The Expert Podcast

We deal with a lot of Import and Export Brokers for cars and motor vehicles, and a lot of times, they're frustrated with all the paperwork you have to do to export a vehicle. You might be thinking, why is there paperwork to export a vehicle? I thought Customs was only concerned about importing and cars coming into the country.

Well, that's true for the most part. I mean, if you're importing a container full of bananas, they want to make sure there's no spiders in it, no snakes, or no disease. If you're exporting bananas, they really don't care. But vehicles are different because when you export a vehicle, you might also be causing harm if it's a stolen vehicle or has liens on it.

Motor Vehicles are one exception in the export process where that type of commodity is scrutinized more by CBP (Customs and Border Protection). The reason they do it is to make sure that stolen vehicles aren't leaving the country—and many times, they are. It used to be that if you stole a vehicle, you could either change the VIN number and drive it around. Well, you can't do that anymore. They changed those laws back in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Or, you could do a chop shop and just sell off all the parts. But they changed those laws in the ‘90s and 2000s, where now parts are tracked.

So now, when people steal vehicles, what they do is ship them overseas to another country. They put the car in a container, surround it with a bunch of stuff—maybe mattresses, furniture, or who knows what—to try to hide it. The key to these smugglers is getting the car out of the country because you can send it to Africa, Europe, or South America. Now, you have a car that you can sell for full value because they’re not going to really check the stolen records.

This is the reason why paperwork is a little trickier when exporting vehicles now. Authorities are making sure stolen cars or cars with liens don’t leave the country. A lot of times, people will buy a car under a straw buyer name at a dealership with a lien on it. They don’t really pay any money for the car—maybe just a $500 down payment. They get a loan for the car and then export it overseas. Once the car is gone, they stop paying the loan, and now they have a free car in another country.

The crackdown is making it harder to do paperwork for export vehicles. A lot of the cars that come out of Copart or AAA have "export only" on them. Many export brokers now have to do more title work because vehicles are being hidden in shipping containers. Customs will x-ray these containers, and if they see something that looks like a vehicle, they'll pop it open to make sure it has been declared properly with the right VIN number.

So, if you have a vehicle that's "export only" or you're trying to export one, make sure you have all the right title paperwork. If you need help with that, you can click the link below. We even have title consultations if you want to talk to a certified title agent about handling all this paperwork. You can find that at the website below as well.

If you liked this video, be sure to check out a few others on our channel. You might find more helpful information about this topic or other related subjects that could assist you in resolving your issue.