Can I own one here
Owning one in Stearns County.
On your own land, yes
Owning a kei truck and working it on a ranch, a farm, a mine or private property does not depend on a road title. Some states still ask for a title or an off road registration.
A 25 year truck on the road
Road use with limits. In Minnesota a mini truck drives public roads only under a permit from a county, city or town and only on the roads that government designates.
A newer governed truck
Unclear. None. The mini truck definition reaches any kei truck of 660 cc or less that was not built to federal safety standards, governed or not.
Roads and towns
Roads and towns in Stearns County.
Towns only. Paynesville opens most of its streets to mini trucks and golf carts by yearly city permit from sunrise to sunset, so a kei truck has Paynesville's side streets by day, while no Stearns County ordinance was found and St. Cloud and the other towns were not read.
In town Some
- Open Paynesville. Golf carts and mini trucks with a yearly city operator permit on city streets other than the prohibited streets the ordinance lists, among them Lake Avenue, Business 23 and County Road 34, never state or federal highways except to cross, from sunrise to sunset and single file at the posted speed. Paynesville City Code 8.14, Ordinance No. 158, 2nd Series, adopted 11 July 2016, read 28 October 2026
County roads To confirm
No county ordinance under 169.045 naming mini trucks was found for Stearns County, so no county road is known to be open to a mini truck. Under state law alone a class 2 ATV, or a class 1 ATV with a steering wheel, seat belts and a roll-over structure, may ride the right shoulder or the extreme right of a county state-aid or county highway unless the county restricts it after a public hearing, 84.928 subd. 1(c) and (d). In the agricultural zone, south and west of Trunk Highways 10, 23 and 95, no ATV may use that right-of-way from 1 April to 1 August except to and from farm work, 84.928 subd. 1(h). Whether Stearns County has restricted or widened that by ordinance was not read. No county act read. Minn. Stat. 84.928 subd. 1 and 169.045 apply., read 28 October 2026
State highways Closed
Closed to OHVs.
Getting one here
From Japan to Stearns County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The Port of Savannah, Georgia Ports Authority, about 1,400 road miles.
- The JAXPORT, Jacksonville Port Authority, about 1,500 road miles.
- The Port of Everett, about 1,600 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
Stearns County, counted.
Stearns County has 2,695 farms and 1,258 cattle operations, by the 2022 Census of Agriculture. Farms in Stearns County hold 43,154 acres of woodland. Stearns County averages 48 inches of snow a year.
Areas
The areas Stearns County is part of.
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 30 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 Stearns County?
Ask about a truck, a state or the papers, and we answer with what applies to you.
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