The Expert Podcast

Here's another video in our series about vehicle title fraud. A lot of times, it's difficult to get titles for vehicles that are gray market or imported vehicles. Some of these vehicles are JDM vehicles, like the Nissan Skyline and some of the other desirable cars that come out of Japan. The Japanese kei trucks are an example, but it could be any kind of vehicle that was originally not manufactured for the US market that is desirable because it's something that's unique, something that people want to have and they don't sell them here. The problem is getting it imported and titled. There is a 25-year exemption for importation, but that may not solve title problems. Sometimes, if the vehicle's newer than 25 years, there are loopholes used to try to get around that. Well, if you use these loopholes, you run the risk of having some legal problems.

This is an example where there was a company called Soho Imports allegedly defrauding customers by selling these JDM cars with fake titles and import documents. How does that work and why does that need to happen? Well, a lot of times, these cars won't pass through customs, even if it's outside the 25-year exemption. If the vehicle doesn't have certain proper documentation or paperwork, it still won't get through. If it's newer than 25 years, it has to match certain criteria, like having airbags, anti-lock brakes, that kind of thing. So a lot of times, what sellers will do is fake the import documents and supply that to the DMV.

DMV sometimes will change the year to make it look like it's older than 25 years. We talked to a client today; one of our salespeople mentioned that it was a customer who was trying to title a VW Beetle that was manufactured in Mexico up until the mid-2000s, but they stopped making it for the US market, I believe in the late '70s or early '80s. But they're desirable because they're cheap little cars, they run well, and they're easy to work on. This person had a couple that he could buy out of the Southwest, but there were title problems, and they couldn't get through customs. So, one of the things he read and was told was, "Well, if you just call it a 1978, you can get it through." The problem is the VIN number and the dates on all the parts are not going to match that, so you have to be very careful if you're misrepresenting any documents to any government agency.

This is what happened to these people in Florida. Allegedly, they faked titles and faked import documents, and now they're on probation. They accepted a plea deal, but they could have gotten into a lot more trouble. So, if you're thinking of getting a vehicle through importation, make sure you do all the paperwork properly. Make sure you represent things properly, because if it ever turns out later that any of the representations were incorrect or any of the information you provided was incorrect, remember, you're signing it at the bottom. It says, "under penalty of perjury," and you don't want that to blow up in your face.

There are legal ways to do this. It might take a little more work, it might take a little more effort, and it might take a little more time. But if you do it the right way, you're not going to run the risk of having your title revoked and then maybe running into some legal problems later.

If you like this video, be sure to click on a few others on our channel to see if there's other information that might be helpful to you about this same subject or maybe even other related subjects that could assist you with the resolution of your issue.