I just spoke to a guy that is selling diesel for close to a dollar under market here. He says his brother drives a semi back and forth to Mexico daily and brings in an extra 120 gallons a day. However, he says that all diesel from Mexico is red. Anyone familiar with this?
I think I'd be pretty careful mainly cause of the taxes, if it's bootleg diesel there could be some pretty stiff fines if caught.
It's dyed RED because it is for agricultural use only-it's tax evasion if you get caught using it on a US Highway. FWIW
I'm not advocating tax evasion but....how many private coaches do you know of that have had the tanks dipped?
Highway fuel in Mexico is red not clear even the low sulfur fuel we ship over from here in the USA,fwiw Texas requires you pay taxes on it if bringing into the state in a tank and AZ is going to start, but you can bring back all you can hold in the fuel tanks on your vehicle for no taxes just no tanks in the back of a pickup.Keep you receipt when filling up there and it won't be a problem here in the US.They stick my tank they will find 250 gals of red fuel from Mexico but I have a receipt for it .The Mexicans are the ones getting upset about Americans buying the cheap fuel but like anything else over there 20 bucks and go on your way
I've purchased perhaps a thousand gallons of diesel in Mexico over the last two years, and none of it was red. So I haven't a clue where that rumor has started. Why would Pemex go to the trouble to put dye in road fuel?
If some guy is selling red diesel out of a can, it's off-road fuel, plain and simple. And using it for road purposes is criminal. By contrast, bringing Mexican road fuel into the country, subject to your personal exemption, is not.
FWIW.
-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com
Buy it now Sean it will be red
Sean just bought Mexican Diesel within the past few days-so I think he knows that it isn't red. Good Luck, TomC
Long way to go (Fl to Mexico) for a tank !!!!!!
TomC: we just delivered 3 loads of heavy eletrical equipment 93 tons each to Hidalgo del Parral in Mexico and if Sean bought clear fuel in Mexico in the last few days he bought untaxed fuel. None we bought there was clear, you work for ShakyLiner look at one of the Mexcians trucks that come in for service and see what color the fuel is RED FWIW have a great evening
I don't know if anything has changed recently, but it seems from web postings that Mexican fuel near California is red. Is it possible they do not dye it in some other areas?
Lin; it is red everywhere in Mexico now for highway use we paid Mexican taxes on 385 gals of clear fuel that was in our trucks when we entered Mexico
good night all
Quote from: quantum500 on September 13, 2008, 06:36:21 PM
I'm not advocating tax evasion but....how many private coaches do you know of that have had the tanks dipped?
You do not have to be stopped and have your tank dipped. If you developed a fuel leak or are involved in an accident that causes a fuel leak, you are still caught and still guilty.
Since we purchased our bus in Oct./99 we have used 6418.9 gallons of diesel. With a road tax of approx. .50, that means we would have save $3209.45. That is over a period of almost 9 years (356.60/year). One fine would be more than that. For us not worth it. YMMV, Jack
wonder what the tax man would do if somebody had the European fuel in their tanks some of it is yellow or brown,Venezuela fuel is purple for highway use and for FWIW you can use red fuel here as long as the road tax has been paid and you can prove it, Our supplier put 9000 gals of red fuel in our tanks by mistake a year ago and it caused us no problems because we paid the road tax
Quote from: makemineatwostroke on September 13, 2008, 09:34:25 PM
... if Sean bought clear fuel in Mexico in the last few days he bought untaxed fuel. None we bought there was clear ...
Umm, Mexican diesel is subsidized by the government, so it is actually ALL untaxed. There are some minor exceptions; Sonora and Baja, for example, have 10% state taxes, and it is possible that some stations there are selling dyed fuel.
As Tom points out, I just purchased 300 gallons in Tamaulipas within the past month. It is not dyed, and it came from a standard road fuel dispenser on the truck islands at a Pemex. I've also purchased fuel in Chihuahua (the state where Hidalgo del Parral is located) within the past few months, and it was not dyed either.
The Mexican fuel distribution system, which is nationalized, does not have the concept of different tax structures for on and off road use. So there is absolutely no need for dye, nor can I imagine in my wildest dreams the Mexicans wanting to spend the money to dye fuel or to keep track of separate fuels.
All that being said, understand that Mexico does import refined fuel from the US, particularly in border regions. Yes, Mexico is one of the world's largest oil exporters, and the US does import both crude and refined oil from them, but the system of refining and delivering motor fuels is complex (I've posted about this before, when the idea to "boycott" certain fuel brands comes up periodically), and so fuel crosses the border in both directions.
I would definitely not put it past regulators in some states to mandate that US diesel being shipped to Mexico be dyed, to ensure it does not get sold surreptitiously in-country as motor fuel. And the Mexicans wouldn't care about the dye, since there is no concept there of any difference.
