At the end of March, Japanese import car enthusiasts in Illinois began reporting that the state had revoked their cars’ license plates and titles without any real explanation. Illinois has been revoking the plates and titles to all kinds of legally imported cars, too, not just Kei cars. Now, we have an explanation for why the state is doing this, and it doesn’t make a single bit of sense. Here’s how you can help me fight back.
Things have gotten worse since my first report on this issue on April 1. I’ve lost count of how many enthusiasts have contacted me, saying that they, too, had gotten a letter from the Illinois Secretary of State that indicated that the state had revoked the license plates bolted to their legally imported cars. The spread of cars has been sad, too, as the state has revoked license plates for everything from Honda Acty Kei trucks to Toyota Crown sedans.
Somehow, it gets even worse. The state isn’t just revoking license plates, but it’s also sending these enthusiasts branded titles with a mark saying ‘Not Eligible For Registration.’ This title brand effectively turns these imported cars into off-road-only vehicles, even if they’re clearly not. The brand also means that an Illinois resident may have a hard time selling their car to a resident in a more import-friendly state.
Illinois Bans More Than Just Keis
Unfortunately, it appears that Illinois also has no real idea what it’s doing. So, its ban, which the state has published no public-facing statements or documents about, is worse than the bans that some other states in America are doing.
Illinois is only the latest state to join the long list of states that, since 2021, have imposed either full bans or heavy restrictions on over-25-year-old imported vehicles. The state joins Maine, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Colorado. Previously, the list included Michigan, Texas, and Massachusetts, but enthusiasts in those states have successfully reversed bans. It was previously thought that enthusiasts in Colorado also beat a ban, but the state merely changed gears and decided to do its ban in secret rather than tell the public about it.
Back in late March and early April, there wasn’t much information on the ground. Here’s what I reported:
For years, Illinois has largely treated Kei cars, vans, and trucks like any other car, issuing regular, unrestricted license plates to these vehicles. I’ve been able to register Kei cars like a normal car, as have a few of my friends. But even then, I say “largely” because Illinois hasn’t been clear on its stance about Kei vehicles.
Some people have reported registering their vehicles and getting license plates, but also getting a title marked as ‘Not Eligible For Registration.’ Weirdly, some of these people are able to continue renewing their registration stickers as normal, but they were otherwise stuck with a title that branded their vehicles as off-road-only. This is similar to how other states like Pennsylvania have handled Kei trucks. But this isn’t universal. Some folks get regular titles.
At any rate, it appears that Illinois might be ramping up efforts to remove Kei vehicles from its roads. Last year, someone on Reddit reported having their license plates revoked. Now, as of about a week ago, more reports are flooding in. One of those people is Johnathan, and he published the letter he received from the state of Illinois:
That letter above is for a Toyota Crown, which isn’t even close to a Kei vehicle. I have since received more of these letters from other individuals. All of them say the same thing.
Being able to use these vehicles off-road isn’t even much of a consolation prize. Illinois has few off-road trails, and the state is equally barren of off-road parks. By marking an imported car as ineligible for registration, the state is making countless vehicles functionally useless. Granted, it’s not like you’d want to take a Toyota Crown off-road, anyway.
This Didn’t Come Out Of Nowhere
If you’ve missed my previous coverage, you might be wondering why imported cars are such a huge deal in a random assortment of states. Well, that’s because every state in America is a member of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA).
AAMVA’s mission is to standardize the driving laws across America. On the surface, that’s a great cause. Driving in Illinois shouldn’t be meaningfully different than driving in New Mexico. However, AAMVA’s efforts also include pushing states to ban certain vehicles for what the organization claims to be for safety reasons. If you’ve caught my previous coverage, read on. If not, here’s a quick run through why AAMVA is a huge player in car bans:
Back in the summer of 2021, the state of Maine launched what is currently the worst car ban in America. The state passed a law to change the classification of what can be considered to be a road vehicle. As of that summer, the state of Maine now says that any vehicle not built to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) will be barred from public roads.
Maine passing this as a law has thus far prevented enthusiasts from overturning the ban. As I have reported in the past, Maine did this based on guidance issued by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA). The organization is a non-governmental, non-profit lobbying organization composed of motor vehicle and law enforcement administrators and executives from all 50 states, Washington D.C., Canada, Mexico, and the Virgin Islands. Its core goal is to motivate the states to standardize driving laws across America.
