About $7,500 gets a running 2000 Daihatsu Hijet from a Japanese auction to the door of our Richmond, California warehouse, duty paid. That figure surprises most first-time buyers in both directions. The truck itself costs less than they expect. The 25% duty and the state registration question cost more. This guide covers the four things that decide whether a kei truck import works for you: where you can register it, how the 25-year rule applies, what the whole thing costs, and which trucks are worth buying right now.
Kei trucks are Japan's 660cc, 11-foot pickups. Honda, Daihatsu, Suzuki, Subaru and Mitsubishi built millions of them for farms, nurseries and delivery routes, and the used market in Japan is deep. "Kei truck" now draws roughly 74,000 Google searches a month in the US, more than the Suzuki Jimny and the Toyota Century, the next two Japanese imports on our list. Most of that demand comes from people who want a work truck that fits in a garage and costs less than a golf cart to run.
Federal law and state law answer two different questions. Federal law decides whether the truck can enter the country. Your state DMV decides whether you can put a plate on it and drive it on public roads. A kei truck that clears customs in Oakland without a hitch can still be refused a title in Sacramento.
The map has moved more in the last 24 months than in the previous 15 years. Here is where it stands as of September 2026, grouped by what you can actually do with the truck.
Texas set the pattern. SB 1816 treats a 25-year-old kei truck as an ordinary motor vehicle, with no road-class limit and no speed cap. Massachusetts resumed registrations on September 18, 2024 after a three-month halt. Michigan dropped its off-road-only stance in November 2024. Vermont's S.326 took effect July 1, 2026 and registers kei vehicles as pleasure cars, usable in the same places as any other car. Alaska's SB 239, signed in June 2026, aligned state registration with the federal 25-year rule after years of off-road-only titles. Idaho, Montana and Arizona have registered kei trucks without special conditions for years.
This is the largest group and the one where buyers get burned. Florida registers kei trucks as mini trucks but keeps them on roads posted at 35 mph or less, with no highway or expressway use. Virginia applies the same 35 mph road cap. Oklahoma caps use at roads posted 55 mph or under and bans interstates outright. North Carolina allows roads up to 55 mph under HB 179 with added equipment requirements. Kentucky's SB 63 (June 2025) lets counties opt in, keeps kei trucks off interstates and parkways, and limits marked-highway travel to 20 miles. Colorado passed HB25-1281 for roads up to 55 mph, but the registration window does not open until January 1, 2028. Alabama requires a governor set to 25 mph. Pennsylvania closed standard registration in December 2021 and now offers off-road, farm or antique titles only, with a relief bill (HB 1205) sitting in committee.
Georgia revoked existing kei titles and plates in May 2023. A legalization bill, HB 308, passed both chambers in 2025 and was vetoed on May 14, 2025 over an unrelated speed-limiter provision added late in the session. Owners are pursuing the matter through administrative hearings. Rhode Island ended new registrations with H8013 in July 2024. Maine halted registrations around 2023 and created a study group under LD 1209 in May 2025, with findings due in the 2026 session. California requires FMVSS and CARB compliance, which leaves off-highway registration as the only path. New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Oregon, Hawaii, Iowa and New Mexico currently refuse road titles. Illinois began revoking previously issued plates in April 2025, and Wisconsin's DOT started denying new registrations in late 2025 under a statute that had sat unused since 2013.
Two things to take from that list. First, nearly every state outside Texas, Vermont, Alaska and a handful of others keeps kei trucks off the interstate, so plan the truck's job around surface roads. Second, these rules change by bill, by DMV memo and by court ruling, sometimes within the same year. Call your DMV, ask for the answer in writing, and do that before you bid on a truck in Japan, not after it lands.
A vehicle at least 25 years old enters the US without meeting Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards under 49 CFR 591.5(i). That is the entire reason kei trucks can be imported at all. No new kei truck meets FMVSS, and the December 2025 White House announcement about building "tiny cars" in America changed nothing about imports. The 25-year rule is still the only door.
NHTSA counts from the month and year of manufacture, not the model year. A Hijet built in March 2001 became eligible in March 2026. One built in October 2001 becomes eligible in October 2026, and a truck built in early 2002 has to wait until 2027. Japanese export certificates show the first registration date, which is usually within a month or two of the build date, and the data plate in the cab or engine bay carries the manufacture month. Get both before you buy.
Two forms cover the entry. DOT form HS-7 uses box 1 for a vehicle 25 years or older. EPA form 3520-1 uses code E, which applies to vehicles 21 years or older in original engine configuration. Kei trucks are right-hand drive, and that is not a federal problem. We receive right-hand-drive vehicles at all three of our warehouses every month, and the drive side is not something CBP or NHTSA checks on a 25-year-old vehicle.
