Would you go to Mexico now?

[A.Gwilliam]

@CBEscapee

A classic case of misunderstanding. In cases of bodily injury, the driver that caused the accident must prove they can cover the costs of the injured persons. If they can’t, they can be detained. This applies to everyone, Mexican and foreigners alike. Insurance policies offer coverage for this. Insurance agents will see that their clients will not be detained. Unless it was due to criminal negligence. That is different but again the law applies to all drivers.

@Balthisar

I’ll further add that if you’re in an accident, you call your insurance representative to the scene of the accident. The cops won’t haul you off until the insurance adjusters show up right there on the spot.

Also for foreigners (but not for Mexicans, for some reason), automobile insurance is dirt cheap. There’s no reason to ever drive your car in Mexico without buying a policy.

Fair enough. I don’t drive, so don’t really even know what the rules are in my own country! I was just responding to the implication that police in Mexico acting differently to what one would expect at home automatically meant that they were behaving in a corrupt manner.

@Susanann

Yeah, maybe so in regards to foreigners, but it still is a meaningful big difference for** American** visitors/tourists.

But even assuming that Americans routinely take a handgun with them when on holiday in the US, I still can’t see how this is entirely relevant. Aside from anything else, not all US jurisdictions allow private individuals to wander around carrying a handgun.

And again, I would point out that the real issue is whether you’re at risk of being attacked in the first place! Most people aren’t going to assess these things on the basis of “I can shoot back at them”, which seems to be what you’re saying; they’re going to avoid going to those places in the first place. Which brings us back to the OP’s question: what is the risk of being involved in violence if you visit Mexico?

[Kotka]

@Balthisar

LOL. My company issued car was a full-sized, brand new SUV, and I’d sometimes feel nervous driving it certain places, and I always told myself that if I wanted to be perfectly safe, I should get a hold of a Tsuru!

@Balthisar
Well, the older ones literally seem made of cast iron, so actually are safer – we got hit by a newer Tsuru once and the only damage we had was the imprint of their license plate on our rear bumper. Their engine compartment literally collapsed. Also, you can fit a fridge into the two-door ones, and any mechanic anywhere can fix them.

But everyone and all their granny knows how to break into a Tsuru in about 20 seconds, so you never get to keep your radio longer than a few months if you have to regularly park in certain areas. We had a total of 5 break ins in about 1 year. One of them stole a suitcase of clothes out the trunk, 3 took the radios I foolishly kept replacing as a present to my husband, and the last was to make sure there was nothing left in there (and there wasn’t).

But we were definitely safer from the big, bad, violent stuff