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Vehicles armored all over


Insecurities, rash of kidnappings turn Tijuana business into growth industry
By Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
June 25, 2006

TIJUANA – The waiting room of Tijuana's longest-running car-armoring business showcases a series of multipane glass sheets that have been shot at with assault rifles.

The glass has been distorted, and cracks emanate in a flower pattern from the point of impact. But the still-intact pieces – composed of layers of thick, reinforced glass – are a strong sell to potential customers who have the $50,000 or more required to armor their car.

In the three years since Carlos Guerrero's Total Shield-Blindado Seguro factory opened, business has grown substantially, mostly through word of mouth, among an elite border clientele fearful of abductions.

“About 20 percent of people who come here have been victims themselves,” Guerrero said. “They tell me about what happened to them, and I start to feel like a psychologist. . . . They feel insecure and they come here looking for security.”

Security comes in the form of 900 to 1,300 pounds of glass and steel plates and a range of other accessories his company offers, such as a pepper-spray system to delay attackers and a nail-throwing mechanism to puncture tires.

Barometer of insecurity
The demand for this kind of protection is symptomatic of the problems faced by border communities in Mexico where kidnappings seem to take place on a weekly basis though many cases aren't reported to authorities.

Some of these abductions are motivated by purely monetary gain, and others are related to drug-trafficking groups vying for power or settling scores.

Guerrero said he can't discriminate because his clients don't share such details. He doesn't ask probing questions, he said, because his business is built on security and confidentiality.

“One doesn't ask what they do for a living as long as they can pay for the car,” he said.

He won't say who some of his better-known clients are. In general terms, Guerrero said he has done work for wealthy businessmen and their families, factory owners, police administrators and government officials. They include U.S. and Mexican citizens.

His business is, in a sense, a barometer of the city's insecurity. The factory armors about 90 cars a year now, and his work force has grown from nine to 28.

The day after Baja California's public security director Manuel Díaz Lerma escaped an attempt on his life in April that included hundreds of shots and a grenade lobbed at his armored convoy, Guerrero said business inquiries increased by about 30 percent.


Expanding across border
Guerrero has noted another trend: More wealthy Tijuana residents are moving to San Diego for safety. He said he is planning to open an Otay Mesa showroom in upcoming months.

In Mexico, his factory has drawn clients from across northwestern Mexico. For years, these residents had to look far away to find a car-armoring factory, to places such as Texas or the Mexican state of Monterrey, Guerrero said.

Total Shield-Blindado Seguro is a family business that started in Mexico City. Before opening the Tijuana plant, Guerrero, who runs stores in Tijuana that provide car alarms and other home security products, sent referrals to his family's plant in Mexico's interior.

The factory in Tijuana initially was geared toward maintaining already-armored cars, and that provided about 60 percent of his business. Over time, he started to focus more on installing armor in new cars. That is now the bulk of the factory's business.

Guerrero said the Tijuana factory has become specialized in armoring cars that can withstand attack from assault rifles.

In Mexico City, he said, most of the business comes from protecting cars from robbers who use smaller-caliber guns to break windows and grab purses. Cars there are more typically armored with what is called Level Three glass in Mexico. It is 21 millimeters thick and can withstand attacks from firearms as powerful as a .357-caliber Magnum pistol, Guerrero said.

In Tijuana and other border cities where crime is different, his company recommends at least a Level Four glass, which can resist an attack from an AK-47, he said.

Level Five glass, which is 40 millimeters thick, resists all types of assault rifles, including firearms more powerful than an AK-47, such as AR-15s, Guerrero said.

The level scale is based on Mexico's armored industry standards and isn't consistent with other countries' standards, Guerrero said.

Sustained gunfire eventually will puncture even the most armored car, he said, but the higher level glass provides more time for people to escape to safety.

Word of mouth
The car-armoring industry in Mexico is growing in collaboration with car dealerships and with the growth of credit and loan programs in Mexico for people without the cash on hand to armor their car, Guerrero said.
Alma Cabanillas, sales manager at Tijuana's Agencia Sema Automotriz, said the company has been putting clients in touch with Guerrero for about a year But the auto dealership is taking a low-key approach to what can be considered a sensitive matter.

“We are adapting to the market,” Cabanillas, said. “If the client comes in and asks for this, then we provide them with the information, but we aren't promoting this with a massive campaign.”

The agency allows Guerrero to display his armored cars, she said, which often draws questions.

Representatives with the Tijuana Chamber of Commerce and other car industry groups weren't familiar with any other car-armoring factory in Tijuana. Guerrero said another company tried to get started last year, but it didn't last long. The car-armoring industry relies heavily on word of mouth, he said, in particular when an armored car saves someone's life.

“So much of this is built on recommendations since this is a community where all the business people know each other,” he said, though he also has set up an English-Spanish Web site: .

Guerrero typically sets up appointments with potential clients at his office to preserve their anonymity. Walk-ins are discouraged, and the factory, which is in an inconspicuous neighborhood near the bus station, is set up with a security system.

Inside, workers scurry about, checking recent shipments of plated glass to make sure they aren't dented and cutting away at pieces of cars to replace the interior with steel and polyethylene, a tough plastic reinforcement. Most of the parts are imported. Their work is punctuated with grinding machinery noises and flying sparks.

Guerrero considers his workers artisans. So much of what makes a car so secure, he said, is the touch of the delicate human hand.

“Armoring a car requires craftsmanship,” he said. “This is not a job in which a machine puts everything in place. It's a very artistic and laborious process.”

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Anna Cearley: (619) 542-4595; anna.cearley@uniontrib.com