Can I own one here
Owning one in Clinton County.
On your own land
On land that is not a highway a kei truck needs no Illinois plate, because registration and title attach to a vehicle driven or moved upon a highway, 625 ILCS 5/3-402(A).
To confirm.
On the farm
The farm allowance of 11-1426.1(h) lets an all-terrain or recreational off-highway vehicle run county and township roads for farming operations between the home, farm, farm buildings and nearby farm land, without the equipment list of (e) and with farm, home or non-highway vehicle insurance if not on a motor vehicle policy. It names only those two classes, so it does not reach a kei truck.
No Secretary of State page, rule or opinion applying 1-130 or 3-402(A)(2) to a kei truck was found.
A 25 year truck on the road
Road use unclear, to confirm. 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.
A newer governed truck
Unclear. No Illinois title rule for a non-highway kei truck was found.
Roads and towns
Roads and towns in Clinton County.
To confirm. Clinton County has no county ordinance that was found, Trenton opens its streets posted 35 mph or less to permitted golf carts and recreational off-highway vehicles and Breese and Carlyle were not read.
In town Some
- Open Trenton. City streets posted 35 mph or less are open to golf carts and recreational off-highway vehicles with a city permit, never on US 50 or Illinois Route 160 except to cross where the ordinance allows, never on sidewalks or in parks. Ordinance No. 1680, passed 14 August 2017, Article IX of the Revised Code, printed in the city's current application packet, read 28 October 2026
- Open Breese. The city issues alternative transportation permits each May through its police department. Read only in the city's notice of April 2025, the ordinance was not read. city alternative transportation ordinance, number and date not read, read 28 October 2026
- To confirm Carlyle. The town's code was not read in this pass.
- To confirm New Baden. The town's code was not read in this pass.
County roads To confirm
No county act was found. The board discussed one in June 2019, when its engineer noted most county roads are posted 55 mph and its insurer warned of losing tort immunity. A committee asked again in June 2023 what could be done. The county's code was not read. none found, board minutes of June 2019 and committee minutes of June 2023, read 28 October 2026
State highways Closed
Closed to OHVs.
Getting one here
From Japan to Clinton County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The Port of Savannah, Georgia Ports Authority, about 800 road miles.
- The JAXPORT, Jacksonville Port Authority, about 900 road miles.
- The Port of Los Angeles, about 1,900 road miles.
How to import a mini truck, step by step.
A newer off road truck never lands in California. It comes in through Tacoma or by way of Houston.
Trucks travel in containers, one to a 20 foot box with room for parts or three to a 40 foot box.
Road miles are an estimate, the straight line times 1.2.
The ground
Clinton County, counted.
Clinton County grows 183 acres of orchards and vineyards. Clinton County has 869 farms and 223 cattle operations, by the 2022 Census of Agriculture. Farms in Clinton County hold 19,743 acres of woodland.
Importing a kei truck
The essentials, in short.
A truck under 25 can come in only as governed off road equipment, and only if its engine family held an EPA nonroad certificate for that model year. No kei engine family was certified for mini trucks before model year 2010, so a truck built after 31 October 2001 and before model year 2010 has no federal door until its 25th birthday.
Two lanes
A road truck must be 25 years old by its own build date. A newer truck comes in only as governed off road equipment with a certified engine.
The 25 percent duty
Every kei truck pays the 25 percent truck duty at the port, whatever its age.
The paperwork
The customs entry and the two federal declarations, DOT Form HS-7 and EPA Form 3520-1, travel with the truck to your title office.
The title
Keep every stamped paper with the truck. Your state title office asks to see them.
Contact
A question about the law in Clinton County?
Ask about a truck, a state or the papers, and we answer with what applies to you.
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