Maine Canceling Delica Registration

Crankshaft Culture

Crankshaft Culture

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Not sure if anyone has been affected by this here, but Maine is canceling Delica registrations. This was originally brought up in the MDOC: Mitsubishi Delica Owners Club USA group on Facebook, of which I am an admin.

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Maine is Actively Canceling Mitsubishi Delica Registration

The State of Maine is actively cancelling Mitsubishi Delica registration, citing the vehicles are minitrucks.
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I do not live in Maine, but I could see how this might be a slippery slope.
 
This affects registration, but I assume driving the vehicles in Maine, if registered in another state, is still legal?

I wonder how many vehicles (in general) in the state of Maine are over 25 years old.

The parallels to the ban on right hand drive vehicles in various Central American countries is striking. Also framed as a safety issue.
 
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A state can exclude a vehicle from registration eligibility; just as states can impose emissions testing on these vans (e.g. Colorado), require the use of seatbelts (only NH has no requirement for adults now), and helmets for motorcycle riders.

Chances are there's no way around it; not even the "equivalent vehicle" Van/Wagons that were sold in the US; primarily because those were earlier models imported/manufactured/sold under different rules (maybe if you have an 80's L300 and know how to work the system). Probably the only answer is to register it in another state (if that is actually legal).
 
If this is true there should be a Delica Owner's of North America Meetup in Maine. And, you know caravan to the capitol and fancy points of interest... Hand out flyers and such. I've only ever been met with kindness and affection from anyone who as said anything about my van and I could only imagine people overwhelmingly would removing this subjectively ambiguous rule.
 
It’s interesting, when did they make this rule? We are close by in VT and it makes me a bit nervous. I too have only had kind inquiries about my van. I did have a Pakistani guy at the gas station the other day tell me how these vans are everywhere in his country but figured they would be outlawed here because if feels they are so unsafe, siting how fast people drive in their giant SUVs and where you would go if you impacted one driving 90. I smiled and was on my way crawling down the road.

I wonder if it has more to do with emissions and the “clunker” factor and if as @Growlerbearnz they are going to nix all 25+ cars….but then again…have you seen some of the trucks still on the road up here in northern New England….
 
jwampler3012 said:
Furthermore, does this mean I can’t drive to Maine? From the letter in the article it seems like any Delica on the road in ME is a traffic violation!
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Most likely fine driving around with out of state plates. I’m currently in Maine with my CA plated Delica and have driven by countless cops and have had them driving behind me.

It’s not like they’re going to be informed and on the lookout for the 5 Delica’s in the state.
 
Hi All,

We've been dealing with this for a couple months down in York, ME.

Maine allows town halls (clerks) to do state registrations. We attempted to register a 1994 L400 in March and were turned away by our town clerk with a lengthy email regarding kei-class vehicles and "japanese mini-trucks" from the Municipal Agents desk. When I tried to push back against classifying a Delica as a "japanese mini-truck" we were told to follow up with either the Director of the BMV or Maine State Police. After some additional research we followed up with the registrations department at Maine BMV and were subsequently ignored (repeated unanswered voicemails and emails) for about six weeks. We eventually forced our way to speak with Brittannee Guerette an Assistant to the Director who politely explained that the BMV is familiar with Delicas, is not lumping them in with "japanese mini-trucks," and is specifically focused on keeping them off state roads. She also mentioned they would be sending letters (I assume the ones that were recently posted to the Facebook group) to current Delica owners and would follow-up with a detailed email response.

Unfortunately, her detailed email response was the exact same language as the first email we received regarding kei-vehicles and "japanese mini-trucks." She did, however, include contact information for the Maine State Police Inspection Unit and told us to follow-up with Bruce Scott at 207-624-8935 who (apparently) is "very familiar" with Delicas and mini trucks. I doubt the last part of that statement but I really don't know. We called last week (twice) and seem to be back in the ignore phase.

A few months back, around the time we purchased our Delica, several ACTUAL mini-trucks were posted to the ME Craigslist. When I went to the town clerk in York and she saw the JDM VIN, she turned to her colleague and they both immediately threw the "japanese mini-truck" flag, one went on a rant about how we should have checked before buying the Delica. I think those little trucks may have kicked up all this shit that we're dealing with and the state really doesn't know what the difference between the two are, it's seemingly a classic case of discrimination. ALL of our pleas for differentiating between a kei-class vehicle and a Delica have been subsequently ignored (including email exchanges that detail the differences) as they continue to use that phrasing in explaining why they won't register the Delica. Not one person has given us an explanation specific to the Delica or even bothered to actually look at our van, god forbid. I'm not sure we can convince them otherwise but we're going to continue trying and I would encourage anyone else who has received those letters to do the same. We also called our state rep. but have yet to hear back from them either.

I've attached the latest email from Brittannee Guerette. If anyone wants to discuss or has experience to share, please let me know.

Cheers,
C
 

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If I had to guess, it's the laziness of the state to see a Delica and "mini truck" as 2 different categories. I am also skeptical that "mini truck" owners probably use the Delica as an example as to why they cannot register their "mini truck" and to just squash the questions and debate as to why, the state just finds it easier to categorize and lump them in together making it easier on themselves.
 
cornelius said:
Not one person has given us an explanation specific to the Delica or even bothered to actually look at our van, god forbid.
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I think the requirement to meet (current) FMVSS eliminates the L300... it had/has a horrible safety rating.
And the AAMVA's note of RHD vehicles being a higher crash risk would eliminate all JDM vehicles.
 
Maine is the most spiteful state I’ve ever dealt with. They will say no just to hear themselves being right. Good luck with changing anyone’s decision unfortunately. No matter what kind of proof you have.

My parents have countless stories of permitting craziness when building a home 30 years ago and a shed a couple years ago. “The chimney has to be built on the inside of the house, if it’s built on the outside it’s too close to the neighbor” btw, you can’t even see the neighbors house it’s so far away…
 
For what it's worth, I received a response from the State of Maine regarding my questions. They all revolve around the minitruck language, similar to what cornelius experienced. I'm asking for further clarification and will keep people updated.
 
Also dealing with Brittanee - very responsive but she began waffling hard on the reason for disqualification once I gave her the metrics on the Delica.

Keeps saying she is forwarding my letters to the "director". Also reference Bruce Scott as the Delica expert - anyone speak to him yet?

Asked her specifically which dimension qualified it as a mintruck (height, length, weight...). She then starting rattling off apologizing for the minitruck classification letter and saying that the "real" reason was emissions, no wait, safety, no wait, right hand drive, no wait...
I think there is some confusion as to why we don’t register these vehicles as it really has nothing to do with the size of the truck/van itself.
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So I then methodically picked those items apart and am now waiting for a reply. Attached thread.

The latest was that she asked for an MCO.

I suspect they know they made a mistake. Next step might be legal if anyone is willing. Should be a cakewalk for a lawyer.
 

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Thanks Chris,

Very helpful. We've sent the same type of questions her way and have left a voicemail for Bruce Scott but have not heard back. We would be interested in legal action if it comes to it. I reached out to Matt Page on Facebook and understand he is ready to reply with his lawyer.

Please keep me posted as you learn anything new, we'll do the same.

Cheers,
C
 
What is the registration status of other full size JDM vans in Maine? Toyota HiAces and LiteAces for example?

If the Toyota drivers are also getting letters from the Maine BMV, might be worth getting together with them to advocate for changes to the current situation.
 
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