Baja California’s state Congress has formally called on the Secretaría de Hacienda (state Treasury) to complete hundreds of vehicle registrations left unfinished after the federal “chocolate car” legalization program ended abruptly on December 31, 2025. The program had previously been extended to September 2026, leaving vehicle owners who paid fees and submitted paperwork on time stranded without plates or official registry recognition.
A PAN (Partido Acción Nacional) lawmaker introduced the measure after receiving complaints from residents in Mexicali. Protests have already broken out at the Subrecaudación de Rentas offices in the state capital, where affected car owners say they did everything required before the cutoff and are now in bureaucratic limbo.
Federal Program Pulled Early
The chocolate car regularization program, first launched under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in 2021, allowed owners of foreign-plated vehicles to legalize them by paying a fee and registering through the Registro Público Vehicular (REPUVE). The term “chocolate” refers to vehicles, mostly purchased in the United States, that entered Mexico without paying proper import duties.
Baja California has been one of the top states for the program. By late 2024, more than 355,000 vehicles had been regularized statewide, with Tijuana leading at roughly 142,220, followed by Mexicali at 108,950 and Ensenada at 45,820. The state collected approximately 952 million pesos (about $47.6 million USD) in fees from the program.
Title Transfer Costs Draw Fire
The congressional proposal also targets the cost of vehicle title transfers in Baja California. The lawmaker noted that transferring a title currently runs between 50,000 and 70,000 pesos ($2,500 to $3,500 USD), even for mid-range cars. That steep price, the legislator argued, discourages people from updating their vehicle records and makes the state’s vehicle registry unreliable.
For the thousands of expats and long-term residents in Baja California who drive U.S.-plated vehicles, the program’s early termination creates real uncertainty. Anyone who submitted paperwork before the December 31 deadline but has not yet received plates or confirmation should keep records of all payments and filings.
No timeline has been set for the state Treasury to respond. The congressional call is non-binding but puts public pressure on the administration to act. Affected residents can check their registration status at local Recaudación de Rentas offices in Tijuana, Mexicali, and Ensenada.
This story was first reported by La Jornada BC.