A Mechanic Stole My Evo In Japan, And My Lawyer Thinks It’s Just A Big Misunderstanding.

Location: Tokyo, JP

PREFACE: I apologize for the light novel, this case has been in the background of my life for more than two years now. If you take the time to read this, I would like to thank you.

I was in the military and served a tour in Japan. During my time there I purchased a Mitsubishi evo 4. I loved the car. I also wound up blowing the motor. After this, it turned into a sort of project car, and I got it to the point where it was running and driving, but not in a condition well enough to ship according to the military. Because of this, I de-registered the car, got an export title and paid a friend to store the vehicle until I could ship it in a container on my own.

Here begins the problem; I was recommended a shop by a friend. This shop routinely handles shipping and also had the capability to repair the car to state that it could be shipped by RORO. A perfect solution. I called the shop. He gave me an initial estimate. I agreed and he went and picked up the car. After the shop had the car for a little while he sent me some updated pricing and a general timeline for the shipping. This was in July of 2024. He invoiced me for the repairs that were necessary for shipping, and I paid him in full. Later I got a separate price for the shipping which I paid to him in full separately. I left him alone until approximately the end of September when I hadn’t received any updates. He eventually got back to me and said that he had a scheduled shipment and that the vehicle was ready to go, he was simply waiting for a slot. December passed and I still hadn’t received any updates so I reached out a handful of times without any response. It was then in February when he sent me a video of them dropping off the car at the docks as well as a bill of lading with all of my information. This document included a shipment date, the VIN and my home address and the ship it was due to leave out on. With all of that settled I figured that the vehicle was on its way. However, two weeks after the shipment date, I went onto the shippers website and entered by VIN. Strangely, it said that the vehicle wasn’t registered with them? No problem probably a simple documentation error, so I searched by bill of lading. And that’s when I saw a different vehicle, with a different Vin, going to a different destination. So at this point, I’m quite concerned, so I reach out to the shop. They proceeded to ghost me for MONTHS. No updates not even so much as an acknowledgment. From March 20 of 2025 to May 15. I had had enough, so I sent him a message letting him know that I would be trying to recover the car through the courts and filing a police report and he texted me back the next business day. It was now July of 2025. He offered a refund and for me to come pick up the car. (it’s my belief that he didn’t think I would accept because I no longer lived in Japan.) I accepted his offer and asked for the location and a time to pick it up. He started ducking me again, until I made a post on Facebook in a local auto hobby group telling people about my experience. One of his employees reached out to me and offered to help get things cleared up. The employee then spoke with the owner who was, up to this point, the only person I had dealt with. This employee notified me that essentially his boss was so busy he couldn’t answer me for three months and that they were going to refund me the shipping and return the vehicle with the title. I accepted, and they scheduled a time and place for the pick up. They sent me a reminder 24 hours before letting me know once again the time for the pick up and the location and warned me that I would incur fees if I didnt recover the vehicle. I paid a representative to meet them at the location and time to receive the vehicle and the title. They didn’t show up to their own meeting. My representative waited around for more than an hour and a half and they were nowhere to be found. Additionally, because we were meeting at the port where they had insisted the car had been stored; my representative, went to their office and asked about the car. The office administrator had remembered the car and told him that the car hadn’t been there for months. After this, I texted the employee that arranged the meeting and had reminded me 24 hours before of the details. He told me that he would no longer speak with me and all my business had to be done through the owner. When I called the owner, surprisingly enough, he actually answered. What followed was essentially just a profanity laden complaint about all the stuff that he had to do to the car (which he had been paid for) and told me that he was not interested in dealing with me anymore and told me if I wanted the car I would have to come get it (which I had actively been trying to do)

So a couple of weeks later, I found an English speaking law firm in Tokyo that I hired to help me recover the vehicle. We had an initial consultation. They agreed to help me and I wired them the money. Mind you, this is in August 2025. I tasked my attorney with recovering the shipping money and receiving the vehicle. I didn’t even want to pursue the repair money. I provided the attorney essentially the same narrative you read above, and he said that this should be fairly straightforward and that he would notify me with any updates. I provided him with all the communications between both my points of contact with his company and left him to it. About 30 days later, I received my first update. My lawyer was letting me know that this was simply a big misunderstanding. And that we had simply misunderstood each-other and there was a simple resolution. This was quite surprising to hear from my own attorney, but I heard him out and essentially his argument boiled down to “ they didn’t know who would receive the vehicle so they didn’t show up.” (Despite the fact that they had arranged the meeting completely independent of my input) I was not entirely satisfied with this answer, but that being the case I said, let’s just move forward and recover the vehicle and the shipping fees. From that moment on, at literally every avenue, my own attorney was constantly trying to get me to handle the case myself, asking me to call the shop, or email them myself. I spent probably the better part of two months trying to get him to understand why he needed to be the one to handle this portion of the case. That takes us all the way to February of this year, my attorney advised me that the other party had a lawyer and was considering suing me if I didn’t recover the vehicle and pay them for storage. I felt that this was absurd, given the circumstances, but I took my attorney’s advice and immediately hired another shipper. I instructed the attorney to get a time and date for the recovery and sent my attorney all of the details for the shipper. After several back-and-forth emails with my attorney, each of which he insisted I reach out to the auto shop, I finally convinced him to send a message requesting a time and date for the pick up. After my attorney had a phone call with the Shop. He informed me that either the 30th or the 31st of the current month would be good for pick up. I told my attorney that we needed a specific time and date so that I could have the shipper pick the vehicle up. What do you know, the shop started ducking calls from my attorney. Today is the 31st and I feel that despite all of my efforts, I am not one bit closer to actually getting my car back and my attorney is convinced that the whole case is simply a big misunderstanding.

I am begging is there anyone that has experience in this arena; Has anyone ever dealt with something similar in Japan? Are there any resources for someone in my position that I could utilize to try and find a different solution? Am I a crazy person? I have the text messages invoices, emails and associated documents in their entirety. Up to this point I’ve spent well in excess of $10,000 to ship a vehicle. That’s probably only worth 24. I would love some advice.