12v refrigerators to keep in car

[flexible Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close flexible]

Has anyone purchased a small refrigerator or found some good sites for reviews.

We met someone with the 40 quart Coleman Refrigerator plugged into his 12 volt in his car. He paid $88 at Walmart for it. It looks like Walmart ships them to your home (and maybe w/o shipping charges). Amazon.com also has similar refrigerators. Koolatron 36 Quart 12V Cooler looks good too.

We are driving a 2000 Saturn to leave in Mexico this season and getting a small refrigerator sounds great. Then we don't need to carry an ice chest or get ice when we change timeshare units. We'll be on the road for six months then leave the refrigerator in the car when we store it in Mexico.

[Fern Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fern]

When you enter Mexico you will be given a permit to affix to your car's window. You MUST have this if your car ever leaves Mexico. Why do I mention this? Because if you need to replace a windshield, make sure to break off the piece of glass with the permit and keep it for the authorities. Otherwise you'll have a lot of heartache.

Are you going to be in Mexico with a single or multiple (180 day) FM-T? Or will you be applying for a FM-1 at some point? If you are applying for FM-1, there are places online which will outline the steps you need to take.

Fern

[flexible Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close flexible]

When you enter Mexico you will be given a permit to affix to your car's window. You MUST have this if your car ever leaves Mexico. Why do I mention this? Because if you need to replace a windshield, make sure to break off the piece of glass with the permit and keep it for the authorities. Otherwise you'll have a lot of heartache.

Are you going to be in Mexico with a single or multiple (180 day) FM-T? Or will you be applying for a FM-1 at some point? If you are applying for FM-1, there are places online which will outline the steps you need to take.

Fern

My husband has driven to Mexico for the winter season for about 20 years. We met in 2006. We drove our 2007 Ford Escape in Mexico for six months in 2006/2007, 2008/2009 but have not been back since March 2009.

We've crossed via Nogales, AZ many times and once via Yuma, AZ. We are familiar with Mexican insurance requirements, getting a windshield authorization to drive our car into Mexico for six months, stop about 20-50 miles in to get tourist permits, pass the military inspections, go back through the Mexican military inspections, prove we are exiting with the same vehicle to the Mexican authorities just before the US border.

Unless the Mexican law has changed, we cannot leave a vehicle in Mexico for over six months unless we renew authorization at a Mexican border UNLESS the vehicle is over TEN years old. (I guess they don't want foreigners to selling vehicles to Mexicans thus avoiding import fees added to US cars available in Mexico.)

We'll be at a Hyatt Vacation Club in San Antonio the week before crossing in October 2010. We guess Brownsville is the best crossing although it looks like Laredo and a few other cities are en route from San Antonio. We prefer to avoid mountains from Texas to Cancun. The only times we won't be at resorts is Texas->Cancun; Chetemal->Belize->Chetemal->across the Pacific Coast about two weeks until we reach Acapulco then to PV & PV-MZT. Storing the car in Mazatlan making it easier to fly back to Mexico for winter vacations. We'll probably never bring it back to the U.S.

We've been told to avoid driving in Guatemala but the (Native?) rebels that terrorized the Southern area near the Mexico/Guatemala border are not currently a concern.

We've been advised about the procedures for various FM status levels but I need to review the details. We do not plan to move to Mexico permanently. We will probably be in Mexico under 180 days each time assuming crossing in/out of Belize starts the clock fresh with Mexico regarding our tourist status. Do we need a certain FM status to even consider licensing the car in Mexico.

We have been using Mexico Bob in Nogales, AZ for insurance in Mexico. They told us they can insure us for the first 180 days when we drive the Saturn into Mexico but cannot sell future insurance policies if we do not bring the car back to a border within 180 days.

California will allow us to continue paying DMV to license a car we plan to leave in Mexico. Will keeping California plates on the car make it difficult to purchase auto insurance in Mexico in the future?

Do you have any idea if we might be "safer" to get Mexican license plates. Safer in the sense that the car is less likely to be broken into, attract banbitos/robbers. etc? I've only seen tourists in newer rental car vehicles. Maybe Mexican police are more suspicious of Americans with Mexican license plates who are not fluent in Spanish?

[antonette93 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close antonette93]

We do purchasing our new appliances like our new refrigerators. But we don't even try to purchase through online even reading the customer's review. Because you can only have a discrimination in reading such reviews. It is better if you will know the reviews of your family and friends about their experiences. That much better.

[idahodude Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close idahodude]

I have used a small 12V cooler. It works fine, but you need to run it for about an hour before it cools off adequately inside. It won't keep things frozen at all. You can purchase adapters to use with AC power to get it cooled off to start with, but it's a nice option to avoid using ice. Also, the cooling is related to the ambient temperature. I forget how much cooler it will get inside, but if it's in a 120 degree car, then it's not going to be terribly cool.

[davhu1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close davhu1]

Those coolers can keep food 20-30 degrees below ambient. If you are traveling with ac on in you car, you will be ok but if you stop for any extensive time in 90+ weather meat will spoil. One way to keep meat from spoiling longer is to keep the meat (better is frozen) inside another cooler with freezer packs or ice.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

I've thought about it, but we don't take many long road trips. One thing of concern is power drain. If the power stays on when the engine is off, it could kill the battery and if the power goes off- so does the cooling. Perhaps dry ice would be a reasonable alternative.

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

We had a small powered cooler and figured the same thing as Tony, stop and it is draining power. I would hook a battery jump start unit to the car cig ligher power while traveling to charge it. I hooked the fridge up to the jump start unit. I pulled the plug from the car to the jump start when stopped so the fridge worked only off the jump start.

Jump start circuit board couldn't handle the power load from the car through the jump start to the fridge. It burned it up. No more jump start unit.