- Car enthusiasts are being urged to sign an online petition to change rules that restrict the importation of vehicles by individuals.
- Current law says a car must be 25 years old before it can be imported. Enthusiasts would like it lowered to 15 years. The online petition also claims that Homeland Security officials spend a disproportionate amount of time and money seizing gray-market vehicles in customs inspections rather than fighting terrorism.
- Petition backer Sean Morris of Long Beach, California, hopes to collect at least 25,000 signatures by December 9.
LONG BEACH, California — Car enthusiasts are being urged to sign an online petition to change rules that restrict the importation of vehicles by individuals.
Current law says a car must be 25 years old before it can be imported. Petition supporters would like it lowered to 15 years. The online petition also claims that Homeland Security officials spend a disproportionate amount of time and money seizing gray-market vehicles in customs inspections rather than fighting terrorism.
Petition backer Sean Morris of Long Beach, California, who has worked in the import and export business for nearly 15 years, has taken the petition viral. He hopes to collect at least 25,000 signatures by December 9.
"My friend, Toby Yim, posted the petition because we car enthusiasts are a quiet bunch," Morris told Inside Line.
"It's time we make a lot of noise and bring attention to these crazy rules of which very few are aware," he added. "Some of the rules don't make sense."
Morris said vehicle manufacturers lobbied for the 25-year-old rule in the first place.
"It's basically punishing the enthusiast who simply wants to appreciate a fun car and add one to his or her garage," he said.
About 4,000 people signed the petition in its first week online.
Inside Line says: Please take the time to sign the petition.
Add A Comment »
tyndago says:
10:52 AM, 11/19/2011
9558 signatures so far. Please keep spreading this around to your friends.
If you want to know why the Nissan Skyline GT-R is illegal in the US, check out my post.
http://www.gtrusablog.com/2011/03/this-is-reason-nissan-skyline-is.html
matko says:
01:26 AM, 11/17/2011
@zr1man current european or japanese cars are as safe and good as any others. They all comply with global crash and emission standards. If i had a choice between being in an accident in a 1996 Chevy Corsica or a 1996 BMW 3-Series, I know which one to choose. So, sorry pal, your statement is rubbish. We Europeans are enjoying all the latest U.S.-models over here (I'm owning a 2007 Mustang) , but mostly as greymarket-imports, since they are not officially sold in Europe (now even less, after Fiat pulled the "Chrysler"-Brand from mainland Europe and replaced it with "Lancia". The import restrictions were implemented back in the 70's mostly by European car-markers when the exchange rate between the greenback and the european currencies made EDM cars much cheaper when bought in Europe and brought over to the U.S. These companies lobbied the U.S. lawmakers and promised investments in the USA on the condition of curbing grey-market-imports. It was about time this subject got on the agenda. American car enthusiasts have been fooled long enough.
angry_mushroom says:
12:28 AM, 11/17/2011
Why not... I'm sure 15 year old cars are safer and cleaner anyway. What's the worst that could happen?
zr1man says:
10:39 PM, 11/16/2011
The reason many of these imports were not allowed into the USA in the first place is that they did not meet our safety, environmental and emissions standards. Now that they are older is no reason to allow it. If they were not safe then, they are not safe now. If they created too much smog then, they still do. Protect America and continue to ban these cars.
Be proud. Keep America safe and our air clean!
minibro77 says:
07:24 PM, 11/16/2011
Some great JDM and Euro cars never sold here or sold here in dumbed down form for one. How about all of those Skyline fans out there. Or maybe someone wanting a newer JDM FD3S RX-7 before they went out of production? There are quite a few possibilities. EDM BMW's that were never offered here. There are many possibilities!
veryhrm says:
06:16 PM, 11/16/2011
dudes... again... what's the context here ? what cars are impacted, what are the details ?!
minibro77 says:
01:13 PM, 11/16/2011
Yes everyone sign!!! This is an enthusiasts dream come true and I agree should have been fought a long time ago. Let's make this happen. Also it shouldn't be difficult to do this even with a shortened time frame of vehicle age.
shift_drift240 says:
01:00 PM, 11/16/2011
I signed it! Let's all do our part to make it easier to import Skylines..Silvias...etc.
ivorypearl07g says:
11:03 AM, 11/16/2011
I signed it! So much could happen in the enthusiasts favor with this changed.
canuckrs says:
10:36 AM, 11/16/2011
Agreed. 25 Years is a bit extreme.
Up here in Canada it is 15 years. A friend of mine brought in a beautiful R33 GTR Vspec in midnight purple not to long ago.