Can I own one here
Owning one in Elkhart 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 Elkhart County.
To confirm. Elkhart County commissioners voted in 2024 to let off-road vehicles use the traveled part of county roads in the unincorporated area, and Goshen adopted its own ordinance for city streets that July. Neither county text was read.
In town Some
- Some Goshen. Off-road vehicles on the highways under the city's jurisdiction under rules for operation, minimum safety equipment, the operator and owner, financial responsibility and state registration. News reports say sidewalks and state highways stay closed. Read in the city's notice of adoption, not the ordinance itself. City of Goshen Ordinance 5184, adopted July 2024, in effect November 2024 by a news report, read 28 October 2026
County roads Open
County roads in the unincorporated area, outside towns and cities, for off-road vehicles such as snowmobiles and all terrain vehicles. Before the vote the county code allowed them only in the right of way. Read only in a Goshen News report. Elkhart County commissioners' vote of 2024, news report only, read 28 October 2026
State highways Closed
Closed to OHVs.
Getting one here
From Japan to Elkhart County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The Port of Savannah, Georgia Ports Authority, about 900 road miles.
- The JAXPORT, Jacksonville Port Authority, about 1,000 road miles.
- The Port of Everett, about 2,200 road miles.
How to import a mini truck, step by step.
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
Elkhart County, counted.
Elkhart County has 1,809 farms and 582 cattle operations, by the 2022 Census of Agriculture. 5 active surface mines and quarries work Elkhart County's ground. Elkhart County is mostly urban, with 23 percent of its people outside urban areas.
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 Elkhart County?
Ask about a truck, a state or the papers, and we answer with what applies to you.
Reach us
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