For people moving to CDMX for work, one recurring question is:

“Should I buy a car as soon as I arrive, or rely on Uber/transit/rentals first?”

A practical way to think about it:

Before buying a car, test these for 30–60 days

1. Your real commute

A short distance on the map can be very different at 8am or 6pm. Test the route at your actual commute times before committing.

2. Parking at home and work

Ask:

• Does your building include a parking spot?
• Is it assigned or shared?
• Is it secure?
• Is there parking at work?
• Would you need a paid pensión?

3. Rideshare + transit coverage

Depending on your neighbourhood and work location, Uber/Didi + Metro/Metrobús + walking may be enough most weeks.

4. Weekend trips

If the main reason is “I want to leave the city on weekends,” compare owning vs renting.

Owning means:

• purchase cost
• insurance
• parking
• maintenance
• inspections / paperwork
• local driving learning curve

Renting means:

• higher cost per trip
• less flexibility
• but no year-round burden

5. Mexican credit history

If you plan to finance, verify what banks/dealers will actually approve. Don’t assume foreign income or foreign credit history will work the same way.

Default suggestion

If you are new to CDMX:

First 30–60 days: don’t buy. Live near work if possible, use rideshare/transit, and rent for trips.
After that: buy only if not having a car is repeatedly causing a real problem.

For people already living here: what changed your mind either way?

• Did you buy a car and regret it?
• Did you avoid buying and feel fine?
• Which neighbourhood/work commute made a car necessary?
• Any tips for parking, insurance, repairs, or rentals?

Use this weekly thread for housing/roommate searches and quick questions.

Please include:

- Move-in date + length of stay

- Budget (MXN) and what's included (utilities/furnished?)

- Looking for (room/studio/1BR/shared)

- Neighborhoods you're considering

- Commute target (UNAM/Polanco/Reforma/etc.)

- Must-haves / dealbreakers

Safety basics:

- Don't send deposits before viewing + contract

- Avoid WhatsApp-only 'agents' and too-good-to-be-true prices

- No personal phone numbers in comments/posts (use business site/name or Reddit DM)

This is not CDMX-specific, but it may affect people moving to Mexico with dogs, doing U.S.-Mexico trips, or planning vet/pet travel logistics before settling here.
 
If you travel with a dog between the U.S. and Mexico, especially through land crossings, the New World Screwworm paperwork is getting confusing fast.
 
Short version from the official sources I found:  

1. U.S. to Mexico
   APHIS says Mexico’s New World Screwworm inspection document requirement for pet dogs and pet birds took effect Aug 3, 2026.
2. Mexico back into California
   CDFA says dogs and cats entering California from Mexico need a New World Screwworm inspection within 5 days before entry into the U.S. CDFA also mentions a California Entry Permit.
3. What still looks unclear
   I have not seen clear official answers yet on:
   - walking across vs driving vs flying
   - whether carrier rules differ by crossing method
   - what large-dog owners are supposed to do if a carrier is expected
   - real pricing by vet, city, or port of entry
   - whether border staff are applying this consistently

 
My read: treat this as a “confirm before every crossing” issue, not a one-time paperwork issue, because the time windows are short and the rules may keep changing.
 
Official sources:
- APHIS pet travel U.S. to Mexico
- CDFA New World Screwworm entry requirements FAQ
- AVMA Mexico companion animal travel summary
 
Has anyone here crossed recently with a dog, especially by land? If yes, what documents were actually checked, what did your vet charge, and which crossing did you use?

Share events, meetups, pop-ups, language exchanges, and plans for the week.

Include:

- Date/time

- Neighborhood/venue

- Cost (if any)

- English/Spanish-friendly?

Safety note: meet in public places first, use common sense, and be respectful.

Got a business, service, deal, or personal project? This thread is for self-promotion—even if it's only loosely CDMX-related.

**Share:**

- What you offer / what you're promoting

- How to contact you or where to find you

- Any special offers for the community

**Keep it respectful.** Self-promotion is welcome, but spammy or misleading posts may be removed.

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**[More resources & templates here: r/CDMXExpats/wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/CDMXExpats/wiki)\*\*

Share events, meetups, pop-ups, language exchanges, and plans for the week.

Include:

- Date/time

- Neighborhood/venue

- Cost (if any)

- English/Spanish-friendly?

Safety note: meet in public places first, use common sense, and be respectful.

Share events, meetups, pop-ups, language exchanges, and plans for the week.

Include:

- Date/time

- Neighborhood/venue

- Cost (if any)

- English/Spanish-friendly?

Safety note: meet in public places first, use common sense, and be respectful.

The stuff that never makes it into the relocation guides. Mine, as a chilango watching people arrive: nobody warns you that "ahorita" is a unit of time with no defined length, and that your first month's budget dies at restaurants because everything is 30% more interesting than where you came from.

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Use this thread to share useful resources for English-speaking people living in or moving to Mexico City.

Allowed:

- local services you personally used

- English-speaking doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants, schools, classes, groups

- housing, neighbourhood, transport, healthcare, residency, and cost-of-living tips

- your own service or project, if you disclose your connection and keep it useful

Not allowed:

- spam

- low-effort ads

- unverifiable medical, legal, tax, or immigration claims

- politics or expat-vs-immigrant fights

If you recommend a provider, say how you know them and whether you used them personally.

The deposit questions keep coming, so here's a baseline to argue with:

>Normal: one month deposit. Two months happens with no fiador/aval, but it's a negotiation, not a law of nature. The fiador thing: many landlords ask for a fiador (a property-owning guarantor in CDMX). Expats rarely have one; the workarounds are polizas juridicas (paid guarantee policies), extra deposit, or prepaid months. Red flags, learned the hard way by people in this sub:
>
>
>
>What did your deposit negotiation look like? And has anyone actually gotten a full deposit back from a platform? Stories welcome, name names if it's first-hand.

