Didn't think I could plug this in Google to get an answer easily so here it is:

If someone were to illegally - somehow- import a Japanese car that was not greater than 25 years after the production date, into the United States but never registered it or did anything official (just stored it or something), could that person then register it AFTER it becomes 25 years old without getting in trouble? Or would the process of legalizing it expose the fact that it was illegally imported?

If it's a dumb question I'm sorry for being dumb but please answer the question regardless, thank you!

 

Possibly, But of course you'd have to go thru Customs......So possibly yes & for sure no.........

 

the answer will vary from state to state, such as if a proof of purchase/import is a necessary piece of info you need to register the vehicle. i wouldn't think "how" a car came to the states is needed, but i could be wrong.
what makes imports tough to register is that they never had any VIN/title history on our shores so would the DMV need the next best thing, which is what exactly? that's a question you need to ask your local DMV.

there are many import cars brought over all the time, but they are never registered and used on public roads (usually used for farming/recreation). were they illegally imported? how can you tell?

 

I didn't know what the process was for importing so thank you for some insight into that and I don't exactly know the guidance for importing in my state. The original question was pretty basic but it seems like depending how lax a state is, it might be doable. Maybe import it and register it in a lax state then bring it over to another after 25 years? Kind of too late for that though as all those cars are 1) becoming wickedly expensive and 2) breaching that 25 year mark.

 

To be quite clear - by far the most likely outcome for the the car in question, were it determined to have been illegally imported into the US in the past, is not that there is a way to "legalize" it and gloss over the prior illegal import but that it would be liable to seizure, forfeiture and destruction.

 

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Yikes . I wonder how long it could go unnoticed if a car really was illegally imported. I feel like it would come down to a matter of someone ratting you out.

 

Well ratting out aside for the moment, then sure the car could be kept under wraps and off the radar screen, but absent that the minute any kind of DMV, insurance or similar process were initiated it would be apparent that the car wasn't here legitimately because there wouldn't be any prior trace of the car nor would there be an import entry for the car dated after it his the 25 year threshold. Like all these things, you might get away with it, and that's all well and good until you get caught, pulled over, get into an accident or whatever. About the only thing that would work would be to ship the car back out and at some point in the future import it properly as a qualifying car over 25 years old. And all of that would be much easier said than done.

You'd be far better off expending time and energy on something else.

You'll find someone somewhere claiming to have done this, because the internet is full of stories from anonymous people claiming to have done this, that or the other.

And most of the time it's simply not true.