Right now, kei trucks are not street legal in Georgia. The Department of Revenue stopped registering them, cancelled registrations that were already issued, and the 2025 bill that would have put them back on the road, House Bill 308, was vetoed. Owning one is legal. Driving one on a public road, as a practical matter, is not, because you can't get the registration that makes it lawful.
That's the short answer. The long answer is one of the stranger stories in recent Georgia motor vehicle law, and it matters to more people than you'd think: importers, the dealers who built inventory around these trucks, the repair shops that service them, and a lot of farmers, landowners, and enthusiasts who bought a kei truck precisely because it does real work for a fraction of the price of a side-by-side.
What a kei truck is, and why Georgia has thousands of them
Kei vehicles are Japan's smallest class of truck and van: roughly six feet tall, narrow enough to disappear in a parking space, usually with a 660cc engine. Picture the tiny flatbed at the farmers market with the fold-down sides and two seats up front. That's a kei truck.
They come into the country under the federal 25-year rule. Once a vehicle is 25 years old, it can be imported without meeting the federal motor vehicle safety standards that apply to new cars. So the kei trucks in Georgia are legally imported, legally owned, and, until a few years ago, many were legally registered, tagged, and driven.
How the registrations disappeared
Starting around 2023, the Georgia Department of Revenue's Motor Vehicle Division took the position that kei vehicles don't qualify for on-road registration and began refusing new applications. It didn't stop there. The Department also cancelled registrations it had already issued, sending owners letters telling them their titles and tags were no longer valid.
Think about what that means for a minute. People bought these trucks, registered them through the state's own process, insured them, and used them for years. Then the paperwork was pulled out from under them by policy change rather than by any new statute. Dealers who had imported inventory in reliance on the old practice were suddenly holding trucks they couldn't sell for road use. Lawsuits against the Department followed, and the fight moved to the General Assembly.
People registered these trucks through the state's own process, then watched the paperwork get pulled out from under them.
HB 308: the fix that passed, and the veto that killed it
In the 2025 session, the legislature answered. House Bill 308 passed both chambers with broad bipartisan support and would have expressly allowed kei vehicles to be registered for road use again, with carve-outs, for example keeping them off interstates.
Then, on May 14, 2025, Governor Kemp vetoed it.
What killed the bill is a lesson in how bills get drafted. The veto had nothing to do with kei trucks. HB 308 also carried a separate provision about intelligent speed assistance devices, authorizing judges to order speed limiters installed on vehicles in certain cases. The governor's veto statement objected that the authority handed to judges was too broad and too vague. And because Georgia's governor has no line-item veto over general legislation, he couldn't strike the speed-limiter language and sign the rest. One flawed provision sank the whole bill, kei fix and all.
The legislature didn't override the veto, and the registration ban stayed exactly where it was. So the Department of Revenue's position still controls today: no kei truck registrations, and the road back runs through a future legislative session. The next realistic window is a clean bill, one that either fixes the speed-limiter language or drops it entirely.
What to tell customers who already own one
If your store sold kei trucks before the policy shift, you're the first call when a cancellation letter lands. The truck is still theirs, and owning it is legal. But driving it on public roads after cancellation means citations for operating an unregistered vehicle, and it complicates insurance if anything goes wrong. Off-road use on private property is unaffected. Some owners try registering their trucks in states with friendlier rules; that workaround has real legal soft spots for a Georgia resident, and it is not something your store should recommend. Getting that answer consistent across your sales and service counters keeps a frustrated caller from becoming a claimant.
What this means if you sell, import, or service them
Dealers are the ones wearing the risk here. If you're holding kei inventory, you can lawfully sell those vehicles, but you cannot promise a Georgia buyer street-legal use, and how you document that limitation in the deal matters enormously. A buyer who believes they were sold a road-legal truck and then gets a cancellation letter is tomorrow's Fair Business Practices Act claimant. Clear disclosures, clean paperwork, and consistent sales practices cost far less than defending that claim.
Importers face a similar split: bringing the trucks in remains federally legal at 25 years and older, but the Georgia exit for that inventory is off-road buyers and out-of-state sales until the law changes.
This firm represents motor vehicle businesses across Georgia, dealers, finance companies, repair shops, auctions, and importers among them, and we followed HB 308 closely. Steven broke down the veto on video when it happened; you can watch that update here.
Watch the next session
The coalition behind HB 308 hasn't gone anywhere, and the bill's bipartisan margins suggest the votes exist for a clean second attempt. Several other states have recently reopened registration for kei vehicles, which adds pressure. Until Georgia joins them, the rule is simple and frustrating: you can own it, you just can't tag it.
If you're a dealer or importer trying to figure out what to do with kei inventory, or fielding calls from customers who got cancellation letters, a $500 Strategy Session gets you a clear read on your situation and a written plan for it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can kei trucks be driven on public roads in Georgia?
Not legally, as things stand. The Georgia Department of Revenue refuses new kei truck registrations and has cancelled existing ones, and a vehicle that can't be registered isn't road legal. Off-road and private-property use is a different story.
Is it legal to import or sell a kei truck in Georgia?
Yes. Federal law allows importing vehicles over 25 years old without meeting federal motor vehicle safety standards, and owning or selling one in Georgia is perfectly legal. The problem is registration: the state won't issue the tag and title paperwork that makes it street legal, and your sales paperwork can't promise otherwise.
Why did Governor Kemp veto the kei truck bill?
Not because of kei trucks. HB 308 also carried unrelated language letting judges order speed-limiting devices on vehicles, and the governor objected that the authority was too broad. Georgia governors can't veto part of a bill, so the whole thing died, kei fix included.
Will kei trucks become legal in Georgia?
There's real momentum. HB 308 passed both chambers with bipartisan support before the veto, and other states have recently reopened their roads to kei vehicles. A clean bill in a future session could finish the job, but nothing is guaranteed and nothing has passed yet.
I'm a dealer holding kei inventory. What are my options?
You can still sell kei vehicles for off-road and private-property use, sell into states that register them, or hold. What you can't do is promise a Georgia buyer street-legal use. How you paper those sales matters; that's worth a conversation before the next sale.
This page shares general information about Georgia law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your specific situation, schedule a Strategy Session. Some of our content is drafted with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by our team before publishing. AI can make mistakes, so please verify important facts before relying on them. The information here was current as of August 14, 2026, the date this was published. Laws change, so it may not be current or accurate when you read it.
