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Kentucky
Mini trucks in Mercer County, Kentucky
Kei trucks in Kentucky, plated where the county opens the road and at work on the farm.
Mercer CountyKentucky
Can I own one here
Owning one in Mercer County.
On your own land
KRS 189.517(3) and (4) ask for the consent of the landowner, tenant or person responsible on private property and the approval of the responsible agency on public property. Neither section registers a mini-truck or an ATV for use off the road.
On the farm
KRS 189.515(7)(b) and 189.517(5)(b) let an ATV and a mini-truck run on any two lane public highway while the operator is engaged in farm or agricultural related activities, construction, road maintenance or snow removal, with a valid operator's licence, the lights lit and in daylight except for snow removal and emergency road maintenance. A vehicle used primarily for farm or agricultural activities is left out of the street-legal class of KRS 186.077.
A 25 year truck on the road
Road use with limits. Kentucky puts the kei truck in two laws. Where a county or city has opened its highways by ordinance, a minitruck equipped to the state's street-legal list, inspected, registered and insured as a motorcycle runs on those highways under a motorcycle plate. Everywhere else the mini-truck law still lets it cross a two lane highway and work on one for farm, construction, road maintenance or snow removal, in daylight.
A newer governed truck
Utility terrain vehicle. County clerk title, within 15 days of buying it (KRS 186A.070(1)). Registration comes only when the truck is to be operated on a highway.
Roads and towns
Roads and towns in Mercer County.
To confirm. Harrodsburg's own minutes of 28 July 2025 report that Mercer County has approved special purpose vehicles on its roadways except US 127 and the Bluegrass Parkway, and that the commissioners held back on city streets. The county's ordinance was not read, so the routes are to be confirmed.
In town To confirm
- To confirm Harrodsburg. The commissioners discussed an ordinance on 28 July 2025 and decided to look into it further before acting, with a Japanese pickup truck among the cases they named. No city ordinance was found. Harrodsburg Board of Commissioners minutes of 28 July 2025, not an act, read 28 October 2026
County roads Open
Reported by the city's own minutes of 28 July 2025, where the city attorney says the county has approved special purpose vehicles on its roadways except US 127, the Bluegrass Parkway and any place the Department of Agriculture bars them, and that the county's ordinance does not reach the city. The county's ordinance was not read. Mercer County ordinance, described in the Harrodsburg Board of Commissioners minutes of 28 July 2025, read 28 October 2026
State highways Segments open
- US 127 is reported excluded from the county's ordinance, as are the Bluegrass Parkway and any highway where the Department of Agriculture bars special purpose vehicles Harrodsburg minutes of 28 July 2025, a report of the county's ordinance, read 28 October 2026
Getting one here
From Japan to Mercer County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The Port of Savannah, Georgia Ports Authority, about 500 road miles.
- The JAXPORT, Jacksonville Port Authority, about 700 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
Mercer County, counted.
Mercer County has 978 farms and 464 cattle operations, by the 2022 Census of Agriculture. Farms in Mercer County hold 14,083 acres of woodland. 1 active surface mine or quarry works Mercer County's ground.
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.
News for Kentucky Kentucky lets a county or city open its highways to minitrucks
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