Right now, as of September 2026, every kei truck built through September 2001 is eligible. That window opens a month at a time, which matters for the model list below.
Budget the truck at auction, the export side in Japan, the ocean freight, the duty and the US-side fees separately. Buyers who lump them together usually miss the duty.
At the Japanese auctions, a 1999 to 2001 kei truck with 60,000 to 100,000 km and a clean sheet runs $2,500 to $4,500. High-mileage trucks that need work sell for $1,000 to $2,500. Low-mileage 4WD trucks, dump beds and PTO-equipped farm trucks reach $5,000 to $8,000. A well-kept truck under 100,000 km at about ¥400,000 is a fair benchmark. Add $500 to $1,200 for the exporter's fee, which covers the auction access, deregistration, the export certificate and inland transport to the port.
Container is the right method for a kei truck. Three of them fit nose to tail inside a 40-foot container, so a shared container from Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka or Nagoya brings the per-truck freight down. Our Japan to California service runs 2 to 3 weeks on the water, and 5 to 10 weeks to our New Jersey and Florida warehouses. Allow about two weeks on the Japanese side for export clearance and loading, plus an extra week if you wait for a shared container to fill. Ocean freight, Japanese port fees and US terminal handling land between $1,500 and $2,500 per truck to the West Coast and $2,000 to $3,500 to the East Coast. RoRo is rarely worth it here. The truck has to be empty and running, and the savings on an 11-foot vehicle are small.
This is the line item that decides the budget. A kei truck is a pickup, and CBP classifies pickups under HTS 8704 at a 25% duty rate. That is the chicken tax, in place since 1964, and the 25-year rule does nothing to reduce it. The rule is a safety and emissions exemption, not a tariff exemption. On a $4,000 truck the duty is $1,000. On a $7,000 truck it is $1,750.
The 2026 tariff changes did not raise it further. The Section 232 auto tariff exempts vehicles built 25 or more years before the year of entry, and the Section 301 duties on Japanese goods that started July 24, 2026 only lift the total to 12.5% when the base rate is below that. A truck already at 25% stays at 25%. A kei van or passenger kei car, on the other hand, enters under HTS 8703 at 2.5% and the Section 301 layer brings it to 12.5% total. A 1999 Honda Acty van with rear seats pays half the duty of the same-year Acty pickup. The customs broker classifies the vehicle at entry, so confirm the rate in writing before you buy if the difference matters to you.
On top of duty, CBP collects a merchandise processing fee of 0.3464% (minimum about $32) and a harbor maintenance fee of 0.125% on ocean entries. On a $4,000 truck that is roughly $37 combined.
The customs broker's entry fee runs $150 to $400. Port handling, storage and release add $100 to $300 if the truck moves promptly. Delivery from our warehouse to your address runs $300 to $1,200 depending on distance. State title and registration costs land between $90 and $450 plus sales tax where it applies.
A 2000 Daihatsu Hijet 4WD, 70,000 km, bought at auction for $3,500. Exporter fee and Japanese inland transport, $800. Shared container to California, $1,900. Duty at 25%, $875. MPF and HMF, about $37. Broker and port fees, $450. That truck sits at our Richmond warehouse for about $7,560 all in. Add $600 to truck it to Phoenix and $250 for an Arizona title and the total is roughly $8,400. A dealer in the US will sell you the same truck for $8,000 to $12,000, so the savings from importing yourself are real but not enormous. The reason to import is choice. The Japanese auctions run tens of thousands of kei trucks a year, and you pick the exact configuration, mileage and grade instead of settling for whatever is on a lot.
Our import calculator prices the door-to-door leg from the UK and Europe instantly. Japan to the US is quoted by hand, because the container consolidation schedule changes the number. Send us the auction listing and the destination ZIP and we quote the full leg by hand.
Every kei truck sold in Japan through September 2001 is now eligible, which puts the entire second-generation wave of the late 1990s in play. These five are the ones worth chasing, in the order we see them booked.
The Acty is the one people ask for by name. Honda mounted the 656cc E07Z three-cylinder under the bed, mid-ship, which gives the Acty the best weight balance of the group and a cab with nothing but a flat floor under your feet. The HA7 is the real-time 4WD version. Build quality is a notch above the rest and the parts supply in the US is the deepest of any kei truck. Expect to pay a premium of $1,000 to $2,000 over an equivalent Hijet at auction. Earlier HA3 and HA4 trucks from 1990 to 1999 are cheaper and just as usable.
