May 11th, 2019
This was possibly the simplest crossing I have seen yet.
This entire crossing should take 60-120 minutes, depending on the lines and speed.
You don't have to go back and forth ever. Dian and Migracion windows for Colombia, Migracion and Aduano for Ecuador. Simple!
Colombia
As you near the border, you may face traffic as 3 lanes merge into one. You will see an orange building ahead, and you need to veer to the right of it. All cars are forced into this lane. All of the parking ahead of this is private, and not for your use.
As you pass the orange building (this is Dian), you will see a little "official only" parking on the right. This is the only parking I saw, and I took it. I asked a money exchanger, and he said that is where to park. Don't worry...you wont be here long.
Directly across from the parking is the Dian window. Hand them your car permit, tell them you are leaving, with no return, and you are all set.
Now, you can go to immigration. This is the building directly on your right. Go to the south end of the building and enter under the white awnings. Get stamped for exit, and go back to your car to head to Ecuador...less than 15 minutes total.
Ecuador
Drive through 100 to 200 meters of no man's land, and veer to the right around the white building. Ideally, you can park right behind the building, but there are few spaces, so move slightly ahead and there is more parking across the street (on the east side of the building)
First stop is immigration on the North side of the building. There are now 2 lines. One for Venezuelans, and one for all others. Exit and Entry are the same line. Look for the sign separating the 2, or you could stand in the Venezuelan line for a long time before you see the spilt. Immigration was only a 20 minute wait for me on a Saturday.
Once you are stamped, make sure they wrote the number of allowed days on your stamp...if not, Aduano will send you back. This happened to me, and slowed me down.
Proceed to the Aduano window, this is also on the north side of the building. They wanted title, registration, passport, license. No copies of anything...can you believe it? No copies?? They asked to go out and take pics of my plate and VIN...did not look in car. If there is no line, this will take about 10-15 minutes. Unfortunately, I had bad timing, and there was a very slow line. However, when I finally reached the window, there was no line at all behind me, so wish for luck on your timing. After you get your car permit, you are free to go on to Ecuador. There was no checkpoint just down the road to check papers.
I was not asked to get car insurance for Ecuador. Nor was I asked for it later on at checkpoints.
Now, enjoy $1.85 gasoline, and the best roads you have seen in a long time!