Moving to Mexico means leaving some things behind and with restrictions on importing your own car it might seem much easier just to buy a car here. You also might think that used stores would be popular in Mexico due to the economy and cost ratio of things compared to what people make. This could not be further from the truth. The truth is, it is hard to buy used items in Mexico. Many things are used until they are totally worn out. What things are sold a second time are often offered at a high price. So you have to keep this in mind when looking around for a car, clothes or furniture. The good news is that when you go to sell things used, you can get a good return on your investment.
Buying a used car in Playa Del Carmen
Before you start looking for a car, let us give you some tips.
- Tip #1 You should check to see if the car is stolen by entering the information in this handy government website here.
- Tip #2 Make sure the current owner has the original receipt, called a “factura”.
- Tip#3 Usually the cheaper the car the worse care it got. Car maintenance is not great in Mexico and you will see some sad looking cars going around. People that have a car that is worth more generally have the money to take care of it as well.
- Tip #4 Since there is not a lot of comparable sales it might be hard to know what is a good price for the vehicle you are looking at. Looking at some national sites for used cars and making a list of cars you like with the price, year and millage will help to estabish a value. You also can online to a car sales website in the US and get a general idea what that year and make go for, of course used cars tend to be cheaper in the US.
These are just some tips for you. Make sure you know all the legal requirement for making an auto purchase.
See our article on what is the best car to have in Mexico. This is just an interesting look to see what cars are popular here and what brands can get repaired easily.
Where to find used cars
Many people ask where to find used cars for sale. There are not a lot of used car lots and often you will see people driving around with a “$” sign on the car with a phone number but that can be hard to track down what you are looking for.
It is very traditional to park in a shopping center or grocery store parking lot to sell you car. After all, they have great visibility there. Sundays are the most popular days to go to the parking lots to see what is available. At the Bodega supermarket on Colosio Avenue there are usualy about 20 vehicles parked there. Aki supermarket and Mega in the center of Playa will have about 5-10 cars parked there at one time. There is a used auto lot on the highway near Calle 3 sur. It is next to the Tele Bodega Store. There are about 20 cars here at a time.
You can go to dealerships on the 307 highway to see what they have. Usually the selection is not as large as a dealership north of the boarder. We like the Toyota used car selection on the very south end of town past Liverpool department store but there are very limited amount of vehicles. Dealships usually on have the past two years of models and you will pay a premium for these used cars but maybe will get a warrantee.
Cancun has an auto market on Sunday for used cars. This market is by the stadium at the intersections of Avenida Kabah and Avenida Coba. You will see many from other parts of Mexico there. Vehicles tend to be cheaper in other parts of the country. If you are looking for something specific it might be worth a trip here but really you should be able to find something for sale you like in Playa Del Carmen without making the trip to Cancun.
See the online resources below for searching online for a car.
Where to buy second hand clothes and furniture
There is one good place for clothes in Playa Del Carmen. It is the Segunda Vida Consignment Boutique. This store was started by an American woman that saw the need for such a store. Here you can find men’s and women’s clothes and also small household items. Prices are reasonable and you never know what you might find. In addition to buying things here, if you have things you want to sell you can set up an account to receive some money for things you don’t use (see store for details). The store has a new location. It is on 30th Avenue between 32nd and 34th Streets. It is open Monday -Saturday 9:00am-9:00pm and Sundays 12:00 noon-6:00pm.
A very local option to get used clothes and some new cheap clothes is on Sundays at the market on 54th and 56th Streets between 10th Avenue and 30th Avenue. Here you will see lots of plastic tarps spread out to block the sun and piles of clothes or hanging up. There are some household items and tools here as well but most things are low end here or knock-off designer clothes.
For furniture, one of the best options for a store is Bazar De Remate on 35th Avenue between 2nd Street and 4th Street. This large warehouse gets things from remodeled hotels to personal items. There is usually some restaurant equipment and furniture here.
