Unique Performance ‘title washing’ scandal

Unique Performance is a custom vehicle manufacturer based in Dallas, Texas, licensed to build Ford Mustang replicas complete with the Carroll Shelby name. Earlier this month, the outfit was investigated by local police because of complaints from customers who’ve fronted the six figure asking price but never received their cars even after several years of waiting.

During an interview with the NY Times, a police officer revealed that Unique was altering the vehicle identification numbers of some of its cars. In this way, Unique could ‘title wash’ old salvage cars by retitling them in another state, restore them, and sell them to unknowing customers.

Unique’s phone number has since been disconnected and its website shutdown. Unfortunately, there are customers who have paid up to $200,000 for one of the refurbished cars and they are unlikely to see any of this money returned.

Some customers who have received their cars haven’t got out completely scot free either. Since many of the refurbished cars were based on common six-cylinder models altered to look like the rare high-performance versions, their values will now depreciate just as badly as the more common models.