Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by inferiorhuman on Thursday April 20, 2023 @05:48PM (#35646834)

That's already the case. You can legally import a modern kei car if you can modify it to meet relevant safety and emissions standards. You can import any modern car. I imported a 2001 BMW from Canada a few years back and it was a breeze because it already had the EPA stickers and BMW NA signed off on the safety stuff.

The 25 (well I think DOT is 20 years and EPA is 25 or vice versa) means you can import shit without it having to meet relevant federal standards. States (e.g. California) will still want to see proof it doesn't pollute too much, and CARB tests are expensive. Sates like Washington will let you register pretty much anything with wheels which is how you see a lot of non-US. market cars for sale out here with Washington plates.

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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by piperswe on Thursday April 20, 2023 @08:09PM (#35648241)

In a similar vein, I have a Canadian market '02 Highlander that was imported by a dealership to shuffle stock around back when it was new. It helps that AFAIK there aren't any physical differences between CDM and USDM Highlanders.

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