El Paso Auto Dealer Bond— $50,000 GDN for the Border Market

No. Every Texas GDN dealer posts the same $50,000 surety bond under Texas Transportation Code Section 503.033, for the same 2-year term, regardless of city. What changes in El Paso is where your paperwork lands: applications route through TxDMV eLICENSING same as anywhere in the state, but in-person and drop-off matters go through the TxDMV El Paso Regional Service Center at 1227 Lee Trevino, Suite 100, rather than a Dallas or Houston office. The bond instrument, the obligee, and the statute are identical statewide.

Yes, but the timing is federal, not TxDMV. Under 19 CFR Section 192.2, anyone exporting a used self-propelled vehicle across a land border must submit the VIN and proof of ownership to U.S. Customs and Border Protection at least 72 hours before the export, and present the vehicle to CBP at the time of crossing. Skip that window and CBP can hold the vehicle at the bridge. This is separate from your GDN bond and separate from the Texas title transfer you already handle at sale — build the 72-hour lead time into any deal where the buyer tells you the car is headed to Mexico.

Generally no, but only if you document it correctly. Texas Comptroller Form 14-312 (Motor Vehicle Sales Tax Exemption Certificate for Vehicles Taken Out of State) is what supports the exemption, and it is governed by 34 Texas Administrative Code Section 3.90 — not the general tangible-property import/export rule some dealers reach for. Section 3.90 requires you to accept a fully completed certificate in good faith and keep it on file for four years; the buyer also can't register or use the vehicle in Texas beyond driving it out of state. A blank field or a certificate you never actually collected does not survive a Comptroller audit. For a cross-border sale specifically, pair the 14-312 with a title stamped "FOR EXPORT ONLY" under your dealer P-number, since that paperwork is what travels with the vehicle at the bridge.

Not by itself. On Form 130-U (the Texas title application every dealer files), Box 15 accepts a U.S. or foreign government-issued driver's license or ID, a U.S. or foreign passport, or a U.S. military or federal ID — but a matricula consular card alone does not satisfy that requirement. If your buyer's only photo ID is a matricula consular, Texas title practice requires adding a second registered owner to the title who holds an acceptable form of ID. This comes up often enough in El Paso's cross-border buyer pool that it is worth checking at the desk, before the deal is written up, rather than after.

It is not a walk-in title-and-registration counter for dealers. TxDMV's regional service centers, including El Paso, handle dealer and title-service-company transactions by drop-off, phone, mail, email, fax, and online submission — dealers and their runners are not eligible to book the appointment slots that individual consumers use at that office. If your team is used to walking documents to the counter, plan for the drop-off workflow instead, especially around GDN renewal deadlines when volume backs up.

No, and this is a common point of confusion. Vehicles that cross into El Paso on Mexican plates under a temporary import permit are not part of any El Paso dealer's inventory and are not covered by, or a risk to, your $50,000 GDN bond. Your bond secures only the vehicles you title and sell as a licensed Texas dealer — floorplan inventory, retail sales, and the title-transfer conduct on those specific transactions. Cross-border personal travel through the Bridge of the Americas or the Ysleta-Zaragoza Bridge is a separate federal and Mexican customs matter that never touches your bond.