Is a Kei Truck Street Legal in Vermont?

Is a Kei Truck street legal in Vermont?

Yes, if it fits the definition. Act 153 of 2026, which began as Senate bill S.326, was signed on June 16, 2026 and took effect July 1, 2026. Its Kei sections do three things:

• They add Kei vehicles to the pleasure car definition in 23 V.S.A. § 4(28), so a qualifying vehicle registers like an ordinary car.
• They let a Kei Truck, meaning a Kei vehicle built mainly to carry property, register as a farm truck if the owner prefers.
• They add 23 V.S.A. § 1044, which stops the state's Traffic Committee, and every city and town, from writing rules that would keep a registered Kei vehicle off roads its class may use.

The Legislature's own summary says the act makes clear that Kei vehicles may be registered and operated in Vermont. Before it, no statute addressed them at all.

The catch is the definition in § 4(90). A Kei vehicle there has four wheels, "an engine displacement of 660 cubic centimeters or less, an overall length of 130 inches or less," and it can stand no taller than 78 inches and measure no wider than 60.

Which Kei Trucks fit Vermont's 130-inch limit?

Japan's own size rules explain the problem. Before October 1998, the Kei class allowed a body up to 3.30 meters long, roughly 129.9 inches. The rules then grew to 3.40 meters, and trucks built to the larger box generally measure 3,395 mm, about 133.7 inches.

Width and height are not the issue, since current Kei Trucks are about 58 inches wide against a 60-inch limit. The federal 25-year window now reaches trucks built in October 2001 or earlier, as our 25-year rule guide explains, so a growing share of importable trucks comes from the longer generation.

A truck over 130 inches is simply outside Act 153. The act does not ban it, but it does not hand it the pleasure car route or the local protection either. Whether the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will register a longer truck some other way is not settled in the statute, so get an answer in writing before you buy.

Where can you drive a Kei Truck in Vermont?

Anywhere other pleasure cars go, with no Kei-specific speed or road rule. Under § 1044, a Kei vehicle with pleasure car registration follows every rule that applies to pleasure cars, and a Kei Truck with farm truck registration follows the farm truck rules. No town can carve out its own ban.

Farms get one more option. Under 23 V.S.A. § 370(b), an unregistered farm truck used only for farm work may cross or travel a highway inside the farm or between farms. Act 153 brought Kei Trucks into the farm truck definition, so a qualifying truck can use that rule. Rules change at the state line, so check New Hampshire and New York before you cross.

How do you register a Kei Truck in Vermont?

Register with the DMV as a pleasure car, or as a farm truck if that suits your operation. The DMV fee schedule lists $91 for one year or $167 for two years for a car or a truck up to 6,099 pounds. Our importing guide covers the federal paperwork.

1. Check the length before you buy

   Read the overall length on the Japanese export certificate. Anything at 3,302 mm (130 inches) or less fits Vermont's definition; a truck listed at 3,395 mm does not.

2. Assemble the import file

   Bring customs entry papers, the HS-7 declaration marked box 1, EPA Form 3520-1, the export certificate with a certified English translation, and your bill of sale.

3. Pick pleasure car or farm truck

   Register as a pleasure car, or as a farm truck under 23 V.S.A. § 367(f) if the truck mainly carries property for your farm.

4. Insure and register

   Buy liability insurance, then register with the DMV. Expect $91 for one year or $167 for two years as a pleasure car.

5. Pass the annual inspection

   Take the truck to a licensed inspection station with working lights, wipers, brakes and glass.

What does a Vermont inspection check on a Kei Truck?

Vermont inspects every registered vehicle once a year under 23 V.S.A. § 1222. Act 153 also told the DMV to rewrite its inspection manual so a vehicle fails only for a condition that is an immediate safety risk, with lesser problems noted as advisories. The Legislature asked the DMV to look again at brake rotors, suspension, tires, lighting and wiring, power steering, glass, wipers and bodywork, and the DMV adopted an emergency rule in late summer 2026 to carry that out.

That helps an older truck, but it still has to pass. Check Kei Truck lights and wiper blades before the appointment, and ask the station how it handles diagnostics on a Japanese-market engine.

For other states, see Kei Truck laws by state, and use the buying guide to judge rust and condition on an older truck before you bid.