As you may know, my Southwind is as much a hobby as it is a motorhome, I enjoy (most of the time) working on it, learning new skills, solving problems, and of course, sharing that information on my web sites. And of course, when I travel in my Southwind, its safe, reliable, and as comfortable as the day it was driven off the lot over 23 years ago.
The single largest upgrade project I accomplished was painting my Southwind several years ago. This was a new experience for me, I learned a lot, and the result was a reasonably good looking motorhome, I called it a 5 footer. From 5 ft away, it looked good.. However, I wanted to take it up a notch and have the professionals redo it. I knew this was going to be expensive, so I started budgeting while I searched the internet. Prices varied, but it became obvious that if I was going to have this done in the US, it was going to cost more than what the motorhome was worth. However, there were a couple shops across the southern border in Mexico that could do it for 1/2 to 1/3 of the US prices, the name Navarros Shop was the one shop that consistently had good reviews from those who had work done.
The shop is owned by the Navarro brothers Enrique ‘Rick’ and Jose. This is a family run business with well over a dozen employees. They handle all kinds of RV and automotive body and paint work, and have a very large work area and paint booth that can accommodate the largest of motorhomes They’re located about 5 blocks from the Las Algodones border crossing (west of Yuma, AZ off of I-8).
GETTING A QUOTE
Both Rick and Jose speak good English, so working with them is no problem. I contacted Rick via their Facebook page, he gave me a rough estimate of $14,000 for a full paint job with 4 colors. I explained that I had some minor body and rust damage that needed to be fixed. He asked that I send him some photos to look at with descriptions of the work I wanted performed. After he reviewed the photos, we talked again and I sent him a couple photos of my proposed paint scheme. When he got back to me, he said the job would take about 4-5 weeks, and his initial price of 14k was good. We scheduled a date to drop off the motorhome (third week in October)
Rick will work with you on the logistics of getting the motorhome across the border, how he’s to be paid, and picking up the motohome when it finished. The following is how we did it.
CROSSING THE BORDER
We removed most of the stuff out of the motorhome. Under NO circumstances should you attempt to take any firearms or ammunition across the border.
We purchased Mexican liability insurance for the motorhome for one day only, the day we’d cross the border. I believe it was about $30. Make sure to carry copies of the insurance, vehicle registration, and of course your passports. We decided not to take the toad across and left it in the crossing parking lot.
We planned to cross at Los Algodones. This is a very popular Mexican Dentist and Pharmacy town, probably one of the safest towns in Mexico. The crossing is actually in California, just west of Yuma AZ, about a mile south of I-8. There is an Quechan Indian Casino at the CA-186 exit off of I-8 that makes for a good drop-off, gathering point. We planned to cross the border about 9 am on a Thursday morning. We disconnected the toad in the Casino parking lot. I waited with the motorhome at the Casino parking lot while my wife drove down the road to the border crossing parking lot. She parked the car ($6 for the day), then walked down to the street and called me. I picked her up with the motorhome and we drove across the border.
We were stopped at the border by the Mexican authorities. They asked where we were going and we told them Navarros Shop. We were directed to a parking area where the authorities inspected our documents and searched the motorhome, inside and out. Use caution when pulling into and out of the inspection area, its tight. Watch the tail swing.
Getting to Navarros is fairly easy. (See map) Their shop is located at the intersection of “A” and 8th street. Immediately after crossing into Mexico, the road will make a 45 degree left turn. The very next intersection is “A” street, turn right, Navarro’s is about 5 blocks down the street. You’ll see the Navarros sign on a post on the right side of the road
WARNING – LOW WIRES —- Watch for low hanging wires that cross the road. These can get caught on your A/C units or vents. I suspect these are wires run across the road by people using their neighbors electric or phone. On two occasions, I had to climb on top of the motorhome to lift some wires up so they wouldn’t get caught on the air conditioners and vents. To do this, I used heavy gloves, I’d pick up the wires at the front of the motorhome, then had the wife pull forward slowly as I walked across the roof, lifting the wires over the A/C units, then dropping them at the back of the motorhome. If I had a collapsible pole (non-conductive of course) maybe 10-12 ft long, I could have used it to prop up the wires from the ground and wouldn’t need to climb on top of the motorhome to do this.
Once we were at Navarros, we reviewed the work with Jose. I showed him the damaged areas, we picked out the colors from the sample book, and that was it. It took about 3 hours, with the majority of the time selecting colors from the chip book. Rick drove us back to the border crossing and we walked back to our toad after clearing through US customs.
6 WEEKS LATER – PICKING UP MOTORHOME
Again, Rick and Jose will work with you on the logistics and procedures. We called a week before and again the day before to make final arrangements.
Basically, We parked our toad in the Los Algodones crossing parking lot and walked across the border. Jose picked us up at the corner and drove to the shop (5 blocks away)
We inspected the paint job (Absolutely fantastic), paid the bill, then we followed Rick in his car to the San Luis crossing about 30 miles away, We crossed the border back into the US at San Luis, then drove back around to pick up our toad at the Los Algodones crossing parking lot.
The trip from Navarros shop in Los Algodones to the San Luis border crossing took about 45 minutes on a road that is narrow and not very good. Take your time, slow down, Rick won’t lose you.
GETTING IN THE BORDER CROSSING QUEUE
The crossing into the US at San Luis is on a city street that’s six lanes wide. HOWEVER, the border crossing traffic is in the two right most lanes, these two lanes are separated from the city street traffic by a cement curb. You want to be in the left lane, this is for RVs and vehicles with trailers.
VERY IMPORTANT – As you reach the actual crossing, the lane takes a sharp 90 degree right turn. Watch your tail swing on the left side and rear end on the right side. I kept the front left bumper close to the cones and barriers during this turn and had about 1 ft of clearance on the right rear as I made this turn.
Once across, You can take US-95 through Yuma to I-8, OR, follow US-95 for about 1/4 mile to intersect AZ-195 (Juan Sanchez Blvd), turn right (eastbound) . This will bypass around the east side of Yuma and avoid all the city traffic and intersects with I-8.
We drove the motorhome back to the Los Algodones crossing where I dropped the wife off to pick up the toad from the crossing parking lot. I stopped just before the “Last chance to turn around” and dropped her off. The “turn around” point was wide enough to do a U turn with the motorhome. We meet at the Love’s gas station on I-8, exit 3, to fill up the tanks for our drive back to Phoenix where we snow-bird for the winter.
Why did we cross back into the US at San Luis instead of Los Algodones? Because the way the roads are laid out at the Los Algodones crossing, specifically the corner at the crossing, its impossible to make that turn with the long motorhome.
RECOMMENDATIONS / THOUGHTS
If possible, visit Los Algodones before you actually bring the motorhome. This will allow you to scope out the lay of the land, maybe get your teeth cleaned, and shop at some of the stores and vendors. For visitors who’ve never been outside the United States, this can be quite an eye opening experience as how well we have it in the good ole USA.
Carrying a large amount of cash across the border. You’re allowed to cross with up to $10,000 undeclared. We split the cash, I carried 1/2 and the wife carried 1/2. This way we were legal. We walked across the border just like hundreds of other older couples, we blended in and didn’t do anything to stand out. I was carrying my laptop computer, I didn’t carry the money in the laptop case, just in case the authorities wanted to take a look inside. Jose meet us at the corner just inside the crossing gate to drive us to the shop.
I believe crossing the border during week days would be less traffic.
I’m very happy with the work performed and highly recommend Navarros Shop for paint and body work needs. Review the photos. Most of these are on Navarros Shop Facebook page.