Can I own one here
Owning one in Dearborn County.
On your own land
On private land with the owner's consent an off-road vehicle needs no local act. Indiana asks for BMV registration and decals on an off-road vehicle and DNR rules govern public land.
To confirm.
On the farm
IC 14-16-1-20 does not apply to a farm vehicle being used for farming, which is outside the off-road vehicle class by the BMV's own page. No Indiana source read puts a kei truck on a county road for farm work outside the local acts.
To confirm.
A 25 year truck on the road
Road use with limits. Indiana titles and plates a mini truck for the road, and it may go anywhere except an interstate highway.
A newer governed truck
Off highway vehicle. ORV title, required for an ORV bought after 31 December 2009, applied for within 45 days.
Roads and towns
Roads and towns in Dearborn County.
Roads open. Dearborn County lets off-road vehicles use county roads outside the corporate limits of any city or town under state law, except for a list of named roads that begins with Stateline Road and Jamison Road.
This rests on Indiana law. No Dearborn County ordinance or resolution was read.
In town To confirm
No town street opening was found in the codes read.
County roads Open
County roads outside the corporate limits of any city or town, for off-road vehicles as IC 14-8-2-185 defines them, in accordance with IC 14-16-1, with named roads excepted. The page was read as far as the first two named exceptions, Stateline Road and Jamison Road, and then the host stopped answering, so the full list of excepted roads and the history note were not read. Dearborn County Code section 70.04, Off-Road Vehicles, in supplement 24 of 2024, read 28 October 2026
State highways Closed
Closed to OHVs.
Getting one here
From Japan to Dearborn County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The Port of Savannah, Georgia Ports Authority, about 600 road miles.
- The JAXPORT, Jacksonville Port Authority, about 800 road miles.
- The Port of Los Angeles, about 2,200 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
Dearborn County, counted.
Dearborn County averages 16 inches of snow a year. Dearborn County grows 100 acres of orchards and vineyards. Dearborn County has 520 farms and 208 cattle operations, by the 2022 Census of Agriculture.
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 Dearborn 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.