Can I own one here
Owning one in Lee 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 Lee County.
To confirm. Lee County has no county UTV ordinance that was found adopted, Dixon and Amboy are reported to open their streets by permit and some townships open their roads, none of which was read, so the county is still to confirm.
In town Some
- Open Dixon. The city has had a UTV ordinance since about 2016, with some 679 registered users in 2021, as county committee minutes and a newspaper report state. The ordinance was not read. city UTV ordinance of about 2016, as reported, read 28 October 2026
- Open Amboy. The city has had a UTV ordinance since about 2016, as the mayor's letter in the county committee minutes of September 2021 states. The ordinance was not read. city UTV ordinance of about 2016, as reported, read 28 October 2026
- To confirm Ashton. The town's code was not read in this pass.
- To confirm Franklin Grove. The town's code was not read in this pass.
County roads To confirm
No county act was found adopted. A special committee drafted a county UTV ordinance in 2021 and 2022 for county roads and the roads of townships that opt in, and sent it on in May 2022, but the board held it after a fatal rollover in June 2022 and over liability, and in August 2022 it went back to committee. Eight of the 22 townships had UTV ordinances in mid 2022 and three were withdrawing after a letter from the township insurance pool. The township acts were not read. draft Lee County UTV ordinance, 2021 and 2022, not adopted as far as found, read 28 October 2026
State highways Closed
Closed to OHVs.
Getting one here
From Japan to Lee County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The Port of Savannah, Georgia Ports Authority, about 1,000 road miles.
- The JAXPORT, Jacksonville Port Authority, about 1,100 road miles.
- The Port of Los Angeles, about 2,000 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
Lee County, counted.
2 active surface mines and quarries work Lee County's ground. Lee County has 829 farms and 134 cattle operations, by the 2022 Census of Agriculture. Farms in Lee County hold 9,367 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 Lee County?
Ask about a truck, a state or the papers, and we answer with what applies to you.
Reach us
Use the form on this page. We read every message.