Since used furniture is hard to come by, you might want to read our furniture guide to Playa here.
Other online sources for used items
http://www.mercadolibre.com.mx/ This is a website for all of Mexico and in Spanish. It have everything listed from cars to clothes.
www.autoplaza.com.mx This a website for autos only and is for all of Mexico and in Spanish.
http://www.andale.mx/ This website has everything for sale and is more local for things just in Playa Del Carmen
http://www.vivanuncios.com.mx/ This is a online sales site for all of Mexico.
Do you have some tips for buying used cars or items in Playa Del Carmen? Please share with us in the comment section below.
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Thanks for this interesting read.
Thank you for listing where to buy used cars. The websites and locations in Playa del Carmen were helpful After about 4 months of looking around we found a good car for here. Thanks for the tips.
Thanks for your comment. We are glad you found a good used car here. It can be a daunting task and the parking lots where they have cars is always moving around as grocery stores decide to ask them to move. Good luck with your car and we hope you have sun exploring with it.
I stopped by that used furniture place on 35th Avenue but find their prices pretty high for what is there. I only fins something every once in a while there. They don’t have much new stuff coming in. Getting used furniture is hard and almost better just to buy new stuff. I try to make some furniture so it last longer.
We agree with you that buying used furniture is hard here. the Bazar on 35th Avenue is good for restaurant equipment and when you hit it right, sometimes they get a large shipment of things in from a hotel renovating.
Thanks for the list of all the websites for used cars. This is a good collection of resources. It is hard to search in Spanish and I have been looking and came across your article. Very useful.
Thanks for the furniture guide to Playa because I thought it would be easier to find used stuff here in Playa. I found a good futon that looks like amodern sofa at Walmart and hada local craft guide makesome large picture frames for me. I am still looking for a good welder to make some table bases for me. Do you guys know anyone?
We are glad you are finding some alternative sources for furniture and making some of your own. We know a welder on who works out of a garage on 6th Street and we will send you his number to your email once we get it.
Thanks for the information on the thrift store in Playa Del Carmen. I never new there was one here. The airline lost one of our bags that had the beach towels. We went to the thrift store and got some nice big ones for our trip. Our bag got delivered to us but at least we did not miss a day at the beach. We can not stock up the condo here with towels we brought and the ones we got here. The woman was nice there too. I think her name is Cindy.
Yes, Cindy is the owner and works in the store. She had the concept and it has worked here. The merchandise cycles through there pretty fast so you never know what you will find. We have seen towels and sheets in there and always thing about whether we need them or not. Glad you are finding everything in Playa Del Carmen.
I am looking for a used car now. What are some of the most common cars there that can get fixed? I have a friend that has a SEAT car which is a VW but has to go to Cancun to do maintenance since that is where the warranty is supposed to be done.
Hello. There is a little bit of a different car market here in Playa Del Carmen. We did write an article about what is the best car to have here and we talked about repairs and models that people like. Here is a link: https://everythingplayadelcarmen.com/what-is-the-best-car-to-have-in-playa/ If you have any other questions, feel free to ask us. We hope you find a good used car.
I have been looking for a used car in Playa for a while but never knew about the government website to lookup the car for more information. Thanks for this. Good job with the site too! Great info.
I checked out the auto tiangas on the highway on the south end of town. There are a decent selection of used cars and trucks there. I think that might be the best one in Playa Del Carmen right now.
I recently bought a used car after searching around. I used the websites mentioned in this article. The on tip I have for other readers is look around and kind of compare prices. There is no bluebook values here and it can be hard to establish a base price. I looked on some website and if the car was listed several times, sometimes it was showed it listed at a higher price and the owners only made a new ad for it. It told me that people did not sell it right away and they were just testing the waters to see if they could get a higher price. Many people ask the most and this is one area you have to negotiate. Definitely take a mechanic with you to look over the car. The weather here can take a toll on a car and even if it was parked close to the ocean, the salt will effect it more. Try to see where the people parked the car too. If they have a carport and it was shaded from the sun, the plastic and interior will not have so much fading. Good luck everyone looking for a car. It took me a while but I like my car now!