The Hijet is the volume seller in Japan and the easiest truck to buy well. The S200 is 2WD and the S210 is 4WD, both with the 660cc EF engine and a five-speed manual, with a three-speed automatic available. Daihatsu offered a Jumbo cab with a reclining seat and more legroom, which is the one to find if you are over six feet. Dump beds and scissor-lift beds turn up regularly at auction. Rust in the bed floor and behind the cab is the main thing to check.
The Carry is the Hijet's direct rival and the truck most farms in Japan actually own. The DA52T and DB52T run the F6A engine, and the DA62T that arrived in September 2001 brings the all-aluminum K6A, which is the better engine. The Mazda Scrum is the same truck with a different badge and often sells for less at auction because fewer people search for it. We covered the 2001 Carry in detail in our 2001 Suzuki Carry import guide.
The Sambar is the odd one out and the one enthusiasts love. Subaru put a four-cylinder EN07 engine behind the rear axle, gave it four-wheel independent suspension, and offered a supercharged version that makes the Sambar the quickest truck on this list. The TT2 is 4WD. The ride is noticeably better than the cab-over-front-axle competition, which matters if the truck will see any pavement. Supercharged 4WD examples are getting expensive in Japan, so buy one now rather than in two years.
The Minicab gets overlooked, which keeps auction prices down. The 3G83 engine is durable, the U62T is 4WD, and the truck does the same job as a Carry for a few hundred dollars less. If you want a working truck rather than a badge, this is the value pick.
2002 builds become eligible month by month through 2027. That brings in the full run of the DA62T Carry, the later HA7 Acty and the last S210P Hijet before the 2004 facelift. If you are patient, the trucks turning 25 next year are newer, lower-mileage and, for now, cheaper in Japan because US buyers cannot touch them yet. Our 2026 eligibility guide lists the exact months.
We load kei trucks in containers at Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka and Nagoya and receive them at our own warehouses in Richmond, California, Newark, New Jersey and Miami, Florida. Our staff unload the container, inspect the truck and hold it until your customs entry is released, then load it for delivery. We coordinate the entry with a licensed customs broker, and we tell you the duty classification before the truck ships so there is no surprise at release. If you are buying more than one truck, or a truck and a van, we consolidate them in one container and the freight per vehicle drops.
Ready to bring a kei truck over? Contact our Japan import team with the auction listing and your ZIP code for a full landed-cost quote, and find out how simple bringing your truck home can be.
Kei trucks are federally legal to import once they are 25 years old under 49 CFR 591.5(i), which exempts them from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. Road registration is decided by each state. Texas, Vermont, Alaska, Massachusetts and Michigan allow full road use, while Georgia, Rhode Island, Maine, California and New York refuse road titles as of September 2026.
A kei truck clears US customs under HTS 8704 at a 25% duty, the same "chicken tax" applied to all imported pickups since 1964. The 25-year rule does not reduce it. A kei van or passenger kei car enters under HTS 8703 at 12.5% total, including the Section 301 duty on Japanese goods that took effect July 24, 2026.
A running 1999 to 2001 kei truck costs $2,500 to $4,500 at Japanese auction. Add $500 to $1,200 in exporter fees, $1,500 to $2,500 for shared-container freight to California, 25% duty and $250 to $700 in broker and port fees. A typical truck lands at a US warehouse for $6,500 to $9,000 all in.
Any kei truck manufactured 25 or more years before the month of entry. In September 2026 that covers builds through September 2001, including the Honda Acty HA6/HA7, Daihatsu Hijet S200P/S210P, Suzuki Carry DA52T/DB52T and early DA62T, Subaru Sambar TT1/TT2 and Mitsubishi Minicab U61T/U62T. 2002 builds become eligible month by month in 2027.
In most states, no. Florida and Virginia limit kei trucks to roads posted 35 mph or lower, Oklahoma and North Carolina cap use at 55 mph roads, and Kentucky bans interstates and parkways. Texas, Vermont and Alaska register kei trucks as ordinary vehicles with no road-class limit. Confirm the rule with your DMV in writing before buying.
Allow about two weeks in Japan for deregistration, export clearance and container loading, then 2 to 3 weeks on the water to West Coast Shipping's California warehouse or 5 to 10 weeks to New Jersey and Florida. A shared container can add a week while it fills. Most West Coast deliveries complete within 5 to 7 weeks of the auction win.
The Honda Acty has a mid-mounted 656cc E07Z engine, better weight balance and the deepest US parts supply, and it costs $1,000 to $2,000 more at auction. The Daihatsu Hijet is the volume seller in Japan, easier to find in dump-bed and Jumbo-cab configurations, and cheaper to buy. Both are eligible from 1999 to 2001 builds in 2026.