I just bought a Condo in Cabo and would like to have my Model 3 there. It’s new and I have only used superchargers and recharged with 240v in my garage. Wondering 1-how you pay for using non-superchsrgers in the Cabo area, 2. Should I ship it down or pay to have someone drive it down from San Diego (Customs, Duty etc), 3. What about auto insurance? Heard it’s very expensive?, 4. Licensing/registration?
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Has anyone driven to Cabo San Lucas?
- Thread starter AudubonB
- Start date
BrokerDon
Active Member
Assuming your "28 year old daughter just got back from a two weeks camping trip along the coasts. Loved it." reference was the Sea of Cortez and Pacific Ocean coasts of Baja that's great to hear. I loved my road trip there Dec 1999 / January 2000. Felt VERY safe except for an encounter on a mapped Baja road to a small town when a group of men in an oncoming pickup truck stopped in the road and tried to block our way. Fortunately I was able to just drive around them off the road in our AWD Jeep Grand Cherokee. Otherwise I agree Baja felt very safe... but that was 19 years ago before the cartel drug wars: The Mexico drug war: Bodies for billions - CNN
As for "USA police kill more innocent people than the cartels in Mexico" I'm skeptical since there were 29,168 killings in Mexico in 2017... and that number was expected to be higher in 2018. Mexico Is Suffering Its Bloodiest Year in Modern History. Here's Why. Heck even Fake News CNN reported that "that about 150,000 intentional homicides since 2006 were organized crime-related." Mexico Drug War Fast Facts - CNN Compare that to "the 1,146 and 1,092 victims of police violence in 2015 and 2016" (respectively) How Many People Are Killed By Police Each Year? - The Atlantic Looks more like 30 killings in Mexico for every one police killing (including criminals killed while trying or threatening to kill police) in USA. If you adjust for "innocent people" (who we're trying or threatening to kill police) you originally stated this ratio is probably significantly higher (maybe 100 : 1 Mexico drug cartel related deaths : USA Police killing "innocent people"). But hey your "USA police kill more innocent people than the cartels in Mexico" sure is more CNN / Twitter worthy.
There’s plenty of self evident ‘dangerous’ islands in and around cities that are a bad idea for most outsiders. If getting off the beaten path is your bag, you know there’s going to be a concern to some degree or another wherever you go.
For the majority of people, most of the typically visited parts of the world around (including New Orleans and Chicago) require no more awareness than is normally required. The worst that’s going to happen in the French Quarter or the Magnificent Mile or the 1st arrondissement or Red Square is a pickpocketing. The worst thing that’s going to happen to a Tesla driver in rural red state America is some verbal harassment.
What’s different in Mexico, and certainly the mainland, is the unpredictable lawlessness not just within but also outside the urban environment (which is usually a pretty safe space in most of the developed world)...and then of course the extreme limits of what could happen if you get wrapped up in that lawlessness.
I would not truck my Model 3 down to Cabo, why? It seems like a poor use of fossil fuels. Take the drive yourself, it is a pleasurable 3 days drive. If you can take more time, you will be happy you did! Destination chargers, as you can see on Plugshare.com, are plenty. Of special scenic note is Catavina. Then, the small town of San Ignacio is a wonderful place to visit. Spend some time in Mulege, stay in Clementine's B&B. Loreto is a gem of a Baja town with very friendly people, a lovely downtown, and fabulous restaurants (you might sell your condo and move to Loreto once you spend some time here). In Ciudad Constitucion, the hotel with the Destination Charger is wonderful and run by very nice folks with a fabulous breakfast. In my book, the best of Baja is anywhere outside of Cabo, you should take a look around.
I have routinely bought Baja insurance by the year. It is expensive to buy a week or two at a time, but by the year it is quite cheap. Registration is likely cheap, I just have never done that. Destination chargers are free with your stay overnight at the hosting hotels.
T34ME
Active Member
So I went to the Hilton. I asked about the location at the front desk. They said they didn't have anything like that. So I asked the concierge and he knew and directed me to their location. They have two Tesla branded L2 destination chargers in relatively new condition. No cars were charging and one space was ICE'd.They are not public and only for Hilton Hotel guests (they have a security gate to pass through) Charging is complimentary for paid guests You can charge overnight if you are a paying guest overnight. If you buy lunch for US$20 per person you can charge for a couple of hours. The concierge said he did not know of any public destination chargers in the area. He said all the destination chargers he knows of are at hotels with a similar guest privileges policy.
