Hawaii: titling an imported car

Hawaii's registration statute requires the application to say a vehicle is imported; the county pages with import specifics were unreachable.

Sources checked 2026-10-17. Not legal advice; rules change.

At a glance

Import ease (where verified): Not enough official information retrieved. Only the registration statute was read; county import pages were blocked.
Kei / mini-truck: No kei or mini-truck rule found in the sources read. No kei or mini-truck rule found in the official pages read.

HRS §286-41(c): if the vehicle is imported, that fact must be stated in the registration application, and an owner whose vehicle was registered until then in another state or country must surrender the certificates of registration or other evidence of registration in the applicant's possession. The county director of finance gives full faith and credit to a currently valid certificate of title or registration from the place where the vehicle was last registered.
Source: HRS §286-41 (text read on Justia's copy)
HRS §286-41(d): the owner of a motor vehicle of the current, previous or subsequent model year bought out of state and brought into the State must show proof of payment of the use tax before a registration certificate is issued. HRS §286-41(e): the county director of finance shall not require proof of insurance for initial registration.
Source: HRS §286-41(d)-(e)

The capitol.hawaii.gov statute page and the Hawaii County vehicle registration pages returned HTTP 403 on 2026-10-17 (retried by two fetch routes) and stayed unreachable; the statute was read on Justia's copy.
Hawaii federal-compliance requirements, 25-year treatment, safety check procedures and kei treatment were NOT verified from any official source.
Honolulu County's out-of-state ownership transfer PDF returned HTTP 404.