Can I own one here
Owning one in Flathead 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
Open to road use. Montana's Motor Vehicle Division titles and registers Japanese mini-trucks as unconventional light vehicles. Once the owner certifies its street equipment, a kei truck registers as a passenger car or truck with ordinary plates.
A newer governed truck
Off highway vehicle. Titled and registered as an OHV through the county treasurer. The title manual lets a mini-truck owner choose OHV instead of street-legal.
Roads and towns
Roads and towns in Flathead County.
To confirm. Flathead County's nine ordinances, as a search summary lists them, include none on off-highway vehicles, and no Kalispell, Whitefish or Columbia Falls street was read. A kei truck titled and registered street-legal drives them all.
In town To confirm
- To confirm Kalispell. The town's code was not read in this pass.
- To confirm Whitefish. The town's code was not read in this pass.
- To confirm Columbia Falls. The town's code was not read in this pass.
County roads To confirm
The county's page of adopted policies, read in a search summary and not on the page itself, says the county has nine ordinances: ordinance organization, obscene material, animal control, park rules, phosphorus cleaning compounds, community decay, speed limits, litter and pawnbrokers. None is on off-highway vehicles. The commissioners' resolutions were not searched. Under MCA 23-2-824(2) the board of county commissioners may give permission for an off-highway vehicle on a county road inside a municipality, and that permission need not be an ordinance. Part of the county lies within the Flathead Indian Reservation, where tribal and federal road authority applies on tribal and BIA roads, and a tribal rule on off-highway vehicles was not looked for. ordinance titles seen in a search summary, no off-highway vehicle ordinance among them; no resolution read, read 28 October 2026
State highways Closed
Closed to OHVs.
Getting one here
From Japan to Flathead County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The Port of Everett, about 450 road miles.
- The Port of Seattle, The Northwest Seaport Alliance North Harbor, about 500 road miles.
- The Port of Tacoma, The Northwest Seaport Alliance South Harbor, about 500 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
Flathead County, counted.
Flathead County averages 71 inches of snow a year. 7 active surface mines and quarries work Flathead County's ground. 52 percent of Flathead County's people live outside urban areas.
Areas
The areas Flathead 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 Flathead 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.