Posted on 06/04/2012 1:32:17 PM PDT by Cowman
Authorities in Wisconsin are bound and determined to crack down on gray market vehicles. According to Stevens Point Journal, In 2010, the state government orchestrated a sting to catch Justin Beno selling two Nissan Skyline models, one of which played a role in the Fast and Furious franchise.
A Wisconsin Department of Transportation investigator spotted both a 1995 and a 1996 Skyline up for sale and pretended to be a buyer. The investigator asked if it were possible to get the cars titled, and Beno said he believed the vehicles could be titled in Florida, then retitled in Wisconsin.
This was not the correct answer. The government seized both cars and charged Beno with a spate of offenses, including two felony counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, one felony count of owning a vehicle without a vehicle identification number tag and two misdemeanors tied to those missing VIN tags. Beno said he had originally purchased the cars as bare shells without the tags and that the seller later mailed them along. He also says he didn't know it was a crime to simply own a car without its VIN tag attached.
Brown County Deputy District Attorney Dana Johnson offered Beno a plea deal wherein he would accept the misdemeanor charges and give up both fully restored Skylines. After offering to pay the fines and help the authorities find buyers for both machines overseas, the prosecutor declined. Instead, both cars will be crushed and sold for scrap. That's particularly heartbreaking after Beno spent years assembling both from parts bought from all over the world. It's made worse by the fact that in just a few short years, both cars will be exempt from federal safety and emissions standards for vehicles over 25 years old.
What about cars that are several makes and models put together. One type of chassis, another cowl, another for the nose, another for the driveline etc.
do you need to include a binder of where every nut and bolt came from just to have the car in your driveway?
I think it started with the property or excise tax. It made them think they owned all your stuff because they were collecting an annual rent on it.
I have an empty 55 gal drum and a bonfire. Ought a be close enough...
What is meant by the “gray market?” Why doesnt he apply for a vin?
>>Prosecutors are clearly an unregulated problem here in the US.
Most thinking people figured this out during the Duke Lacrosse horse****. More are figuring it out with Jorge Zimmerman and St. Traydmark.
Unfortunately, due to 100 years +/- of government schools, thinking people are outnumbered by the unthinking.
How did Zer0 get elected?
Uh, It's NOT their vehicle to sell?
Thinking people are outnumbered.
A grey market car is one that is sold elsewhere in the world but not ordinarily imported to the US. Usually it would be applied to extremely high end hand built cars purchased by collectors. Essentially you would become the importer. Early Volvos were like this until the company got a license to sell them here.
And he had the VIN tags they were just not attached to the cars so there was no government record of them.
I would think so, It may be legal for them to do what they are doing but I don't think it's common. It looks like this guy was buying parts and pieces from all over and then he put them together to make two functioning cars. Hot rodders have been doing this for years so it can't be unusual to have a vehicle come to the DMV that is made from several other vehicles. What makes this unusual is that he built a vehicle that was not “officially” imported by the company of manufacture.
I would think this prosecutor has something against hot rodders or perhaps has union ties and doesn't like the fact that cars can be built without union labor.
Anyway, I just think there has to be a way to solve this without destroying perfectly good — usable automobiles.
It's similar to denying asthmatics an inhaler that works in a futile attempt to stop a drug-dealer from production. The law-abiding must suffer for the acts of the violators.
Hey, someone's got to be punished. Might as well go after the easy touch.
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