The problem is they are not "public" per se. Electricity is very expensive in Baja California and most of these chargers are at hotels that require a paid night's stay (around US$50/100 for something decent with CLEAN sheets) to use them.
Bien venidos, amigo hommie. Buen Suerte con todo.
1. the destination chargers are not available to the public. Most are at hotels which require a night stay for charging. They are all L2 chargers like in your garage and charge at 30 -37 mi/hr (depending on battery pack) like in your garage.
2. I am an experienced Baja driver in a hybrid. I would not drive my model 3 down at this time because L2 destination chargers are relatively slooooooow. There is no custom/duty on personal automobiles with proof of registration whether you drive or ship.
3. Mexican insurance is mandatory in Mexico. It is about $400/yr for liability only. There is no place in Baja that knows how to repair a Tesla at this time. There is always someone who can "fix" your Tesla, but you will not be happy with the results.
4. Avoid Mexican registration - complicated and bureaucratic. Leave your car registered in your home State and just apply the current stickers to your plates each year (the policia DO check....don't ask me how I know).
Let me ask my neighbor who ships her MBZ SUV from San Diego to Cabo and back each year.
In principle, I agree with you but practically it will require lots of patience.
The mileage from the San Diego border to Los Cabos is about 1200 miles. It takes about 24 hours to drive which means 75mph out in the desert to 10mph in dusty pothole filled villages, stops at six mandatory military checkpoints where they go through each car individually and you wait in line, food stops where "fast service" is an oxymoron in laid back Baja, at least one overturned truck blocking both lanes on almost every trip we have made (one was carrying cattle and there was fresh hamburger all over the place, it really was heartbreaking), and miles and miles of gravel road construction (Mexicans driving 60 mph in their beaters throwing rocks everywhere and you going 5 mph trying to protect your paint job).
Those 1200 miles will require around 40 hours of charging at 30 mi/hr charge rate. Two of those stops could be 10 hour overnight stays at destination chargers. The other stops would be around 20 hours to drive 24 hours IF you can find a hotel with a destination charger that will take pity on you and charge a haggled exorbitant rate to charge a few hours during the day. The only way I would do this trip is with four overnight stays at hotel destination chargers and driving only 250 to 300 miles per day. Doable, but again requires patience and that laid back, Baja attitude. Doable, and I have the patience, but I don't want to subject my new 3MR to that abuse and even more hours of charging due to less range (my 3MR would require about an 8 day trip). I'm wondering how Tesla connectivity will work out in the middle of nowhere or even Los Cabos, which is in the middle of somewhere.
Totally agree with all of the above. See Gustav Eiffel's (Eiffel Tower fame) steel framed church in the French built town of Santa Rosalia. The sunrise drive along the Sea of Cortez in the Loreto area is the closest you will ever get to heaven while still on this earth. Did you ever have a taco at McSuzy's in Loreto? (now closed) BUT our place on the beach between San Lucas and San Jose is not too bad either
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My first question would be, do US/Canadian Tesla vehicles have cellular data roaming privileges in Mexico? Obviously, Tesla vehicles sold in Mexico have connectivity. For that matter, I wonder if Teslas sold in Mexico can be driven into the US/Canada and still have connectivity. I would certainly hope so!
Another option might be to tether the car to one's personal cellphone. Our family's current data plan includes "free" coverage in Mexico and Canada.
The other question is, how good is the relevant cellular network up and down the Baja peninsula?
If all else fails, you could at least have your car use the wifi at hotels, to download maps, etc.
Also, in general, how wise is it to drive far down into Baja with only a very limited knowledge of Spanish? I don't see us driving down in the near future, but it's something that's always interested me.
Don TLR
Active Member
I cant get any farther than Muluge, Its so beautiful I end up staying there for days but almost always have done the Sea of Cortez route.
T34ME
Active Member
Good questions! I don't have answers, probably yes in Canada, don't know in Mexico.