AAMVA does not have the power to create policy, but the people who run it do. The organization first recommended the banning of mini-trucks speed-limited to 25 mph back in 2011, based partly on crash testing conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Somewhere along the way, AAMVA decided to attack all gray-market imported cars. Many of those vehicles were Kei vehicles, which are just as small as off-road-only mini trucks, but built for road use. In 2021, AAMVA decided to come down on anything not built to FMVSS specs, but specifically targeted Keis.
Finally, An Explanation
One of the worst parts of this has always been the fact that Illinois has never really explained itself. Most states that have banned imported vehicles can point to a law or a policy. Illinois hasn’t done that.
Since publishing my original piece, I have left the Illinois Secretary of State Title Division no fewer than three emails and at least 10 phone calls. I even got desperate enough to call into the IL SOS phone bank, hoping to get anyone willing to talk to me. The results have been aggravating. Many phone call attempts resulted in a busy signal, so I didn’t even get the chance to leave a voicemail. When I did get to talk to a human, I was always advised that a supervisor or director would return my call, email me, or return contact in some manner. This has never happened.
Thankfully, I am not alone. Other enthusiasts in Illinois have also been calling and emailing the Secretary of State. Finally, one person, Robert, finally got a statement from Illinois:
Unless legislation is passed that specifically allows for Kei Trucks to be registered in IL, our default is that it is not eligible for registration pursuant to IVC Section 3-401(c-1) as an off-highway/non-highway vehicle.
Excellent! So, let’s look that law up. What the IL SOS is referring to there is 625 ILCS 5/3-401(c-1)(1), which is what I guessed was the state’s justification in my original piece. This part of the ILCS is known as the Illinois Vehicle Code, or IVC. I apparently correctly guessed this to be the justification because this is the only part of the Illinois Compiled Statutes that even remotely comes close to describing this situation:
(c-1) A vehicle may not be registered by the Secretary of State unless that vehicle:
(1) was originally manufactured for operation on highways;
(2) is a modification of a vehicle that was originally manufactured for operation on highways; or
(3) was assembled from component parts designed for use in vehicles to be operated on highways.
It is the state’s opinion that a JDM import was not originally manufactured for operation on a highway. Now, you might be scratching your head there because a Toyota Crown is definitely not an off-road car. The Illinois Vehicle Code then goes to great lengths to say that for a vehicle to be legal in Illinois, it needs to have equipment complying with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. The logic seemingly used by Illinois and other states is that since JDM vehicles were never built to FMVSS, so they are not road vehicles.
This logic blows open the door for so many issues. American cars built before 1968 don’t comply with FMVSS, nor do cars imported from Europe. Yet, I’ve yet to receive a report from a Renault Twingo owner of their car getting banned. Doing this on the basis of safety is also absurd when Illinois isn’t even a state that requires motorcyclists to wear a helmet.
The law, as stated above, has been on the books in Illinois for over two decades. Yet, this didn’t become that big of a deal for the owners of imported cars until more recently. Thus, Illinois, like Rhode Island, Colorado, and other states with active car bans, is just making a new DMV policy and justifying it by tying that policy to an old law. This avoids the lengthy process taken by Maine, whose legislature went through the work of codifying its imported car ban into a new law.
Fighting Back
Having a confirmation of the state’s reasoning is a huge deal. Now, we can formulate a plan to attack it. As of right now, a bunch of Illinois-based enthusiasts have banded together, and our plan is to follow the lead set by Texas. David McChristian, the founder of Lone Star Kei, has given us a roadmap to hopeful success.
McChristian and his fellow enthusiasts called at least 180 Texas state representatives in addition to operatives at the TX DMV. The Texas enthusiasts also had a handy standard letter to send to representatives to educate them about these vehicles. Instead of fighting everyone in the government, McChristian allied with politicians to help advance the cause.
As a result, the enthusiasts in Texas became the first to beat a car ban since the 2021 AAMVA recommendations. Wins in Massachusetts and Michigan followed. So, it’s clear that Lone Star Kei has a good strategy here. I have been chatting with McChristian this month to help Illinoisans plan a path forward. Right now, it looks like we’re going to just start calling up every government official we can find.