So I am not denying that you've purchased diesel in Mexico that happens to be dyed. But the sweeping statement made earlier that "Highway fuel in Mexico is red not clear" is simply not universally true, and, in fact,
most diesel in Mexico is undyed.
-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com
Sean, there is a tax for Ameican truckers in Mexico I don't know if there is one for the Mexican truckers or not but I know for a fact entering Texas from Mexico you pay taxes on anything over 120 gals in a truck
Guys, all I know is that I have over 200 gals of red fuel in my bus from Mexico with a receipt stating the date,mileage and cost and was told by the guy at Pemex that I need to have it because of the red fuel
Clifford; you bought the ULSD fuel they have 2 grades of fuel the ULSD is dyed red and it all comes from the US 67 million gals so far this year have a great day
Quote from: makemineatwostroke on September 14, 2008, 06:40:43 AM
Sean, there is a tax for Ameican truckers in Mexico I don't know if there is one for the Mexican truckers or not but I know for a fact entering Texas from Mexico you pay taxes on anything over 120 gals in a truck
The cross-border commercial regs, in both directions, are byzantine, to say the least. I make no pretense to understanding all of them, as I do not drive commercially. Just to be clear, my earlier comments (regarding in-tank fuel within the "personal" exemption) were meant to include only private, non-commercial use, which would include most of us here on this board.
Quote from: makemineatwostroke on September 14, 2008, 08:13:43 AM
... the ULSD is dyed red and it all comes from the US 67 million gals so far this year ...
OK, now this makes sense, and is consistent with what I wrote in my earlier post about US fuel sent to Mexico.
Do you happen to know if there is a deliberate intent, in Mexico, to have ULSD be dyed (just to keep it from being confused with LSD), or is this merely the consequence of the ULSD being sent from the US, whereas the (much more common) normal LSD fuel is refined domestically?
I know that ULSD availability in Mexico has been very thin outside of the BC border zone, where they have been trying to make it available to facilitate cross-border trips from newer US trucks. We've never taken on any ULSD in Mexico, because we tend to avoid the border zone whenever possible, and we prefer regular LSD for our two-stroke anyway.
-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com
Isn't a consequence of using LSD with the new CJ-4 oil that oil must be changed about twice as often?
I haven't seen LSD locally since shortly after the changeover, but I have had the opportunity to still get LSD at some Flying J truck stops. I choose to buy ULSD of the oil issue and because of the hassle of using the truck lanes. The RV pumps at Flying J are pay at pump and no credit card surcharge. My credit card still gives me 5% cash back at any gas station. It is worth it to me to spend an extra 10 minutes fueling at the slower pumps.
Thank you Cole and Sean I did not know about 2 different types of fuel next time I will buy the other for my 8V92
These last posts bring me back to a question I had a while ago. I mentioned that I seemed to be getting more power out of my 8v71 and wondered if different fuel could make the difference. The first fuel was purchased in the truck lane at a Pilot. The refill that seemed to give the improvement was from a local gas station. Is the fuel at the truck lanes usually LSD, or is it something that you would need to look for? Would they have a lane of it that I could have stopped at unknowingly?
Quote from: luvrbus on September 14, 2008, 09:02:10 AM
Thank you Cole and Sean I did not know about 2 different types of fuel next time I will buy the other for my 8V92
In Mexico, my guess is that any given Pemex will have one or the other, but not both. Generally, they have only one diesel storage tank per station. So to find regular (LSD) diesel, you might have to move away from the border zone, or possible even out of Baja (Fonatur is making a big push to have ULSD throughout Baja, as the lack of it is impacting RV tourism -- many folks afraid to run their newer diesels on higher-sulfur fuel).
Here in the US, availability of LSD varies by state, brand, and station. In California, for example, it is flat illegal to sell anything else, so all road diesel there is ULSD. Eventually, it will be illegal in the rest of the US, too. At the moment, however, it is still legal in many states. Whether a given station sells it usually depends on whether or not they have more than one storage tank, with separate dispenser plumbing. Many Flying-J stations, for example, offer a choice -- look on the canopy above the truck lanes to see which lane is which.
We don't worry too much about getting a tankfull of ULSD; it's impossible to avoid in many places, and I have great faith in the chemical engineering that's been done to deal with the potential side-effects. However, when we have the choice, we go for the higher-sulfur option, because (1) it's usually cheaper, when there is a price difference, (2) the long-term effects of the process to remove the sulfur, which lowers the lubricity of the fuel (which then gets a special additive package to restore the lubricity) are not yet fully known, and (3) there is a potential fuel-mileage reduction (which we, as yet, have not been able to confirm personally) when using the ULSD blend.
-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com