400 JDM Imported Cars Lose their Titles in the USA

An investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol’s criminal investigations and intelligence division led to title revocation of around 400 JDM cars. The investigations revolved around cars imported by two separate companies, J-Spec Garage and SOHO Imports, both of which allegedly belong to the same owners. You might remember J-Spec Auto Sports (Aka J-Spec Garage) being in the news previously around selling stolen parts.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (HSMV) provided documents that led to the arrests of Nicole Chiong and Andres Diaz on March 7. The documents outlined the charges against the two as the owners of J-Spec Garage and SOHO Imports.

Fraudulent and illegal vehicle importation, presenting false information in 348 vehicle titling applications, and providing incorrect information on the vehicle bill of sale is among the charges pressed against the two. They will also be charged with more than 50 counts of identity fraud regarding the importation and sale of the seized vehicles. 348 JDM cars titles were revoked, all imported between November 2014 and October 2020.

SOHO imports, a trade organization under SOHO Alliance Corporation, were suspended under the Florida HSMV. The suspension was because SOHO imports posed a threat to public welfare. This prevented SOHO imports from carrying on with their importation activities which protected prospect buyers from financial losses.

The NHTSA importation rights of both SOHO imports and the J-Spec garage were revoked. This means that they cannot import vehicles either for private or commercial purposes.

According to a letter from the Florida highway patrol, all revocation vehicle titles cannot be re-registered anywhere in the US. The United States Department of Homeland Security placed all 348 cars on a contraband list, deeming them illegal. All vehicles identified by their VINs are not also viable for titling in Florida regardless of any reformatory measures taken. This is because the Florida Highway Patrol does not have the right to modify the list.

Coleman Sachs, an NHTSA import compliance private consultant, said that documents provided by the Florida HSMV were not enough to revoke the titles. However, example documents filled by SOHO Imports might have been improperly filled. This would lead to the vehicles being considered “inappropriate” for import under the NHTSA regulations and the FMVSS standards regarding vehicle importation. Florida HSMV concluded that more information will be provided once the Florida Highway Patrol completes its investigations.

The 348 car owners finding themselves with revoked titles have a couple of options to maintain ownership of the car or avoid their cars being seized and crushed. Owners who don’t want to incur huge losses consider selling the vehicles as track-only race cars. The car’s value without a title has to be evaluated then the owner has to provide proof of ownership. A notarized bill of sale has to be filled out during the sale.

The letter from the Florida HSMV also provided three other options for the affected owners. They could either maintain ownership of the vehicle in non-operating status and keep it in the country, export the vehicle out of the country, or surrender the car to the nearest port of entry where it will be seized by the United States Department of Homeland Security. Owners with rare spec and expensive cars can consider the first options and keep their vehicles as show cars.

Owners considering exporting their vehicles out of the country might have them seized by Customs, especially without the consultation of a lawyer. The car will later be crushed or sold off.

Most JDM enthusiasts will tell you that nothing good comes out of Florida when JDM vehicles, especially Nissan Skylines, are involved. Any sign of a questionable title will lead to the seizure of a car. It will eventually be crushed even before an owner can consider exporting it or converting it into a show car or track-only race car.

SOHO imports have been facing complaints even before the investigations began. Some forged documents, such as titles forged by Andres Diaz, began surfacing and did not align with the VIN check results. Some vehicles had theft records, total loss records, and collision records. All these were not listed in the Forged titles.

The Florida HSMV issued a list of all the cars with revoked titles, complete with title numbers, VINs, sale dates, and transfer dates. Some of the vehicles listed are worth thousands of dollars, such as a Skyline R34 GT-R sold at the RM Sotheby’s auction for almost $70,000.