Importing a Mexican Sentra into the US

By University Communications August 4, 2011

One of the most notable difficulties my father had when he was moving to the US to study for his PhD in Arizona was getting a car. He was moving from nearby northern Mexico, but this was still his first time living in the US.

“As you know, we used to live in northern Mexico. Like crossing the border for shopping or tourism or whatever, it was not uncommon for us. So we already knew the town.”

One of the nice things about my father studying in Tucson, Arizona was that he already had some family living there. So he had someone to ask to in case he or my mother ever had questions about the area or how to live in the US. One of the other things my father had noted about living in the US was the number of sheer options in grocery stores.

“It was overwhelming to see how many options Americans have in the grocery stores. Like if you want to decide for the first time what you are going to buy for the week, you have twenty brands of butter to choose from, ten versions of milk, and all the combinations.”

This turned out to be unexpectedly difficult since the Nissan Sentra he had was mostly likely manufactured specifically for Mexico and not designed to meet US requirements. The US was requiring all cars that sold in the US to have the SAE J1962 Data Link Connector (DLC) to meet OBD-II emission regulations. However, Mexico would not have this requirement until later on in 2007, a few years after my father had already moved to the US.

“So, in order to properly register the car, as a prerequisite, I needed to go and do a smog test. But when I went to the smog test, we realized that the car doesn't have the proper interface that they need to connect to the computer that is going to do the test on the car. So it failed the test and I couldn't do anything.”

Not only did the car have issues with the connector, the car may have likely not met US safety standards and would have needed expensive modifications and certifications. All this together made it so it didn’t make sense to import the car.

This is where my father’s family in Arizona helped out. My father still needed a car in order to get his driver’s license, so he borrowed a car from them to get it. Without them, they may have been stuck without a driver’s license.

“You need a car to get a driver's license, but I don't have a car. And then, in order to rent a car, they ask you for the driver's license. So you cannot rent a car without a driver's license. So basically, you need to know somebody that can lend you a car. And that's where family helped.”

It was nice seeing his extended family were able to help out, lending a car, especially to someone who has just started to drive regularly in the US, is not an easy decision. This was in contrast to when I asked him about one was the best lessons he learned from someone he met:

“Being honest, I had good experiences and bad experiences. I met people that were very difficult to work with. But I learned a lot from those people, too. I learned how to be open to other discussions, to be understanding of how the environment is.”

It stuck out to me how he would mention the people he didn’t like working with, but it makes sense when you realize you’ll have to work with people you don’t want for your whole life.

“Like there are people that have their own problems, they have competitive issues, and you have to be aware of that first. And then you have to develop tools in order to work despite those limitations.”

I asked my father one last question to finish things up, what is one thing you could change if you were able to go back? I always felt like this is an interesting question since for better or worse, every incorrect or correct decision leads you down a path that makes you what you are today. I wondered if my father thought the same:

“It's a hard question, because I think at the end, things aligned themselves very well. I don't think I would have changed a lot… So to summarize, I wouldn't have changed much.”