Disclosure: this guide contains referral links, marked where they appear. Market data is independently measured from public sources on the dates shown.
Maine is the state that took the question seriously and answered it in writing.
After revoking registrations in 2023, the legislature did something no other state has done: it passed a resolve creating a seven-member working group — the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the State Police traffic safety unit, an insurance company, a vehicle inspection business, a business that imports foreign cars, a municipal representative and a transportation museum — to study whether nonconforming vehicles should be allowed on Maine’s roads.
The group met fortnightly from October 2025, took public testimony, and reported on February 6, 2026. Its recommendation of no change was unanimous, with the importer in the room. The follow-on bill, SP 884, failed on April 29, 2026.
If you own one of these trucks anywhere in America, this report is worth knowing about — it is the most carefully argued case against registration that any state has produced, and you cannot answer an argument you have not read. I research Japan’s used vehicle market from Sapporo.
The Short Answer
- Registration: refused, and existing registrations were revoked from 2023 under 29-A M.R.S.A. § 354.
- A state working group studied it and recommended no change, unanimously, in February 2026.
- SP 884, the follow-on bill, failed on April 29, 2026.
- The reasoning is published in full and is the strongest articulation of the case against — summarised below.
- Insurance minimums are 50/100/25 plus UM/UIM at 50/100 and $2,000 medical payments — among the highest in the country.
- Private-property use is unaffected.
What the Working Group Actually Concluded
The Secretary of State publishes the working group’s materials, including agendas, meeting notes and the final report. The conclusion reads:
The working group approached the topic of introducing nonconforming vehicles to Maine’s roads and highways with an open mind. It collected data and used that, alongside the professional experience of its members, to come to its decision.
The suggestion to have no change in the law, meaning there is no carve out or new standards created for nonconforming vehicles to be inspected and registered for road and highway use, was made unanimously.
I want to be fair to this document rather than dismissive of it. It is not a press release and it is not a summary of somebody’s prejudice. It reviews Maine’s existing law, safety evidence, what other jurisdictions have done, and — the part most advocates skip — what a practical implementation would actually require.
The Three Arguments, and They Are Not Weak
1. The inspection problem. Maine requires annual vehicle inspection, and Title 29-A § 1756 sets standards requiring all equipment subject to inspection to be in good working order, safely attached to the chassis or body, mechanically safe, and not a hazard to the occupant or the public. The report’s point is that a state-certified inspector confronted with a nonconforming vehicle has no coherent standard to inspect it against.
The group then asked the obvious follow-up — why not have the State Police handle these inspections instead? — and answered it plainly: the State Police “does not have the capacity or expertise to enforce over 800 pages of FMVSS and the supporting standards by the SAE,” before you even reach standards that conflict with Maine’s current rules.
2. The Pandora’s box argument. This is the one that deserves an honest response from owners rather than an eye-roll. The report puts it this way: if these vehicles do not need to meet the federal standards, what else should be allowed to circumvent current safety standards? Exceptions for mini trucks and military vehicles “would then face potential pressure to extend to vehicles like ATVs and dune buggies among others.”
That is a real institutional concern. A state that writes a carve-out has to defend the line it drew, and the next applicant will be standing on it.
3. It is not just Maine’s view. The report’s appendices are, frankly, a better research bibliography than most coverage of this subject: State Police testimony against two earlier bills, the AAMVA mini truck survey aggregate results, a British Columbia mini truck assessment, a British Columbia study on the safety of right-hand-drive vehicles, the Georgia Department of Public Safety press release, Maine’s own 2010 alternative vehicles working group report, and a Government Accountability Office report on military vehicle accidents.
It also records that Virginia’s equivalent recommendation to its legislature was that mini trucks should not be registered or driven on public roads, based on available crash data and the vehicles’ inability to comply with FMVSS.
What This Means If You Are Arguing the Other Side
I am not neutral about kei trucks — I research and write about this market, and there is a referral link further down this page. So let me be careful about what I say next.
The Maine report is the strongest version of the case against, and it identifies a genuine implementation problem rather than a safety slogan. The useful response is not to dispute that inspecting a nonconforming vehicle is hard. It is to point at the states that solved exactly that problem:
- Tennessee replaced “manufacturer certifies FMVSS compliance” with an equipment checklist the applicant certifies — headlamps, stop lamps, turn signals, reflectors, parking brake, mirrors, glazing, seat belts. That is a standard an inspector can actually apply, and it does not require anyone to read 800 pages.
- Colorado went further and legislated the answer to the emissions version of the same problem, specifying a two-speed idle test instead of a dynamometer cycle, judged against the standards for the model year — and separately barred the state from declaring these vehicles unroadworthy on design grounds.
