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Tennessee
Mini trucks in Unicoi County, Tennessee
Kei trucks in Tennessee, registered for county roads and state highways at 45 mph or less.
Unicoi CountyTennessee
Can I own one here
Owning one in Unicoi County.
On your own land
On a private or public recreational trail or area, or an affiliated trail or area run by an entity with a safety program, a utility terrain vehicle is exempt from the registration and equipment requirements of 55-8-185.
On the farm
A utility terrain vehicle operated for agricultural purposes is exempt from the registration requirement and from the daylight rule in 55-8-185(b), and the state file for Tennessee found no other farm rule that reaches a mini truck.
A 25 year truck on the road
Road use with limits. Since April 2025 Tennessee puts a registered kei truck in its utility terrain vehicle class. It may run on any county road and on any state highway posted 45 mph or less, at no more than 35 mph, in daylight, with a driver 16 or older who holds a driver license and a liability policy on the truck, unless the county, the town or the state has barred the road.
A newer governed truck
Low speed vehicle. A title-only from the county clerk with a Department of Revenue sticker, or a low speed vehicle title and registration with the Low or Medium Speed Affidavit, RV-F16031.
Roads and towns
Roads and towns in Unicoi County.
Roads open. Tennessee opens every county road in Unicoi County and every state highway posted 45 mph or less to a registered, insured kei truck that counts as a medium speed vehicle, a low speed vehicle or a Class I off-highway vehicle, at no more than 35 mph and by day, never on an interstate, and the state also names listed road entries in the county. County resolutions were not searched in this pass and the towns were not read, so a county or town may have closed a road.
This rests on Tennessee law. No Unicoi County ordinance or resolution was read.
In town To confirm
No town street opening was found in the codes read.
County roads Open
Every county road in Unicoi County is open by the state's default to a registered and insured utility terrain vehicle, a class that takes in a medium speed vehicle, a low speed vehicle and a Class I off-highway vehicle and so a kei truck, at no more than 35 mph and by day, unless the county has prohibited it on a road under its jurisdiction by resolution or ordinance (55-8-185(c)(1)(C) and (j)(2)). No resolution of the county was found. The Department of Safety's list of local prohibitions, due 1 October 2025, was not reachable from this session. T.C.A. 55-8-185, as rewritten by Public Chapter 255 of 2025 (SB 728), approved 29 April 2025. No county resolution found., read 28 October 2026
State highways Segments open
- State Route 173 (Simerly Creek Road) from State Route 107 to Old Iron Mountain Road, and State Route 107 from State Route 173 east to Lower Stone Mountain Road near Deer Haven Road, and State Route 107 from Cross Road to Red Fork Road T.C.A. 55-8-185(f)(8)(A) to (C), Public Chapter 255 of 2025, read 28 October 2026
Getting one here
From Japan to Unicoi County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The Port of Savannah, Georgia Ports Authority, about 350 road miles.
- The JAXPORT, Jacksonville Port Authority, about 500 road miles.
- The Port of Los Angeles, about 2,400 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
Unicoi County, counted.
2 active surface mines and quarries work Unicoi County's ground. 51 percent of Unicoi County's people live outside urban areas. Farms in Unicoi County hold 1,725 acres of woodland.
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 Unicoi County?
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