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How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

danwilkerson.com

331–340 of 409 posts

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You could get the same benefit just by adding the class to the high school curriculum. This doesn't contribute to the upkeep of roads in the same manner as a yearly tax on those that use them. So no, not the same benefit at all.

You're thinking of car tax and fuel tax. But also, the value of roads scales poorly with any of these things. The ability to have a package delivered to your front door is valuable regardless of whether or not you even have a car, and the value of it depends on what's in it rather than how much the truck cost. The most sensible way to fund any kind of basic infrastructure is from general revenues.

The point is to discourage use of certain vehicles, not to fund anything.

But yes, truck used to haul building materials for a building site is the vehicle fulfilling its purpose and any replacement for that purpose being suboptimal.

Truck bought to haul 2 bags of groceries is not. Tax the second one.

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's bonkers how many laws there are against perfectly ordinary and normal things like importing cars in the Land of the "Free". In the UK you basically just need it to have some form of braking system and nothing likely to slice open or skewer pedestrians as you drive past, and be able to insure it.

That's one reason why the UK is considered DIY vehicle heaven. And also why it is very much a pity that it dropped out of the EU because that gave a neat little loophole for a while.

There's a lot of reasons it's a pity it dropped out of the EU, but one upside is that it gives us room to rejoin as a proper member, using the Euro, in Schengen, etc.

Or, maybe just Scotland and NI, and Wales and England can become independent.

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking about something similar the other day — why does anyone besides my family really care if I wear a seatbelt or not? You know what vehicle I see all the time that doesn’t require a license or minimum age, doesn’t have any safety features and can go 15-20 mph alongside traffic and often on a city sidewalk amongst pedestrians? A bicycle ;)

If you opt out of ER visits and are ok with being left to die if you’re in a car accident, sure, don’t wear a seatbelt. Also, you know who dies in much greater numbers than pedestrians due to vehicle crashes? The pedestrians walking by the bicyclists. So should pedestrians be forced to wear massive armors of steel when they walk around? Oh wait, that’s how so many awful American cities are designed. With absolutely n…

MX-5's for everyone!

But yeah, without cars motorcycles and scooters suddenly become much safer way of transport

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#334

There’s an SF-based startup working on an electric truck for urban audiences, called Telo. Might be interesting to those who find kei trucks appealing but want a proper fully street legal alternative. https://www.motortrend.com/news/telo-electric-mini-truck-fir...

Think it has same problem of you-die-on-any-crash at least looking at where driver is.

We just need someone to attach a small tipper truck bed to a Yaris...

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's one reason why the UK is considered DIY vehicle heaven. And also why it is very much a pity that it dropped out of the EU because that gave a neat little loophole for a while.

There's a lot of reasons it's a pity it dropped out of the EU, but one upside is that it gives us room to rejoin as a proper member, using the Euro, in Schengen, etc. Or, maybe just Scotland and NI, and Wales and England can become independent.

> There's a lot of reasons it's a pity it dropped out of the EU

Yes, sorry I did not mean to give the impression that that was a major thing, just one more item that I've seen people use in creative ways. But obviously it's just a tiny footnote in a much, much larger tragedy.

> but one upside is that it gives us room to rejoin as a proper member, using the Euro, in Schengen, etc.

Can't wait.

> Or, maybe just Scotland and NI, and Wales and England can become independent.

England will put up a ton of resistance before allowing that to happen.

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#336
post #4

In the PNW these are absolutely everywhere and for good reason - they're exactly what most people need when they need a truck bed for hauling capacity. Plus, many are 4/AWD and have relatively high clearance so they're great adventure wagons for forest roads and getting out there. If a manufacturer made a truck similar (or slightly larger - not much room for people 6' and over in them) available for the market here,…

In Oregon, Kei cars are specifically illegal, they cannot be titled or registered. Other states are following a similar path so definitely make sure you can title it before you buy it.

Register a Montana-based LLC and shove the kei into registration in Montana. If rich folks can do it to evade taxes on their supercars, we can do it to evade registration requirements...

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#337

There is a strong push at the state level to disallow the registration of kei trucks, being lead by the AAMVA (American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators) [0] As others have noted, these are fantastic utility vehicles, which have an important place in many rural areas. They can come with many important features like 4x4, diff-lock, dump beds, etc, all with a very reasonable 660cc serviceable engine. I perso…

My province prohibited all right-hand drive vehicles, because there were so many kei trucks coming in.

(1) https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/information/transportat...

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#338
post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can not replace new pickup truck. A bicycle doesn't replace a motorcycle just because it has two wheels and you can put groceries on it.

It can certainly replace _some_ pickup trucks in the same way that there is overlap between a motorcycle and bicycle for _some_ purposes. I would happily buy a kei truck, but something like an older Toyota Tacoma is my best bet right now.

N=1, moved into my current home a few years ago and it has a long and steep hill for a driveway (house is downhill from the street). I bought an early-00's pickup truck thinking I'd use it a lot more than I have. It's languishing in the driveway and will probably go up for sale soon.

If I could reasonably get and register a Kei truck in my state it would be the perfect replacement, literally all I need is some hauling space for big trash cans, and the occasional Home Depot run.

If they made them electric I'd already be getting one!

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#339
Funny that this was just posted. Some idiot was driving this on the highway on Thursday. These are cool if you live in a rural area, and will stay in small streets where you at best would need to not go more than 40mph. I actually won't mind one especially if I can put a snow plow on it.

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#340
post #33

This goes to show just how superficial and backwards the American car industry is. You can do the job of a $50,000 pickup using a machine that is half the size of a Honda Civic, costs $10,000 new, gets 40 MPG, fits in any parking spot, is easy to load, and sells for around $10,000 new. But they look weak and girly . Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas.

>But they look weak and girly. If you've read the article, you'd see its because these vehicles don't conform to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

A motor vehicle that is at least 25 years old can be lawfully imported into the U.S. without regard to whether it complies with all applicable FMVSS. Such a vehicle would be entered under Box 1 on the HS-7 Declaration form to be given to Customs at the time of importation. If you wish to see that form, you may download a copy from our website at nhtsa.gov/importing-vehicle. You should note that the 25 year period runs from the date of the vehicle's manufacture. If the date of manufacture is not identified on a label permanently affixed to the vehicle by its original manufacturer, to establish the age of the vehicle, you should have documentation available such as an invoice showing the date the vehicle was first sold or a registration document showing that the vehicle was registered at least 25 years ago. Absent such information, a statement from a recognized vehicle historical society identifying the age of the vehicle could be used.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/importing-vehicle/importation-and-cert....

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