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Mississippi
Mini trucks in Hancock County, Mississippi
Kei trucks in Mississippi, titled through the county tax collector.
Hancock CountyMississippi
Can I own one here
Owning one in Hancock County.
On your own land
On a farm, a woodlot or any private land off the public road a kei truck needs no plate, no registration and no off-road certificate. The road privilege tax reaches vehicles that carry people or property upon a public highway, and the off-road vehicle rules of 63-31-3(1) reach only public property.
On the farm
No farm rule puts a kei truck on a public road without a plate. The privilege tax spares only trailers and farm tractors that use the highway solely to haul the producer's own farm products to the gin or market, or fertilizer and feed to the farm, at 8,000 pounds gross or less. A farm tractor is a motor vehicle designed and used primarily as a farm implement for drawing plows, mowing machines and other implements of husbandry. An implement of husbandry is designed and adapted exclusively for farm work. A kei truck is neither.
A 25 year truck on the road
Road use unclear, to confirm. Mississippi law is silent on kei trucks. The county tax collector titles an imported vehicle on its foreign papers and federal entry forms. The Department of Revenue's checklist sets no HS-7 box limit and no federal label condition. Its Motor Vehicle Services decides a kei truck it has not seen before.
A newer governed truck
Private land only. None found for the truck as delivered. Mississippi titles ATVs and UTVs made or first sold after 1 July 2025, and the all-terrain vehicle definition quoted in 2026 SB 2265 travels on nonhighway tires.
Roads and towns
Roads and towns in Hancock County.
Towns only. Diamondhead opens the streets of its contiguous area to registered golf carts and low-speed vehicles, Waveland opens residential streets and Bay St. Louis opens streets posted 25 mph or less, while Hancock County cannot open its own roads and US 90 and Interstate 10 stay closed. A governed kei truck counts only as a low-speed vehicle, which takes a top speed under 25 mph and the federal low-speed vehicle equipment, as each city judges it.
In town Some
- Some Diamondhead. Registered golf carts and low-speed vehicles on the public streets of the contiguous area within the city limits, except streets signed against them and Interstate 10, which they may neither use nor cross at the Exit 16 overpass. Golf carts use Golf Club Drive and Kapalama Drive only on the shortest way from home, and both may run a permitted parade route. The state's low-speed vehicle is a four-wheeled electric or gasoline vehicle with a top speed over 20 and under 25 mph and the equipment of 49 CFR 571.500, so a truck governed at exactly 25 mph sits on the ceiling the words leave out, and one governed a little lower fits them if the city accepts its lamps, mirrors, belts, glass and frame number as that equipment. The owner signs a notarized affidavit that the vehicle meets state and federal law. Code of Ordinances Chapter 30, Article IX, Secs. 30-292 to 30-295, from Ord. No. 2012-013 of 4 September 2012 as amended by Ord. No. 2019-013 and Ord. No. 2012-013.01 of 16 April 2019, effective as revised on 1 August 2026, under Local and Private Laws 2012 Chapter 938 (HB 1670) as amended by SB 2989 of 2019. Read in the code text the city prints in its 2026 registration packet., read 28 October 2026
- Some Waveland. Golf carts and low-speed vehicles on the public streets of the residential areas above and below US 90. The enabling act leaves out all of US 90, all of Kiln-Waveland Cutoff and MS 603 from US 90 at Waveland Avenue to Maple Street and from US 90 at Nicholson Avenue to Jeff Davis Avenue. It requires city registration with a decal on the left rear fender. The state's low-speed vehicle is a four-wheeled electric or gasoline vehicle with a top speed over 20 and under 25 mph and the equipment of 49 CFR 571.500, so a truck governed at exactly 25 mph sits on the ceiling the words leave out, and one governed a little lower fits them if the city accepts its lamps, mirrors, belts, glass and frame number as that equipment. Ordinance No. 374 of 3 July 2018, known from a search index entry for the city's copy, which sat behind a bot check and was not opened. The enabling act, SB 2940 of 2018, was read., read 28 October 2026
- Some Bay St. Louis. Golf carts and low-speed vehicles on streets posted 25 mph or less, never along US 90 or MS 603, crossing US 90 only at named signals, with a city decal renewed each year and a slow moving vehicle emblem. The enabling act defines a low-speed vehicle as a four-wheeled electric or gasoline vehicle with a top speed over 20 and under 25 mph and a parking brake, headlamps, tail lamps, seat belts and front and rear turn signals, a list a kei truck carries, so a truck governed a little under 25 mph meets its words. City ordinance under SB 3026 of 2018, known only from the police department's golf cart page and a city FAQ as summarised by a search index. The enabling act was read, the ordinance was not., read 28 October 2026
County roads Closed
No county road is open to golf carts, low-speed vehicles or off-road vehicles. Mississippi gives the power to open streets to golf carts and low-speed vehicles to municipalities alone, 63-32-3(1), and authorizes no off-road vehicle on any public road, 63-31-3(6). Bills to give boards of supervisors the power died in 2022 (HB 1004) and 2025 (HB 265), and every bill since 2022 to tag side by sides for county roads died, the last SB 2265 and SB 2628 on 3 February 2026. No local and private act for this county was found in the Legislature's lists of measures from 2008 to 2026. Miss. Code 63-32-3(1) and 63-31-3(6). No local and private act for the county found., read 28 October 2026
State highways Crossings only
- Diamondhead: no golf cart or low-speed vehicle may use Interstate 10 or cross it at the Exit 16 overpass. Diamondhead Code 30-293(d), read 28 October 2026
- Waveland: US 90, Kiln-Waveland Cutoff and named stretches of MS 603 are closed to golf carts and low-speed vehicles. SB 2940 of 2018 and Waveland Ordinance No. 374, read 28 October 2026
- Bay St. Louis: no golf cart or low-speed vehicle along US 90 or MS 603, crossing US 90 only at named signals. City ordinance under SB 3026 of 2018, known from the police page, read 28 October 2026
Getting one here
From Japan to Hancock County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The JAXPORT, Jacksonville Port Authority, about 600 road miles.
- The Port of Savannah, Georgia Ports Authority, about 600 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
Hancock County, counted.
Hancock County grows 148 acres of orchards and vineyards. 2 active surface mines and quarries work Hancock County's ground. Hancock County has 248 farms and 139 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 Hancock County?
Ask about a truck, a state or the papers, and we answer with what applies to you.
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