On January 1, 2026, Mexico quietly did something that will feel very loud in border towns: it ended the federal decree that allowed “autos chocolate” (used vehicles brought in irregularly, mostly from the U.S. and Canada) to be “regularized” with a relatively simple process and a fixed fee. AMDA, the national dealers association, immediately applauded the move and called it a return to order.
If you live in Baja California, you already know this isn’t just a policy change. It’s a lifestyle adjustment.
For years, the regularization program sat in that familiar Baja space between necessity and loophole. It gave thousands of families a cheaper way into a car, and it gave the government a database trail and a revenue stream. It also flooded the market with older vehicles that official industry groups describe as more polluting, of questionable origin, and a road-safety step backward.
What exactly changed
The decree launched in 2022 and kept getting extended. The latest twist is that it doesn’t run into 2026 anymore. It ends at December 31, 2025, period.
The program worked like this: pay 2,500 pesos, receive a regularization document, and in participating states you could obtain plates and circulate legally. It applied in 16 states, including Baja California and Baja California Sur.
By the government’s own accounting and industry reporting, nearly 3 million vehicles were regularized nationwide (2,987,839 as of November 25, 2025).
Why Baja feels this more than most
Baja California didn’t just participate. It feasted.
State officials reported 495,706 vehicles regularized in Baja California alone, generating about 980 million pesos that were distributed to municipalities, largely for paving and pothole work. Tijuana, Mexicali, Ensenada, Tecate, and Rosarito all received significant chunks of that money.
So when the program stops, two things happen at once:
First, the easy pipeline for newly arrived “cheap wheels” tightens. People who were planning to bring in another vehicle and “figure it out later” now face the traditional import system, which is more expensive, more procedural, and less forgiving.
Second, that steady municipal cash drip tied to regularizations slows down. Roadwork won’t stop because the sun still rises and potholes still breed overnight, but that specific funding source was real, and it was local.
The community impact in plain language
If you already regularized your vehicle under the program, this isn’t a “your plates vanish at midnight” story. The shift is about future regularizations. It will mostly hit:
People shopping for the lowest possible entry into car ownership
The informal ecosystem around imports, appointments, and paperwork “helpers”
Border-area used-car pricing, because supply and expectations change when the shortcut closes
It may also change what people drive. When the cheapest option becomes less accessible, more buyers either keep older cars longer, share vehicles within families, or move toward legally imported used cars and entry-level new models, if financing allows. That’s where the industry’s smile starts to make sense.
Why Mexican car makers and dealers are celebrating
AMDA’s argument is blunt: regularizing illegal imports effectively rewarded contraband and distorted the market. They say the decree added nearly 3 million vehicles that were often older, more contaminating, and a safety concern, while also undercutting formal channels that pay proper taxes and meet clearer rules.
Zoom out and you see the business logic. Mexico’s new-vehicle market has room to grow, and AMDA has been openly pushing for policies that move the country closer to a larger annual sales potential. In late 2025, AMDA leadership said Mexico could be selling closer to 2 million new units annually, and they flagged ending the “legalization of contraband” as unfinished business. This week, that business got finished.
That helps assemblers (including the factories building in Mexico), dealers, formal used-car lots, financing arms, insurers, and anyone who prefers their supply chain to come with receipts.
So what now
The federal line is that the program achieved its purpose and keeping it alive could invite bad practices. They also point out that legal pathways for importing used vehicles still exist under current law; they’re just not the bargain-basement version.
And that’s the real headline for Baja: the era of “I’ll just regularize it” is over. The era of “bring your patience, your paperwork, and your budget” is back.
No bad news, though. We’re just returning to Mexico’s most cherished tradition: forms.