- Minnesota and Ohio answered the Pandora’s box concern by writing the class narrowly — 660cc or less, a 900–2,200 lb weight band, an enclosed cab, resembling a pickup or van, and not built to FMVSS. That definition does not extend to a dune buggy or an ATV, because those vehicles fail it on their face.
In other words, every objection in the Maine report has an existing statutory answer somewhere in the United States. Whether Maine finds those answers persuasive is a separate question, and the working group’s report does not appear to engage with the Tennessee or Colorado models directly.
What You Can Legally Do
- Import and own one. Nothing in Maine’s position affects the federal import.
- Use it on land you own or control. Farms, woodlots, blueberry barrens, camps, gravel pits — no registration, no inspection, no permission. Maine has an enormous amount of this ground and it is where the state’s kei trucks are.
- Trailer it. Unaffected.
- Do not register in another state and drive here. Registration follows where you live; using an address you do not reside at is a false statement on that state’s application.
If you already held a Maine registration before 2023 and it was cancelled, the working group’s report is the document explaining why, and it is public.
Insurance and Cost
There is no road registration to pay for. What you should carry is property or farm liability covering a vehicle operated on your own land, plus physical-damage cover on the truck as an asset — ask the carrier to schedule it explicitly rather than assuming a homeowner policy responds.
For reference if the position ever changes, Maine’s minimums are among the highest in the country: $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident for bodily injury, $25,000 property damage, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage at 50/100, and at least $2,000 of medical payments coverage, per the Bureau of Insurance.
Watching for Change
Realistically, Maine is the least likely state on this site to move in the near term, and it is worth being straight about that rather than encouraging.
Other states have refused on an administrative reading that an agency could revisit — New York and Illinois are both in that position. Maine’s refusal has now been examined by a purpose-built working group that included the interests most likely to argue for change, and confirmed unanimously, and the follow-on legislation failed.
What would move it is not another bill in the same shape. It is a bill that answers the inspection problem the report identified — which means the Tennessee equipment-checklist model, or Colorado’s approach of legislating the test method. That is a specific, drafted ask rather than a general one, and it is the version worth putting in front of a legislator.
For Reference: What These Trucks Cost
Buying for Maine land is still buying. This is the Japan-side market, measured August 19, 2026 — every eligible truck listed publicly in Japan, at ¥159/USD:
| Model | Listings in Japan | Median price in Japan |
|---|---|---|
| Subaru Sambar | 78 | ¥364,000 (≈$2,289) |
| Mitsubishi Minicab | 64 | ¥394,000 (≈$2,478) |
| Honda Acty | 80 | ¥398,000 (≈$2,503) |
| Suzuki Carry | 99 | ¥399,000 (≈$2,509) |
| Daihatsu Hijet | 60 | ¥453,000 (≈$2,849) |
Landed cost runs about $4,800–6,700 depending on specification, itemised in the cost guide, with the raw dataset published so you can recount any figure.
Two Maine notes on specification. This is a property truck, so buy 4WD — it is ordinary equipment on this supply rather than a rare option, and on mud season and snow it is the whole point; the off-road guide has the measured shares by model. And Maine salts heavily with long winters, so the underbody advice from the Michigan guide applies without modification: prefer a truck from a warm, dry Japanese prefecture, read the auction sheet for C codes — corrosion that has gone through metal — rather than paint grade, and undercoat it in the first month. Confirm the heater works before you bid.
Maine is a property-truck state and likely to stay one, which makes durability the thing worth paying for — this truck is not getting a plate, so it needs to last. CAR FROM JAPAN publishes the inspector’s auction sheet with each vehicle so you can read the corrosion codes before you bid, and my referral code takes $100 off a first purchase: enter KEITRUCK at the order step (referral link).
FAQ
Are kei trucks legal in Maine?
Legal to import, own and use on private property. Not registrable for road use — Maine halted new registrations in 2023 and cancelled existing ones, citing 29-A M.R.S.A. § 354, and a state working group recommended in February 2026 that the law not change.
What was the Maine working group?
A seven-member group created by a 2025 resolve, comprising the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the State Police traffic safety unit, an insurance company representative, a vehicle inspection business, a foreign car importer, a municipal representative and a transportation museum. It met from October 2025 to February 2026 and published a final report.
What did it decide?
That there should be no change in the law — no carve-out and no new standards for registering or inspecting nonconforming vehicles. The report records that this suggestion “was made unanimously.”
What were its reasons?
Principally three: state-certified inspectors have no coherent standard to inspect a nonconforming vehicle against; the State Police lack the capacity and expertise to enforce over 800 pages of federal standards; and a carve-out would invite pressure to extend the same treatment to ATVs, dune buggies and similar vehicles.
Did any bill follow the report?
SP 884 was filed to act on the recommendations and failed on April 29, 2026.
Can I use one on my land in Maine?
Yes. Private-property use requires no registration or inspection and is unaffected by everything above.