Has any one from the US bought any equipment from Mexico? Either from Ritchie Bros. or anywhere else. I sometimes come across equipment online down there but don't really know what the procedure is for getting it back to the US. Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with that? Thanks!
Equipment coming from anywhere has to meet EPA regs for the year of manufacture and be clean enough to pass an inspection, any dirt, plant material or insect evidence means you get to pay a lot of cash to have it transported to a certified cleaner and cleaned again. If it was made in the US and was originally sold here and then exported to Mexico it should be relatively painless. Anything made outside the US and/or originally sold outside the US will be tougher. You WILL need a customs broker and hopefully one that has plenty of experience with importing heavy iron. Be aware that once it's bought and on a truck headed North, if it gets held up at the border, you get to pay standby time to the trucking company for every day it sits in impound waiting for whatever paperwork, filing, emissions, or cleaning, etc. hurdles need to be cleared and this is always at the discretion of the individual customs and border patrol agent processing the shipment. It also may be sidelined for intensive inspection coming from down South since it may be hiding illicit substances. It's not difficult but it's not for the faint of heart and there is a learning curve. YMMV
Welcome to the Forums Cheyenne 926! Lantraxco summed it up. Since the dollar is the stronger in the world economy some equipment deals in other countries can look lucrative but it comes with pitfalls.
You need to be extra careful buying equipment made in the USA for export. Cat for example makes the machine to meet the emissions for the country it is sent to. A 2015 D7 sold in some areas would not make the grade coming back into the states. When we toured the factory we seen machines with no emission equipment at all that were being exported, and then one to be sold here was full of wires and sensors.