Homeland Security to return seized Land Rover Defenders to U.S. buyers

Posted on Jul 15, 2017 in Featured | 2 comments

1995 Land Rover Defender 90.

Last July, agents from the Department of Homeland Security, working with local law enforcement, seized more than two-dozen Land Rover Defenders from owners across the United States. All had two things in common: none was originally sold in the United States, and all were imported by Aaron Richardet, a North Carolina man with a passion for the classic British SUVs and a head for business. Now, nearly a year after the forced forfeitures, Jalopnik reports that the case has been settled out of court, and that the seized Defenders will be returned to their U.S. owners.

The government’s case was based largely on supposition that the imported Defenders carried swapped VINs in an effort to skirt the 25-year rule for the importation of non-federalized vehicles. As Jalopnik reported in a February 2015 story, many of the vehicles were within months of the 25-year mark when imported, and as attorney Will Hedrick argued, the law should apply to the model year and not the date of manufacture. Logically speaking, it should be legal to import a 1990 vehicle, whether it was constructed on January 1 or on December 31 of that year, since few significant changes are made within a given model year.

Land Rover Defender 110.

The Land Rover Defender was sold in the United States from 1993 through 1997, but changes to DOT regulations for the 1998 model year would have required side-impact door beams and front-seat airbags, changes that were not economically viable for such a low-volume vehicle. Perhaps due to its rugged reputation, or its resemblance to classic Land Rovers past, the Defender remains in demand today, creating a strong market for imported vehicles and additional scrutiny from the Department of Homeland Security. As the agency has previously demonstrated with a VIN-swapped MINI Cooper, it has no tolerance for disregard of the law.

The Defender remained cosmetically similar throughout its production run, making it difficult for a novice to tell a legal 1988 Defender apart from an illegal 1998 Defender wearing an older VIN. Low mileage examples in pristine condition command the highest prices, so there is a financial incentive for unscrupulous exporters to swap VIN plates, potentially leaving U.S. buyers who aren’t marque experts at risk. In some cases, older models have been retrofitted with newer parts, potentially blurring the line between legal and illegal in the eyes of U.S. Customs inspectors.

That’s likely what triggered the seizure of vehicles imported by Richardet, and the fact that the government has dropped its case makes a strong statement that the evidence may not have held up in court. All of the vehicles in question are now at least 26 years old, and none has been proven to carry a swapped VIN. Still, without Hedrick’s pro-bono efforts on behalf of the owners, the tale may not have had such an optimistic outcome; the vast majority of civil forfeiture cases end without any return of property seized.