80% non-existent along the 1200 miles of Hwy 1.
WIFI at hotels is BAD at best. Doubtful you can download maps.
Some basic knowledge of Spanish is helpful but not essential. You can always find someone who speaks broken English.
To repeat, it is possible to drive a model 3 to Los Cabos but it requires a lot of experience driving Baja, tons of patience, lots of careful planning, and above all, an enormous sense of adventure and humor. Anyone who doesn't posses these qualities is much better off having their model 3 trucked down on a flatbed.
Hey,
I came across this during my online research, I was actually thinking about doing the drive myself. Model 3 owner (mid range) since Dec 2018, based in LA (West Hollywood).
From what I read, the drive sounds like the right amount of adventurous to us (wife and I). We just did a 14 day road trip from LA to New Orleans and back, as well as some other road trips since we got the car (LA to Sequioa, LA to Death Valley, etc.).
I would love to do the drive, but I think dealing with the limited charging options (Plugshare) once would probably be enough for me, meaning doing the whole thing only one way would be the perfect amount of time.
So if you need somebody to drive the car down there, given you don't wanna do it, let me know!
Does anybody know about a timeline for superchargers along the way?
Maybe after Tesla gets done with Saskatchewan!
Who knows. Tesla has promised Superchargers in a number of new areas in the next year or so, but Baja isn't on the list. Adding a site or two along the coast south of Tijuana might make sense.That said, if you were to use the car ferry from La Paz to the Mexican mainland, Tesla's website shows that you could then use Tesla destination chargers to drive north to Tucson, AZ. While I have no experience with this and don't know whether there might be safety concerns, it appears that this would be an easier drive back up to the US.
Maybe after Tesla gets done with Saskatchewan!
That said, if you were to use the car ferry from La Paz to the Mexican mainland, Tesla's website shows that you could then use Tesla destination chargers to drive north to Tucson, AZ. While I have no experience with this and don't know whether there might be safety concerns, it appears that this would be an easier drive back up to the US.
I think we will wait on shipping our Tesla 3 down to Cabo until there are more Tesla or public chargers in the area.
For planning purposes-if you ship your vehicle from San Diego to Cabo is there much paperwork, duty, or hassle at the border? Anyone know of any reputable, experienced and reasonably priced auto shippers that run this route? Thanks.
T34ME
Active Member
Yes, I do. I have had no personal experience with the company but my neighbor in Mexico has used them a number of times (twice a year for the last 5 years) San Diego/Cabo San Lucas and raves about them - and believe me she is a stickler for detail ! They haul her car, a MBZ SUV, on a tilt flat bed truck as a one only, no multiple car carrier.
Company is Express Jr. - Chula Vista, Ca
Tony Sandoval (tell him 'Barbara' sent you), speaks English
619-429-5985
he will give you all the instructions on what you need to do (be sure your car has Mexican Auto Insurance to the hilt)
Suerte amigo (Good Luck)Tony Sandoval (tell him 'Barbara' sent you), speaks English
619-429-5985
he will give you all the instructions on what you need to do (be sure your car has Mexican Auto Insurance to the hilt)
I have been there a few times, a few years back. You'd find it pretty easy, although I suspect not too many would take that perspective.
As I'm sure you know you can fairly easily make the entire trip using only Tesla Destination Chargers, nearly all of which are at hotels. The people who've done it thus far certainly use those hotel chargers. For sure I'd do it. Right now I'm trying to convince my reluctant spouse to do it with me. The last time we did it together it was in a C525 from LGB and it only took a couple of hours. This one will take a little bit longer I think.
Are there still a lot of potholes on the road? I remember going to Hilton Cabo back in 2013 and rented a car. There were so many potholes on the road from airport to the hotel and from the hotel to Cabo. Also nobody stops at the stop signs. We asked the people at the hotel why and they said "Oh those stop signs? They just put them up last year because of the G20 summit. They are more of a suggestion than a requirement". So I ended up doing extreme California rolling stop at the stop signs to not get rear ended!
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Not any more. I confirmed that with Tesla, in writing, prior to taking my P85D to Mexico. Since Tesla now sells in Mexico there is no longer a warranty provision to the contrary. If you ask you can have that in writing. I did that in 2016.
