otiswesty - 7/30/2014 4:40 AM

I know I didn't vote for "dawn raids!"
I just wanted change.

DUTCH - 7/30/2014 2:07 PM



And you got it in spades.

AlanMcR - 7/29/2014 5:16 PM

There is a huge (and marginally informative) thread on this here:

Homeland Security took my Defender 110

In summary, it seems that a specific importer got very creative with their interpretation of the import rules.  Ostensibly, these vehicles were all 25 years or older at import.  For some vehicles this does not seem to have been the case.  Either way, many vehicles were swept up in the evidence dragnet that resulted.  The final disposition of each vehicle is still up in the air.  

koly - 7/30/2014 3:53 PM



So far, 6 of the vehicles taken in this sweep have been deemed 'incorrect' seizures based on bad VIN information and are en route back to their owners.

Brent - 7/30/2014 9:27 PM


So bad VIN information could not have been sorted out with actions short of showing up and confiscating vehicles? This was an over the top police action wasting resources and violating peoples rights. It was planned, intentionally intimidating and COMPLETELY avoidable. The lack of uproar and publicity beyond the directly affected is a sad diatribe for a once free society... well almost free anyway.

Suppatime - 8/3/2014 1:48 PM

Here's my thought on the process:

First off, we have MB itself to blame for importation regulations, as they were tired of US customers going to Europe to purchase their vehicles for cheaper than we get them in the US and shipping them over.

Second, moreover than anything else, this is a US Customs issue. To them, these vehicles do not meet our safety standards, and people circumventing this law are doing something illegal. It's one thing importing a 25+ year old "collector vehicle"; it's another thing swapping VINs to make a new vehicle appear as though it were an older one and profiting from it and other vehicles like it.

The only part that saddens me is that the owners of these vehicles may have been duped by the seller, and should have been given an option to sell the vehicle overseas to try to recoup their losses rather than have the vehicles be crushed. But again, they are trying to send a message.

Brent - 8/3/2014 4:30 PM
Sounds like more excuses for unnecessary police action to me. Is it your position this this was reasonable and/or necessary? Are you OK with your government sending messages to it's citizenry in this fashion?

Some of the vehicles have been returned. That tells me they did not do their jobs in the first place because, there were better ways to handle this that STILL would have made news on a few internet forums.

Just accept that being OK with this "because it was illegal" (even if it wasn't necessarily in all cases), that you will make the list soon enough because the list of offenses we send the gestapo out for is on the increase.

Just talking about this may be enough to slow/stop/reverse this type of thing. Accepting a bullies behavior only emboldens the bully.

greynolds - 8/3/2014 6:34 PM
...no need for the theatrics of showing up with a small army to seize a Land Rover.

Suppatime - 8/3/2014 3:48 PM

Here's my thought on the process:

First off, we have MB itself to blame for importation regulations, as they were tired of US customers going to Europe to purchase their vehicles for cheaper than we get them in the US and shipping them over.

Second, moreover than anything else, this is a US Customs issue. To them, these vehicles do not meet our safety standards, and people circumventing this law are doing something illegal. It's one thing importing a 25+ year old "collector vehicle"; it's another thing swapping VINs to make a new vehicle appear as though it were an older one and profiting from it and other vehicles like it.

The only part that saddens me is that the owners of these vehicles may have been duped by the seller, and should have been given an option to sell the vehicle overseas to try to recoup their losses rather than have the vehicles be crushed. But again, they are trying to send a message.