Our plan is to educate lawmakers on what Keis are, how they’re not mini-trucks, and how keeping them legal would benefit the state, small businesses, and other parties. The state really has nothing to lose by keeping Keis legal. I mean, we want to give the state tax money! My wife, an attorney, will also help draw up a handy letter that we can send in addition to phone calls. In the very worst case, we’re also more than ready and willing to sue the state for the privilege to drive imported cars in Illinois.
If you’re a car enthusiast in Illinois and you’re interested in joining our fight, join the Illinois Kei TRUCK/VAN/CAR Facebook group, where some organizing has already started. Hopefully, we can join our friends in Texas, Michigan, and Massachusetts with a nice victory.
I live right over the line in Northwest Indiana, and have been considering buying an imported JDM car pretty hard for the last few years. (I desperately want a rhd turbo 90’s Subaru) but this gives me some pause. I feel like it’s only a matter of time until our terrible state leadership adopts a similar stance given the way things seem to be going with the registrations of these cars.
Idk, indiana seems to not really care about what your driving so long as your paying for the plates and road tax.
Down here in south central and southern indiana, we have some of the jankiest hoopties rolling down the road. Ones that defy logic as to why in the hell its still on the road.
So i feel fairly certain we’ll let our mini trucks keep roaming the roads, or any jdm edm or any-dm car be here.
They may not care for now, but it’s amazing what money and lobbying from a group like the AAMVA can do to our perceived “freedom of choice” to drive what we want to drive. I certainly hope that never becomes the case, but I don’t like the direction many of these states are going.
True, as our current governor might be the biggest crony weve had in quite some time, so we’ll see what happens here.
Theres alot of farmers here that use these trucks, so if he wants to stay in power, pissing them off likely wont win his narrow win fan base.
He sure is..
And you’re totally right about him not wanting to piss off his main voting base, but something tells me that they will still vote his direction no matter how much he and his ideals screw them over
Given who was put in as potus, and our governor, it may very well ring true, that they wont listen, nor change their next vote.
Happen to know a few who are DIE HARDS and wouldnt care if either personally set fire to their homes, theyd proclaim it was for the greater good somehow.
I’ve seen a few people mentioning diminished value, but I don’t think that’s going to get much traction.
How do you establish the pre-ban value of a vehicle that often sells for scrap prices at auction in Japan?
At most the state could be on the hook for pro-rated refunds of registration fees on cars registered in good faith.
I have not purchased a kei car through a US dealership that sells them, but if I were selling them I would have some language in the sale documents where the buyer acknowledges that road-use of their purchase is subject to local laws and regulations. I would also include language saying that it is entirely up to the purchaser to establish the legality of operating this on the road where they live.
If the buyer has been informed at time of purchase that the vehicle may not be operated on public roads depending on their jurisdiction and they choose to register it anyway in a state that doesn’t allow these cars, do they still have a case?
Colorado Here.. I have had no issues getting my Pajero registered, in fact just got new reg like a month ago. I see JDM land cruisers, skylines… all kinds of stuff here.
no keis though. Another buddy cant register his 72 crown that was actually sold here in the US new. It’s had a colorado title since it was originally sold here in denver.
The same regs got titles pulled on some CUCVs that are literally chevy blazers.
I’m in the denver metro though – YMMV in other areas.
yuck man. I was really thinking of adding a second pajero to the collection.. might wait and see what happens.
Im about 90% sure pajeros are fine to continue collecting because they were technically sold in the US under the montero name and may fall under the NHTSA’s “substantially similar” rule.
thats interesting, didnt know about that.
I am honestly surprised that Ohio hasn’t jumped on this bandwagon as well. I don’t own any vehicles that fall in this category, though, so I don’t have firsthand knowledge of it happening.
Illinois is the most corrupt, incompetent, overtaxed state except for New Jersey. I was incredibly glad to leave and it is on a financial death spiral caused by broad financial mismanagement and the undeserved pensions of Illinois government “workers.” The head of the militant Chicago teachers union reportedly sends one of her kids to a private school (https://www.illinoispolicy.org/ctu-president-reportedly-puts-her-child-in-private-school-but-opposes-choice-for-others/). None of this is surprising and I do not expect the state of Illinois to be reasonable. Even if I moved back to the Midwest for some reason it would be Wisconsin or Indiana.
