Getting my brand new Jalisco drivers license.

I wanted to get my Jalisco drivers license. In Ajijic everyone knows someone who can get one from the Chapala office without taking a test. And that maybe the reason why the Chapala office cannot test anyone nor issue any new drivers licenses.
So the next best choices are Guadalajara or Ocotlan. The GDL office is north of the city which means you have to drive through the city or go half way around either Periferico. The road to Ocotlan from Ajijic involves about 4 turns to get to the office. Google maps calculated Ocotlan to be a few minutes less in travel time. I have heard that the GDL office is quite big and crowded, but the service is very efficient. I decided on Ocotlan. Getting there was easy; from the road to GDL turn right to La Barca just after Ixtluahacan(sp?); travel about 40 minutes and when you enter Ocotlan, as soon as you cross the river hang a left and the office is a mile up on your right in a mall (Plaza San Felipe). I arrived about 9am as I had heard there would be a 20 minute video to watch about the rules of the road - which started at 9. It didn't happen; there is no video. The driving test office is on the second floor. I took the originals and copies of passports, CURP, immigration card, phone bill/electricity bill. No problem with any of that. The clerk asks you for your blood type and then copies your info into the computer. You then move to the next counter where they take your fingerprints and photo. Sign your name on the electronic pad and then it is time for the quiz part of the exam. It is a touch screen computer test. You have ten minutes to answer ten multiple choice questions. It is all in Spanish. If in doubt, the answer is usually the longest one. If you pass (you have to get 8 out of 10) then you have to report back to the desk at mid-day. Which gave me time to practice my parallel parking - the only real challenge of the driving test.
So at noon, there were seven of us waiting by the desk to take our driving test. This is where I believe it deviated from the norm. No-one could find the driving test person. So the boss picks on some random security guard in the office and tells him he is taking us for our driving test. Five minutes of training and a very puzzled looking guard is taking us down to the parking lot. He is still not sure how to complete the evaluation forms and involves a few of us in the discussion.
I was the first one to take the test. He doesn't get in the car, but is supposed to observe as we drive (I see he never looked at me while I was driving and just chatted with the other 'contestants'). I am told to make one turn around the parking lot (about the size of a basketball court) and then parallel park between two sandwich boards. The sandwich boards are bout 10 feet away from the curb, so I ask where is the curb supposed to be. 'It's an imaginary line somewhere between the boards' he tells me. OK. So I pull up and there is about one car's length between the sandwich boards and it becomes obvious that this would be impossible. The remaining drivers who are watching complain it is too narrow, so as I back up, he moves the sandwich board until I decide I can pull forward and make the space in 2 moves. I park the car to a round of applause from the rest of the people waiting to be tested. He gives me my evaluation and hopes he has completed it correctly. There are smiles all round. I went in to pay ($500 and change), took my receipt upstairs and a few minutes later left with my brand new Jalisco license. As I was leaving the parking lot, I saw the agent who tested us and he gave me a big smile and a wave out of his window.
Tip: When you arrive you will no doubt park at the front of the mall. The test is taken in the back parking lot (and they expect your car to be there) - and due to one way streets and barricades, it is not straightforward being able to reach the back lot from the front parking area. But you have plenty of time to find it.
Tip 2: The questions are available on Jalisco's Movilidad site. It's a good idea to practice them.

Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful and there wasn't a hint of any expectation of bribes, etc. They all seemed to be on our side, wanting us to pass. The office was quite efficient and lines moved quickly.

Thank you for sharing your delightful story and providing a lot of helpful information. Congratulations too!

Footnote: My Spanish was good enough to navigate the system. I don't know if anyone spoke English. I don't know the rules about bringing a translator (it all seemed so relaxed I am sure I could have brought my dog). And I don't know if Guadalajara is more English friendly.

I'm pretty sure they also do driver's licenses at the Las Aguilas complex in Guadalajara, which is on Lopez Mateos just inside the southern part of the periferico. Still, getting to Ocotlán is dead easy. Congrats on getting your license.

Rosa Venus wrote:I'm pretty sure they also do driver's licenses at the Las Aguilas complex in Guadalajara, which is on Lopez Mateos just inside the southern part of the periferico. Still, getting to Ocotlán is dead easy. Congrats on getting your license.

I think that for new licenses in Guadalajara you have to go to the main office,it took me less than an hour,but I stood in line for 5 hours at a different office when I renewed it,maybe things have changed.

Could be. I had to go to Las Aguilas to get license plates and am almost certain I saw a sign pointing driver's license people to a different area. But maybe they only do renewals. Regardless, I think it's funny to consider that the Chapala office has been stripped of driver's license responsibilities perhaps due to past misconduct. There goes that "revenue generator".

I had heard about the Las Aguilas complex, but I had also heard they don't do driving tests there and hence no new licenses.

What did you do about paying?

