Kei trucks for the farms of the Driftless Area

Wisconsin law names Kei class vehicles, refuses them regular plates and counts them as off-road utility vehicles that may never use a highway posted over 35 mph. The statute's words leave collector plates open to an eligible special interest vehicle, and WisDOT decides whether a kei truck qualifies. In Minnesota a mini truck drives public roads only under a permit from a county, city or town and only on the roads that government designates. Iowa law tells the DOT and every county treasurer to refuse registration and title to a vehicle without a federal safety certification label, and chapter 321 gives no exception for age. A kei truck carries no such label, so the DOT's Vehicle Services decides whether any road path opens. Illinois registers only a vehicle originally manufactured for operation on highways, and the Secretary of State's own rule lets it refuse one it finds not manufactured or designed for general highway use. The Secretary of State has published nothing on kei trucks, so its Vehicle Title Division decides each truck. Each state page gives the full rule.

The farms here sit on ridges and in coulees, where a narrow truck works the field lanes and the woods. A typical county averages 40 inches of snow a year.

It enters the country as off road equipment, governed to 25 mph. In Wisconsin it works private land and farms. In Minnesota it works farms and private land. In Iowa it works farms and private land. In Illinois it works farms and private land. Each state page has the rest of the rule.