Idk, indiana is pretty up there..
I wish you the best of luck, mid Level government workers don’t like being told what to do.
The AAMVA telling mid Level government workers what to do is exactly what started this mess.
No, the AAMVA is the club where the mid level government workers hang out and figure out how to further pad their resumes, it’s just a collection of those workers operating as a professional association instead of government workers. The fact that this resume padding causes cluster-f’s like the one in the article is, to them, completely acceptable collateral damage.
Who’s up for a protest at the IL Secretary of State’s car show on September 6 in Sprinfield?
https://www.ilsos.gov/publications/pdf_publications/iga14.pdf
Ill Annoy- Representing the state that is Ill
Mercedes, you are licensed to Ill.
That’s terrible, I love it.
i had been an unpaid municipal official for several years in massachusetts.
one of the things i learned was that if it wasn’t documented, it officially never happened.
i encourage you to follow every phone call with a letter and cc other officials…otherwise it might risk never having happened.
Perhaps it’s time that companies like Duncan Imports and the various other companies that literally import these cars for a living start to get involved, band together, and start to lobby the various states; they presumably are all licensed car dealers and as such perhaps have a little bit of clout, obviously more or less depending on where they are located relative to the state(s) in questions. But at the end of the day lots of people buy cars from them instead of bringing them in themselves, and every state that passes these rules equals another state without any potential sales due to that. Has anyone contacted any of them as of yet?
Drive down to the statehouse and see if any of the reps drive cool cars
Hahaha… they don’t drive at all. They are chauffeured around in black Escalades, all paid for by your tax dollars.
Uhhhhh … not in Illinois they aren’t … lol
Ouch. As a former Illinois resident and current Michigan resident… my condolences. May you win the battle as we did.
If my 1971 14k lbs Kaiser M35A2 is road legal without a CDL or even requiring seatbelts… no way would a Kei car or any other import meant for the road not qualify!
I think the selective enforcement argument is the best route. Laws (or regulations) must be applied uniformly. Of course, this could have the opposite effect of reminding the state to ban imports from other parts of the world.
Frankly if the organizations goal is to standardize rules making suggestions and having states pass unexplainable and unexplained rules seems contrary to their mission. As is making suggestions for rules that are far more strict than any rules in any state. How are you going to standardize them if they are stricter than any rules anywhere in the country. Might be a good idea to attack the organization for violating their stated mission and attacking their nonprofit status.
I can no longer see or hear the words “what the hell?!” without picturing Tim Robinson saying it.
“Granted, it’s not like you’d want to take a Toyota Crown off-road, anyway.”
Speak for yourself.
I bet Mercedes would rally one that wasn’t too nice.
I’m hoping the best for you all but I feel like if you point out things like cars before the 60s or European imports also not meeting highway standards, that may go the other way and they start not issuing those either. Or the old US ones getting limited use antique type regs and nothing foreign that wasn’t sold here originally allowed.
Just my gut feeling from life experience with upper management types, some would rather double down than back down.
Don’t worry, our official arguments to the state will mirror those used by Texas. Those enthusiasts explained what Keis are and the negative impact that a ban would have on small businesses. Among other things, they also explained that Kei owners are happy to pay taxes if the state would just take their money. As it turns out, the state seems to like getting mostly free money!
But yes, you don’t want to get stuck in a trap of “but what about” because you just give the state more ideas. 🙂
Having established precedent should help, good luck!
I feel like it would be a net positive if they started revoking titles on 60s Mustangs and GTOs. Once the media heard about it that law would go away in short order.
Bans on Imported Kei cars don’t get much attention with the general public. Banning vintage muscle cars absolutely would, and this policy already does it, even if they don’t enforce it yet.
Good point, I do feel like if somebody high up enough(state senator, governor) was an enthusiast and was impacted this would go away right quick.
I’m pretty sure it would be easier to make a 90’s Kei car road -legal in the UK, rather than a typical 60’s US muscle car.
My 60’s car is FAR more dangerous than a kei on a road. Granted, it is a VW Beetle…
For a Japanese car I think that all you need to do is stick MPH numbers on the speedo and you are good to go. Inspections on imported cars are based on the standards that were in force at the date of manufacture, so there are plenty of Muscle cars legally on the road in the UK because 1960s safety standards were just as bad on both sides of the Atlantic back then.
