there, done that, I don't recommend it.


-- Modified on 8/2/2003 5:32:46 PM

What I post and will continue to post is hard factual information for those that want to take advantage of it.  Hpopefully it can help you out.  Please keep in mind it's the Net and any reader of a post should  decide what info is useful to him or not.

What I will continue to do here is try to keep mongers safe and show a monger how to save money so that he may keep more dollars in his pocket for more good times in TJ.  More dollars means more chicas for you.  By the numbers of people reading the posts (most don't post) I know that many are not commenting.  I am glad of that because it is sad that the same people over and over will comment and put down whatever I post. I am glad that the monger community is pretty bright and can ignore these disruptions and can read between the lines to get the info they need.  I'm sure many mongers do get it.  

Just take the information and use it if you can.  Let's just say that some of the negativity is from people no longer welcome on my website from the past and some of these are also creating phony usernames.  Welcome to the wacky world of an Internet discussion board when it is free.  You just have to be more careful in what info is correct and pick what you choose to believe and use.  Don't even believe everything I post.  Do your own research.

Driving to TJ is an individual thing.  I don't drive that often but that is because I enjoy walking.  I need the exercise.  Many of my friends drive regularly.  If there is interest in some of my rules about driving, I would be happy to post them to help others.  The parking lots all around the zona and the streets in the zona, around centro (Rev) and Plaza Rio are full of cars with California license plates so someone must be driving!  On most nights, especially the weekends hav eyou seen the driving lines coming back?  Many people do drive for their own reasons.

These guys bashing me seem to know me so well (many were on my website in the past) but they need to do more research.  I have had my Sentri Pass for months now and have had my Mexican driving insurance for over a year and it has already come up for renewal.  I am more than willing to help mongers that want the help.  I will and suggest others ignore the guys that immediatley discredit what I post, including bashing me or my website.  Maybe they'll actually start posting some useful info for you guys.

Juan

Many mongers go to TJ solo.  It is true that friends can't ride back with you but if they have been Sentri approved they can ride with you if you add them to your car list.  Also you can give a monger a ride to the border and drop him off at the border.  For off peak walking times like Sunday night after 9 PM when there is virtually no wlaking line and a huge regular car line, you can drop a friend off at the border and then pick him up down San Ysidro Blvd.  That being said, many guys still drive and do TJ solo.

For the paranoid guys that really worry about drug smugglers folowing them or planting drugs in their cars in TJ, the Sentri pass locater is on your front window and is velcroed on.  In other words, you take it on or off your front window so while you are in TJ, it is not seen.  You can put it back on when you reach the Sentri pass check point.  Geez.  That was a good one.  Drug smugglers.

Juan

is that if you do get a Sentri Pass, you are limited to crossing back into the US solo...i.e. no on else can ride with you.

...you get bashed.  It is because people see you post info that is not complete or correct, or suffers from your close minded views.    

You are entitled to your opinion, but you tend to post as if you are the only authority on TJ, which contrary to what you would have everyone believe, you are not.  

It would have gone over much better if you would have used a different name and not promoted your own website here, but you obviously prefer the attention.

Why don't you share with us how many new subscriptions you have as a result of your postings here?  On second thought, don't bother.   It is not important nor relevant.

-- Modified on 8/2/2003 6:10:07 PM