Words

The words on a mini truck listing.

What each one means, in plain words. General information, not legal advice.

Kei truck
A Japanese light truck built to the kei class, the smallest class of road vehicle in Japan, with its own limits on engine size and body size. Since 1990 the engine limit is 660 cc.
Mini truck
What a kei truck is usually called in the United States.
Chassis code
The maker’s code for one generation’s body and frame, such as DA63T. It is how a listing says which truck it is.
Frame number
The chassis code with the truck’s own serial after it, such as DA63T-123456, stamped on the frame and printed on its papers. A Japanese truck has this in place of a seventeen digit VIN.
Date of manufacture
The day the truck was made. The federal 25 years run from this day, not from a model year.
The 25 year line
A road vehicle at least 25 years old, counted from its date of manufacture to the day it is entered, can come into the United States on its age.
Export certificate
The paper that takes a truck off Japan’s register so it can leave. For a kei truck it comes from the Light Motor Vehicle Inspection Organization, and a state title office asks for it.
Bill of lading
The shipping line’s record of the truck as cargo, with its chassis number.
HS-7
The Department of Transportation form filed at entry that declares why a vehicle may come in. For a truck 25 or older, its age.
EPA 3520-1
The EPA form filed at entry that declares the basis for the engine.
Customs broker
A licensed person or company that files the entry with Customs for an importer. Most buyers hire one.
Importer of record
The person or company responsible to Customs for an import. A buyer can be their own.
Chicken tax
The popular name for the 25 percent duty on imported trucks. It applies to a kei truck at any age.
Off road only
A newer truck that comes in as equipment rather than a road vehicle, governed to a low top speed, its engine covered by a certificate from the EPA before it arrives. Your state decides where it may go.
Jumbo cab
A kei truck with a longer cab and room for the seats to recline, and a shorter bed.
Deck van
A kei van with a small open bed behind the cab.
Mini dump
A kei truck whose bed tips to unload.
Low range
A second, slower set of gears on many 4WD kei trucks, for steep or soft ground.