Unique Performance seized today!!!!!

[raw muscle cars]

http://jalopnik.com/search/Unique%20Performance/

[Fast67VelleN2O]

WOW, they were issuing these Mustang a new Shelby licensed VIN number. I really don't think any of these cars were stolen like they say. Unique bought a fastback Mustang from me off ebay a few years back that had "no title". Most of these mustangs were bought out of junkyards or drug out of back yards. Anyone who knows mustangs knows these cars can get real bad.

[quick-bowtie]

Wow!! whats this world coming too!! The news people and the feds or who ever is involved should be beaten for being such idiots! Unique isnt trying to pass cars off as real original shelbys.. There are numbering there own cars they build with Carroll Shelbys Licence..Whats next they lock Carroll up for putting his name on it? I dont really think it matters if a classic has a prior salvage title if its being built into a Hot Rod Elenor car.. Heck Id take a Yenko with a salvage title any day of the week and still pay top dollar if it was a good car! I would imagine most of theyre cars come from salvage yards or where ever they can find them and most dont have titles so they have to go to a title company to get a reg. so they can get a title. I just dont get it doesnt our corrupt gov. have better things to do than this?? Im sure every customer there knows what theyre car stated out as but all it take is one rich idoit that doesnt know cars or how there built and going crying to some money hungry lawyer. Man I tell ya!!!

[tirebird]

There's more to this story. Shelby, according to reports, is dissolving his arrangement with Unique and there are several, again according to reports, lawsuits against Unique for non-delivery of cars from customers who've paid. But the most important point, if these reports are true, is that a dealer can't remove or change a vin#. It's against federal and state law. Only the State DMV can issue a new Vin, not a dealer. What's a clue in this whole mess is that the charge is title washing. What may have happened here is where an individual or dealer in state #1 pretends to sell a car to someone else in state #2, usually for a small fee, who registers this car in that state then pretends to sell it back to state#1 with the second state's registration. That's fraud. The car was never really sold. It never leaves the first state. It's a sham and the former owner of "Titles Unlimited" in Alabama spent a couple of years in a California pen for "washing" thousands of titles of Cobra's and other expensive cars and motorcycles using this method. Besides being designed to quickly and cheaply "wash" a title, it's also designed to avoid paying sales taxes because the car is undervalued, usually by tens-of-thousands of dollars. Cobra's were "sold" to Alabama title washing company and valued at $4K. Of course, when some of those Cobras were stolen or wrecked, the value went up 10 or 20 fold when reported to the insurance companies. So, the story that may be happening here, as mentioned in the report, is "title washing", not just removing a Vin,..which is illegal enough. So, what's maybe going on here is that Unique is being accused of removing the old vin, perhaps, salvaged vin, creating a new vin and attaching it to the cars then sending the paper work to another state with a sham sale where someone registers the car and then, through another sham sale, sends it back to Texas where it is registered as a real vehicle. The state is out the money and, if this whole scam unravels, the new owner and subsequent owners are out a lot of money too down the line. Besides the state and feds looking at all these and other transactions, insurance companies can easily do some simple research and quickly tell a customer that he can't have it both ways where a 4 thousand dollar Cobra is suddently worth 50k or more when there's a claim. And a final note, even if the car is valued at it's real price, there has to be more than just a title flying back and forth. There has to be a check for 50k going to the new owner and some real cars have to leave Texas and go to the new owners who hang on to them for some time before selling them back to Unique. But, as mentioned before, most of these transactions in other cases were a few hundred dollars and the whole deal goes back and forth in a week or two. Hello! You might as well get a bullhorn and announce the fraud in front of the federal building. Today, especially since 9/11, there are so many data bases that federal and state authorities can look at instantly that raise red flags. I'm sure we'll know about this mess in the near future after the formal charges are filed.

[70 copo]

Exactly. Great analysis!

[rubbinisracing]

While Unique may have broken some some laws concerning vins and titles the real story here is about the people who have spent 10's and 100's of thousands on cars which they will never receive. This has been a collapsing house of cards for the past year. There are some lessons here for all to learn. A unbiased middle man where the buyer can deposit funds and the builder can draw funds after presenting evidence of progrees would help, along with a contract spelling out the terms of the build agreement as well as making sure the builder is insured and bonded. We should take these precautions in all our transactions, even when dealing with acquaintenances.

[quick-bowtie]

Wow.. never heard about them not delivering cars after there paid for.. Thats B.S. Id be down there with bubba and a baseball bat. I suppose customers money went to that fancy building and trucks rather than delivering what they promised?

I still dont see whats wrong with a "Company" whos builds series cars to put there own vins on, but I guess if its a law then you have to live with it.

Thanks for the update Tirebird and Howard. This story hasnt hit my part of the country yet or maybe I just have my eyes closed because Im not into Fords all that much.

[tirebird]

Here's the California Attorney General's press release from over 3 years ago about the scam. It explains better than I did about how it works. Weaver went to prison and thousands of car owners had to re-register their cars with proper titles, back taxes, and updated smog equipment. The investigations, in several states, continue today with more dealers and individuals being indicted.

http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/release....04&month=4

[Fast67VelleN2O]

What about when you find a beat to death rusty Yenko in the back of someone's yard and you get it for $5,000. When you gfo to title it in your name you are going to put down that you paid 5,000 for it. Not what its worth. To some people that can be considered tax evasion.

[Hylton]

[ QUOTE ]
What about when you find a beat to death rusty Yenko in the back of someone's yard and you get it for $5,000. When you gfo to title it in your name you are going to put down that you paid 5,000 for it. Not what its worth. To some people that can be considered tax evasion.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's only tax evasion if what you wrote on the receipt is less than what you pulled out of your wallet. Any profit you make by flipping right after is capital gains which is a whole other ballgame.