Market Thrives in Mexico for Cars Smuggled From the U.S.

Black market vehicles are a better deal for drivers

Auto vendor Alejandro Villalobos parked a green 2002 Toyota Sequoia with 90,000 miles outside a shuttered supermarket which doubles as a used car lot one day a week.

Villalobos priced the SUV at 110,000 pesos—roughly $8,500—and wrote a single word on the windshield: "Legalized."

Mexico has about 6 million imported cars on its roads—vehicles not made to be sold in the Mexican market—and many are used cars and trucks that are simply driven over the border from the United States and not registered here legally.