Thanks Kelly! Your personal comments are very helpful to people searching for a used car here in Playa Del Carmen. We are happy you found a good car here. Thanks for reading the website and commenting. We love to hear personal feedback from readers.
Do you know if they have used children’s clothes at Segunda Vida thrift store? Thanks
They did in the past but they did not have a big market. They just carry adult clothes now and small household items. There is a small store on Constituyentes Avenue between 30th Ave and 35th on the south side of the street that has some children’s items. We will add it to this article for you and others looking. Thank you for your question and reading the site.
I just got back from Merida where I was car shopping. There are so many more options there mainly because it is a large city. Since the city is more inland there is less issues with salt on used cars. Merida is about 3 hour drive from here and I spent the night. I looked online and set up a few appointments before going. I spent the day looking at vehicles and getting the mechanic to check them out and then I bought one. I am pretty pleased because here I was looking for some colors and models that I wanted and it was very limited.
I went to Cancun to look for a car and found it all a little imtimadating and confusing. Not only is it one time a week, there were lots of guys standing around and what looked like guys making a day of it like it was a tailgate party. There were a lot of cars from other states in Mexico and it made me weary of trying to buy a used car that is from somewhere else. I like taking my time and doing my research.
I wanted to give a short warning about people buying used cars in Mexico. Many come here on tourist visas and try to buy a car. It is possible but the trouble comes the second year you go to renew your registration. You need to be a resident and you will get stuck in red tape. Do things according to the law and you don’t have problems! People think Mexico is the wild west but it is not. Things are regulated and many of the stories about people having trouble with immigration or buying property is because they did not learn the process and do things right. If you are going to live in Mexico, become a visa holder that say you do. There are benefits and privileges and registering a car is one of them. Take the unknowns out of your life and do things right or it will come back to bite you.
I looked online for used furniture on some of the websites. Stuff was so expensive that I decided to go to office max here in Playa Del Carmen and just buy my stuff for my office there. People either think stuff is worth gold or people will haggle down the price so they start so high. Don’t people know they sell NEW stuff for the same price or cheaper?
Do anyone have a good recommendation for a mechanic that I can take a used car to or hire to take with me to look at cars?
It is nice Playa Del Carmen has a thrift store. I thought it was weird that most Mexicans don’t know what one is or that they don’t buy used clothes. This one will have to show what they have been missing. I have found so many thrift store finds over the years.
I have been looking for furniture and used stuff to make some furniture for a rental property so I am glad to hear about the place on 35th Avenue that sells used stuff from hotels. Your site has been a great resource to me since moving here, Great Job!
Hello Gil. We are happy to be of help to you. If you ever need anything you do not find on the site, feel free to post a comment or send us an email and we will try to find out the answer to your question. Thanks for reading the site.
I am so glad to hear there is a thrift store in Playa. I have some clothes to see and love to buy some new ones.
I have been to Playa Del Carmen before and am thinking of moving down next summer. Your site has helped me prepare and think about what I need to bring and where I can replace dome of my furniture I will leave behind. Thanks.
I like the fact that the thrift store has towels sometimes. It is a good place to get some.
I bought some construction supplies from the bazar on 35th Avenue near 2nd street a while back. It was a great find. It is totally random what you find there and hard to find a great deal but worth a shot to look at it. I wish there were more second hand places in Playa Del Carmen.
Great tips on websites. I have been looking around at places to buy a used car. I just bought one and am happy. I will say it was a little nerve wracking but made it and got a decent car in the end.
I have heard that there is a store in Cancún that also sells used furnishings from hotels. Do you have any info about that?
We don’t know if any store in Cancun. We have seen one used furniture store near the intersection of 180 and Avenida Bonampak bit it did look pretty junky.