Customs destroy illegally imported LR Defender
- Thread starter eurosonic
- Start date
Antichrist
Expedition Leader
Are you a fan of people who know the law and try to scam the system, like the owner of the Defender did, thus making it harder for people who choose to follow the 25 year rule?
It's very unfortunate that the Defender is what suffered from the criminal activities, but so it goes. Hopefully the owner is out more than just the cost of the Defender.
And yeah, this video has been posted on all the Land Rover forums/sections, some multiple times.
Bennettbf
Observer
Thanks to jh for posting the links, I did miss them.
As for Antichrist (a great handle for a Georgian, btw), as I alluded in my original (but redundant) post, this isn't a safety issue. This has nothing to do with a battery not being securely held down and everything to do with the failure to pay a stiff import tax.
Like moonshine and fully-automatic weapons, they magically become safer once Uncle Sugar gets his cut.
I feel sorry for the CBP spokescritter for having to be so intellectually dishonest in his propoganda film - a 25 year old vehicle isn't as safe as an eight year old vehicle? Please.
As for Antichrist (a great handle for a Georgian, btw), as I alluded in my original (but redundant) post, this isn't a safety issue. This has nothing to do with a battery not being securely held down and everything to do with the failure to pay a stiff import tax.
Like moonshine and fully-automatic weapons, they magically become safer once Uncle Sugar gets his cut.
I feel sorry for the CBP spokescritter for having to be so intellectually dishonest in his propoganda film - a 25 year old vehicle isn't as safe as an eight year old vehicle? Please.
Antichrist
Expedition Leader
It has nothing to do with being as safe or not. The law says 25 years old (probably because most people want newer than 25 year old vehicles so that right there reduces the number of old ones on the road). I'm not saying that's good or bad, that's the law.
This specific vehicle wasn't destroyed because a tax (stiff or not) wasn't paid (there is no tax payment that allows you to import a newer than 25 year old vehicle that doesn't meet US laws).
It was because someone knew it was illegal to import a newer than 25 year old vehicle and did a VIN swap to get around the law.
This specific vehicle wasn't destroyed because a tax (stiff or not) wasn't paid (there is no tax payment that allows you to import a newer than 25 year old vehicle that doesn't meet US laws).
It was because someone knew it was illegal to import a newer than 25 year old vehicle and did a VIN swap to get around the law.
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Bennettbf
Observer
EricTyrrell
Expo God
Yes
Bennettbf
Observer
I'm just a simple country lawyer. When the CBP guy says it's about safety, I tend to take him at his word. And he did say it was about safety. A lot.
Click here for information from CBP on how to import your new foreign-built truck into the United States. Pay the 25% import tax and make sure that it is compliant with all the safety and emission regs of the last forty years and you're good to go.
These folks did this to get around the 25% tax. Yes, they broke the law. The law is dumb. CBP made this out to be a safety issue. It is not. And it is an insult for them to say that it is.
B
Crap. Now I'm involved in that flame war.
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jeffryscott
2006 Rally Course Champion: Expedition Trophy
You've answered your own question as to why this was destroyed, it isn't compliant with all the safety and emission regs of the last forty years. As a Land Rover fan, it made me sad to see the video, but circumventing the law in the various ways people have done over the years (whether you agree with said law or not) is probably not the best approach (as a lawyer i would think you would agree).
Not really. The law limiting imports to 25 years + has nothing to do with "safety". It was about preventing people from importing vehicles to save money, thereby hurting the dealers/manufactures. People were buying vehicles abroad and importing to save thousands of dollars. One of the primary backers was Mercedes.
To put it into logical terms - why would a 25+ year old vehicle be more "safe" than a 10, 15, 20, etc vehicle? The answer is it isn't - but a newer vehicle is more likely to be imported = loss to dealers/manufactures
Other countries in the world don't have these arbitrary 25 year laws and allow the importation of late model vehicles without huge "safety" issues.
jh.
ambitiose sed ineptum
This.
Big pharma is the same way (and in bed with the FDA)....do you see people dropping dead from taking generic meds in Canada? No....but we still can't import the meds here. Importing generic meds would drop the overall cost of healthcare exponentially but might reduce R&D from domestic drug manufacturers.....like importing cars might reduce us from buying a crappy Pinto in the 70s.
Toy-Roverlander
Adventurer
Land of the free...... yeah right 
Antichrist
Expedition Leader
I guess you missed the part where he said that Defender was seized because of a VIN swap. Yes, he then went on about safety, but that's not what it was about for this truck. Those were just additional talking points
All vehicles are subject to some level of import tax. You make it sound like all you have to do is pay 25% and you're good to go. Do you have any idea what it costs to make a vehicle compliant? It's huge. That's why Land Rover doesn't import Defenders to the US anymore, it wasn't cost effective to pay the certification costs based on the sales levels.
The only realistic way for an individual, unless you have more money than sense, is to go by the 25 year rule, which this person did not do. They decided to do a VIN swap, which is very illegal and has nothing to do with Defenders. Try swapping the VIN on a 2012 Ford with one from an '85 and then go register it and see how that goes.
Bennettbf
Observer
This, this and this. If you think this VIN swap was about safety, you're delusional. The Cato Institute hit on this a bunch of years ago, and it's still true.
Wow. Look at all these LR Defenders for sale that are less than 25 years of age. I guess CBP is completely lax on enforcement. I'm writing my congressman. Hopefully we'll have all sorts of public execution videos of these unsafe automobiles on the web in a few months.
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Wow. Look at all these LR Defenders for sale that are less than 25 years of age. I guess CBP is completely lax on enforcement. I'm writing my congressman. Hopefully we'll have all sorts of public execution videos of these unsafe automobiles on the web in a few months.
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I Leak Oil
Expedition Leader
I don't think you're really listening. He's not saying the vin swap was about safety. They're two seperate issues, the vin swap being a MAJOR no no...
That Cato article is interesting but I think we all know the 25 year rule and the import tax is really about protecting domestic manufacturers. There is nothing new there. However, that article is really about foreign manufactures importing NEW vehicles into the U.S. and trying to skirt taxes. It assumes intrinsically that the new vehicles being imported are already DOT\EPA, and Ralph Nadar approved. It really isn't written from the average Joe trying to import a 20 year old vehicle point of view.