Quote:
Originally Posted by niky
I SO want a new Alto.
Just as an aside, I recall reading those same rules elsewhere, in regards to UTVs... I do believe the license is a special low speed license? So not highway legal, right?
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It’s state and locality specific
Vehicles over 25 years are federally legal nationwide but certain states are being lobbied to violate federal law and ban all NEV/LSV/Kei vehicles regardless of use
Amusingly while Wisconsin had a LSV ban on private vehicles back in the day, they now apparently allow newer than 25 year them (sort of) but I haven’t been able to find specifically how or what changed but apparently a few have gotten them past the gauntlet. Only thing I can find is that Wisconsin legalized locally built side by sides under road legal ATV law.
https://myvehicletalk.com/are-mini-trucks-street-legal/
It appears 21 states allow Kei cars under road legal ATV/UTV legislation , getting them imported can still be an issue as cars still get seized and crushed at the port
As an aside I attempted to import a Canadian Chevy Trax manual car a few years ago using the Substantially similar clause
https://jalopnik.com/here-are-the-fo...1682067632/amp
I had all the paperwork and due diligence done, I had verified that the emissions components and safety equipment all had identical part numbers
When I gave it all to Canadian Supersellers to import my total cost at the time including shipping was still a grand less than a similar local example but the broker refused to import because GM refused to provide a letter and sticker of compliance.
I was told I could take legal action and likely win a judgement of “Substantially Similar” even if GM protested but the cost and time of doing so certainly Isn’t worth it for a cheap car.
This is why I say it is not possible to import foreign cars newer than 25 years old, especially not on your own and definitely not in any time or cost effective manner.
Filling out paperwork does nothing to improve the situation when the automakers won’t provide a letter of compliance to a consumer