>Numbers get repeated from old blog posts until they're fiction. These ranges are current as of 2026, and I'd love corrections from your receipts:
>
>
>
>Post what YOU paid (consultation, procedure, insurance premium) with the year. Real data points beat every listicle.

>Every licensed professional in Mexico has a cedula profesional, a government-issued license number. Anyone can check it, free, no account needed:
>
>
>
>Two things most people don't know:
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>
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>If a provider hesitates to share their cedula number when you ask, treat that as information.
>
>Disclosure since it's adjacent: I run a directory that does this verification as its core thing, but you don't need me or any directory for this. The registry is public. Check anyone.

Health coverage questions come up here every few weeks, and many older threads are archived now, so here is a current snapshot of the main routes people usually compare when living in Mexico.

Corrections and recent data points are welcome.

The three common routes:

1. Mexican private major-medical insurance (GMM): roughly $80–300 USD/month depending on age, deductible, hospital level, and coverage. Insurers such as GNP, AXA, and MetLife will generally want a residency card (temporary residency is usually enough) and a CURP; some brokers/insurers may also ask for an RFC. Premiums climb steeply with age, and pre-existing conditions are usually excluded, capped, or subject to waiting periods.

2. International plans: roughly $200–600 USD/month. Younger applicants may be at the lower end; 60+ applicants are often at the higher end. These can be useful if you want cross-border coverage or do not yet have Mexican residency, but the details vary a lot by plan, deductible, country coverage, and exclusions.

3. IMSS voluntary enrollment / Seguro de Salud para la Familia: roughly $625–1,200 USD per adult per year, age-banded and paid annually. IMSS publishes the current quotas by age. There are waiting periods for some pre-existing conditions, and some conditions may prevent enrollment or be excluded. It is the cheapest route on paper, but expect Spanish-only service, queues, and a very different experience from private care.

What many foreign residents actually do: a hybrid.

Routine care is often paid in cash, while insurance is mainly for the catastrophic event: surgery, hospitalization, cancer, major accident, etc.

Mexico News Daily's healthcare survey found that just over 91% of respondents pay private healthcare expenses in Mexico out of pocket. The math explains part of that: a private GP visit can be around $500–1,200 MXN, and diagnostic imaging can be far below US cash prices. For example, a brain MRI paid cash can often run around $3,600–7,600 MXN depending on city, facility, and whether contrast is involved.

Routine care can be genuinely affordable here; the harder decision is how you want to handle the big-ticket risk.

One useful check regardless of route: any doctor you see in Mexico should hold a cédula profesional, which is the federal professional license. You can check it for free through the SEP / Registro Nacional de Profesionistas. Most newcomers do not know that lookup exists.

Useful sources:

• IMSS - Seguro de Salud para la Familia: https://www.imss.gob.mx/derechoH/segurosalud-familia
• SEP / gob.mx - Cédula profesional: https://www.gob.mx/cedulaprofesional/
• Mexico News Daily healthcare survey: https://mexiconewsdaily.com/mnd-intelligence/mnd-mexico-healthcare-experience-survey-1/

Prices vary heavily by age, medical history, deductible, hospital network, city, and whether you are comparing Mexican vs international coverage. This is not legal, medical, or insurance advice, just a practical snapshot to help people compare options.

If you have recent quotes, IMSS enrollment experience, cash-pay prices, or corrections, please add them in the comments so the thread stays useful.

Share events, meetups, pop-ups, language exchanges, and plans for the week.

Include:

- Date/time

- Neighborhood/venue

- Cost (if any)

- English/Spanish-friendly?

Safety note: meet in public places first, use common sense, and be respectful.

CDMX sits at ~2,240 m (7,350 ft), and most new arrivals feel it even if they never connect the dots: broken sleep the first nights, getting winded on stairs, headaches, one beer feeling like three.

>

Share events, meetups, pop-ups, language exchanges, and plans for the week.

Include:

- Date/time

- Neighborhood/venue

- Cost (if any)

- English/Spanish-friendly?

Safety note: meet in public places first, use common sense, and be respectful.

Use this weekly thread for housing/roommate searches and quick questions.

Please include:

- Move-in date + length of stay

- Budget (MXN) and what's included (utilities/furnished?)

- Looking for (room/studio/1BR/shared)

- Neighborhoods you're considering

- Commute target (UNAM/Polanco/Reforma/etc.)

- Must-haves / dealbreakers

Safety basics:

- Don't send deposits before viewing + contract

- Avoid WhatsApp-only 'agents' and too-good-to-be-true prices

- No personal phone numbers in comments/posts (use business site/name or Reddit DM)

Use this weekly thread for housing/roommate searches and quick questions.

Please include:

- Move-in date + length of stay

- Budget (MXN) and what's included (utilities/furnished?)

- Looking for (room/studio/1BR/shared)

- Neighborhoods you're considering

- Commute target (UNAM/Polanco/Reforma/etc.)

- Must-haves / dealbreakers

Safety basics:

- Don't send deposits before viewing + contract

- Avoid WhatsApp-only 'agents' and too-good-to-be-true prices

- No personal phone numbers in comments/posts (use business site/name or Reddit DM)

Share events, meetups, pop-ups, language exchanges, and plans for the week.

Include:

- Date/time

- Neighborhood/venue

- Cost (if any)

- English/Spanish-friendly?

Safety note: meet in public places first, use common sense, and be respectful.