Rina Hayashi

Regulations & Research EditorRichmond, Virginia

Former paralegal. Read every state's kei statute so you don't have to. Wants a Honda Beat.

Rina is the reason Keijira has 50-state regulation pages with real DMV sources instead of vague summaries. She spent four years as a paralegal at a small Virginia firm (Whitfield & Associates) that handled vehicle imports — not kei specifically, but classic cars, military vehicles, and overseas relocations.

She got into kei vehicles when her dad, a retired mechanical engineer in Chesapeake, wanted to import a 1995 Suzuki Carry for his three-acre hobby farm. She helped him navigate the paperwork and was horrified by how confusing it was — different rules in every state, DMV clerks who'd never heard of a kei truck, conflicting information everywhere. She left the law firm in 2024 to write for Keijira full-time.

Rina writes the regulation guides, the insurance content, the title-and-registration walkthroughs, and the legal-analysis pieces (the New York crisis, the 25-year rule explainer, the federal directive coverage). She's the only writer on the team who doesn't actually own a kei vehicle. She drives a 2019 Honda CR-V — "it's fine, it's responsible, I hate it a little" — and wants a Honda Beat. One day.

What Rina covers

State-by-state regulations
Title and registration
Insurance
Import paperwork (NHTSA, EPA, customs)
Pricing and resale value
Legal analysis

Articles by Rina (21)

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