In his Quincy driveway, Ray Moy pointed to his beloved 1998 Daihatsu Mira. It’s a tiny, light blue van. From the windshield up, it looks like it’s been stretched comically out of proportion.
“This is like a 1960s miniature milk truck,” Moy explained.
It’s one example of a kei truck — short for kei jidōsha, meaning “light vehicle” — a class of small Japanese autos. Moy has become obsessed with these kinds of vehicles since he bought his first one during the pandemic. He’s now bought eight of them, a few of which he’s since sold. Two more are on the way. They can cost as little as $3,000, including import fees, so it doesn’t take Jay Leno money to have a car collection. And he’s created a YouTube channel devoted to them.
Soon, though, kei trucks could be illegal on Massachusetts roads.
Moy found that out when he bought a new one recently, and hit an unexpected snag.
“I brought it to the RMV. I tried to register it and they told me, ‘Oh, we can’t register this because they’re unsafe. So we can’t, we’re not going to touch this,’” Moy recounted.
That’s a change. Federal law has long allowed the importation of older kei cars and trucks. But Massachusetts is now pointing out that kei trucks and vans don’t meet federal safety standards and recently included them on a list of vehicles that can’t be registered in the state. The state is now reconsidering that decision, leaving kei truck owners wondering whether they’ll be able to keep driving these vehicles.
The Massachusetts RMV did not make anyone available for an interview for this story.
“The RMV is working to review and assess industry standards related to Kei-class mini trucks,” a spokesperson said in a written statement. “Public comment received at last month’s MassDOT Board of Directors meeting will be taken into consideration in the discussions the Registry is having regarding the laws pertaining to the registration of such vehicles. The RMV will continue to focus on ensuring the safety of all road users in Massachusetts.”
Importing cars is a federal issue. But it’s up to states to decide which vehicles to register. And the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators is recommending that these vehicles not be registered for use on roads.
“I think the confusion comes, then, that it’s just automatically assumed that if the federal government says it’s OK to bring the vehicle to the country, then wouldn’t one just expect that I could get a license plate and drive it down the roadway?” said Paul Steier of the AAMVA. “And it’s two very distinct issues.”
Retired mechanic Arty Chados was one of those kei truck fans who testified at last month’s MassDOT board meeting.
Chados wore a T-shirt printed with “life is too short to drive boring cars” as he gleefully opened the sliding door on his Subaru Sambar recently. It looks a bit like a smaller VW bus.
“They’re so much fun,” Chados said. “And there’s a ton of room inside.”
Right now, Chados said, his registration is still legal.
“But no one knows if the registry will revoke our titles and registrations,” he said.
Joe Rose drives a little kei truck with just one seat, called a Daihatsu Midget II.
“It’s not really politically correct,” he said of the car’s name. “But it is what they called it.”
If Massachusetts does come to a final decision to stop registering these vehicles, Rose said he’ll create an LLC business in a state that does register them, and just get plates there.
“It’s a shame because Massachusetts is forcing us to do that,” Rose said. “They’re going to lose their revenue, you know, money every year they’re going to get for excise tax, [and] sales tax when somebody tries to register it.”
Rose also has some classic cars from the 1920s and ’30s, and points out most old cars don’t meet current federal safety standards. So if Massachusetts is going to stop registering kei cars and trucks for that reason, he’s worried other old cars might be next.
“Who knows? We don’t know,” he said. “Is this going to expand? I don’t know. I hope not.”
A spokesperson for the state RMV didn’t respond to a question about that.