Just get “Farm Use” license plates.
Literally nobody is policing the use of unregistered vehicles on the road using these plates – at least here in VA.
IL is pretty dickish about farm plates. There are ~20 DMV branches in the whole state that issue them and you have to bring paperwork proving you have a farm that can make exclusive use of the type of vehicle.
Registering pickups is pretty much a flat “no.”
They’re illegal as of 7/2024 here in Old Dominion.
https://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/press-releases-240625-farm-use-vehicle-rules.shtml
https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/vehicles/registration/farm/unregistered
You can, however, now opt for ‘permanent plates’ on your “”farm”” vehicles. I have them on my old Tundra. They’re only for trucks and SUVs and cost $15 once. It stops the folks with compact cars from slapping ‘FARM USE’ plates on to avoid registration.
Good to know – Thanks for the update!
Do you know any Renault Twingo owners in Illinois?
I’ve seen two Twingos in Illinois in my entire life, and I’m about half sure one of them was an illegal import. 🙂
And do they want to sell?
Funny part is as a former resident how many laws they give lip service to until someone feels slighted. Just look at the highway speeds in Illinois.
I think what we’ve learned through many of the states that have imposed bans is that they didn’t know what they were doing – as in, they didn’t know what a kei car or a mini truck was. Blanket bans on Japanese vehicles make this extremely obvious.
They probably still don’t care, or care to learn, and in some cases that’s shown to have been a good thing as they’ve completely reversed course and removed any bans.
Personally, I’m fine with New York’s strict takes on on-road versus off-road vehicles, and extending that to mini-trucks that are speed limited below 30mph seems reasonable (though still kind of shitty – I have a few “class B” mopeds that are plated for road use under 30mph”).
I’m obviously not OK with the ban on kei cars and trucks capable of highway speeds. I don’t believe NY has had any reports of non-kei cars being unregister-able, but if I just imported an NSX or GT-R (or Crown) I’d be raising one hell of a commotion.
“I think what we’ve learned through many of the states that have imposed bans is that they didn’t know what they were doing – as in, they didn’t know what a kei car or a mini truck was. Blanket bans on Japanese vehicles make this extremely obvious.”
Wait!
Are you telling ME, that the people
purchasedelected don’t actually read and learn what they’re making rules on?Most laws nowadays just come down from whatever lobby group makes enough campaign contributions, sometimes they straight-up write the thing.
This whole “elected representative” thing is just some wishful bullshit we’re deluding ourselves in believing.
Who’s got the time to actually read & learn about prospective laws? In our money based politics, the pol is spending 60% of their time on the phone hustling donors.
It’s always particularly absurd when states with functionally no motorcycle laws and/or safety inspections do this.
$5 says you can register a side-by-side no problem.
Someone, or even a group of import owners affected by this is eventually going to sue the state to get their registrations re-validated and the branded titles replaced with clean ones. This might not save the Kei class of cars, but such a case should be a slam dunk with nothing on the books to justify the state’s position.
Every one who gets that branded title should sue the state and the AAMVA for the diminished value to their vehicle. Bury them in lawsuits.
Yah, and license aren’t free, and they took them without due process or compensation. Seems clear.
Suing the state is in the cards! However, we don’t want to do that as our primary mechanism.
As my wife/lawyer explained to me, there are really two paths a lawsuit would take us. The first path is that the state intentionally drags a lawsuit out for as long as it can, as is the case in Georgia right now. My wife has sued the state quite a lot, and Illinois has routinely been stubborn enough to make losing lawsuits last as long as possible out of spite.
The other path is that Illinois decides that this isn’t a fight worth having and caves almost immediately. That’s what happened in Michigan.
The risk is that if the lawsuit results in the first path being taken, JDM vehicles will likely be banned for the duration of the lawsuit, as is the case in Georgia right now. That means a year, two years, or longer.
So our first plan is to educate our lawmakers like Texas did. And only if they don’t listen, then we go with the nuclear option! 🙂
How about a threat of a class action lawsuit with a list of aggrieved parties and a approximate cost of the payout with damages and legal fees? Is that different?
How about a suit against AAMVA? Discovery would be fun.