The paperwork accumulates throughout the process. The last piece is the driving evaluation sheet. You take all your paperwork to a cashier on the 1st floor - pay in cash (it was about 500 pesos and not US$500 so cash shouldn't be a problem) then go back to the second floor, hand in your receipt and they print your license.

That was a great story, Truebrit. Thanks for telling it, it's nice when people are nice. The Chapala transitos were just so awful and greedy about drivers licenses, I'm glad that operation got shut down.

A couple of years ago I went to the Chapala office just to ask a couple of questions but they had already closed for the day. As I was walking away a guy that was outside washing one of the trucks saw me and said " oh, they are still here" and he took me through the back gate. He led me through the back parking area to a covered carport area where all of the transitos were standing around a desk where the comandante sat counting out piles of cash that were stacked all over the desk. I saw them, they saw me and my hands instinctively flew to my face and I just stood there with my eyes covered. One of them ran over to whirl me around and usher me out. I was mortified.

I came into contact with about four different people in the entire process and they were all very nice and friendly. They really did give me the impression that they were on my side. The whole atmosphere in the office was very laid-back - but efficient at the same time. If I hadn't been so nervous about the unknown, I would have enjoyed it.

Ms.Thang wrote:He led me through the back parking area to a covered carport area where all of the transitos were standing around a desk where the comandante sat counting out piles of cash that were stacked all over the desk. I saw them, they saw me and my hands instinctively flew to my face and I just stood there with my eyes covered. One of them ran over to whirl me around and usher me out.

Outstanding!

KILLER story, MT, thanks for sharing! lol

Ms.Thang wrote:That was a great story, Truebrit. Thanks for telling it, it's nice when people are nice. The Chapala transitos were just so awful and greedy about drivers licenses, I'm glad that operation got shut down.  

Aren't the Vial officers state employees and get assigned from Guad?

When Transito first opened up an office in Chapala, a lot of foreigners proffered up money for help with tests, written and driving, because, unlike truebrit they hadn't any confidence in themselves.  This only encouraged the business of mordidas.  I had a close friend that worked at the Alcalde office and they said that mordidas were unheard of although a few translator/facilitators were hanging around to help the foreigners who couldn't read Spanish, to help fill out the forms.
Back in the 70's and 80's there wasn't any office in Chapala and you had to go to the office on Alcalde or one of the satellite offices, like Las Aguilas. Then in the late 80's or early 90's they brought in a travelling crew, once a week, that operated out of a cubbyhole office between the old Presidencia and Banamex.  So this concept of a local Transito office is a latter day thing.

I never minded the mordida.

When I moved from GA to NM, there was a DMV place about 2 blocks from my house. Took 3 trips to get everything that they wanted and about $60.

I got my MX license with a "little help from a friend" who charged me $40 and had me in and out in under an hour.

I would have gladly paid that in NM.

The only bill I get from CFE anymore is an e-mail bill. Will they accept that as residence or do I have to go beg TelMex for a bill?

Slainte, when I first moved to Chapala in 1999 the transito office was in Riberas and they had certain days ( and a cash fee) for foreigners to take the test and I'll bet a lot of them didn't even realize that they were paying a mordida.

When I went to get a Jalisco license in the Chapala office a couple of years ago it didn't matter how much confidence you had you were probably going to fail the driving test and only $ 500.00 to the testing officer could make you pass. That went for everyone, not just the Gringos. One of the people I had been waiting with was a young Mexican guy, he offered the officer $200 after he failed but the guy said he wasn't interested! The kid had to borrow $300 more from his girlfriend to get passed. Couples, however, were given a two for one.
I had to take the driving test twice and was passed the second time without paying the $500 but that was only because my husband went up there and spoke to the comandante.

It bothers me to hear "I never minded the mordida" because it's our willingness to pay it that creates the culture of corruption. Then that extends out to traffic cops harassing motorists and other, sometimes much more unsavory practices. Once word gets out that Chapala is a great place to get those "bonuses" it attracts just the kind of cops we don't want to have.

And as was mentioned by Ms. Thang, it doesn't just impact those of us who can afford to pay.

The Ocotlan is a great example of how things work when nobody expects mordida. I'm glad the Chapala office was shut down.

Awesome write up, TrueBrit...

I'm trying to figure out if the Ocotlan office is open Fridays. Is there any reason it wouldn't be?

I was told that you have to be permanente to get a mx drivers license by the person who was going to help me. Have things changed?

You will need a CURP, but I think a Residente Temporal can get that too.
Beware of facilitators. Many are amateurs. Some are ignorant and some are scam artists.
Take care of yourself or hire someone like Spencer (Intercasa).

i got both mine on an fm3 and i have a curp

SunshineyDay wrote:I was told that you have to be permanente to get a mx drivers license by the person who was going to help me. Have things changed?

No. You can get a CURP with a Temporal. I think you might want to find someone different to help you.

I got mine over 9 years ago with an FM3. No problem.

I am temporale (but in the grand scheme of things, aren't we all?). They checked over my immigration docs at the Ocotlan office and had no problem. I had never heard of this restriction before.