Can I own one here
Owning one in DeWitt 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. Texas titles and registers a kei vehicle that complies with federal law as a motor vehicle. Once titled and registered it may use any public highway where it can operate in compliance with the traffic laws.
A newer governed truck
Off highway vehicle. Texas title with the Off-Highway Use Only remark when the ownership papers show off highway use only.
Roads and towns
Roads and towns in DeWitt County.
To confirm. Texas gives DeWitt County no power to open its county roads to OHVs, and Cuero's 2024 ordinance, read only in its agenda copy, opens streets posted 35 mph or less to permitted golf carts, ROVs and UTVs and keeps them off US 87, US 183 and SH 72.
In town Some
- Some Cuero. Golf carts, ROVs and UTVs may use public streets posted 35 mph or less with lights on, with a police department permit fixed to the slow moving vehicle triangle. US 87 on East Broadway, US 87 and US 183 on the Esplanade and SH 72 on West Heaton are closed except one block for access to a home or business. ATVs and sand rails are barred. Crossing a multi lane, county, state or federal route only at a signal controlled intersection. Ordinance No. 2024-40, adding Article 11.10 to Chapter 11. Read in the council agenda copy, which carries blank section numbers and drafting marks, so the adopted text was not seen., read 28 October 2026
County roads Closed
The commissioners court has no power to open county roads to OHVs. Transp. Code 551A.053(b) reaches only the counties named in 551A.053(c), on the Red River, Calhoun and its small coastal neighbours. On county roads an OHV runs only as state law allows everywhere: with an OHV plate on a road posted 35 mph or less by day within two miles of where it is kept on the way to or from a golf course, in a master planned community with restrictive covenants and an approved plat and in farm or utility work by day within 25 miles with an orange flag and lights on (551A.055, 551A.057). Tex. Transp. Code 551A.053(b) and (c), 551A.055 and 551A.057, read 28 October 2026
State highways Closed
Closed to OHVs.
Getting one here
From Japan to DeWitt County.
The road hub, then the nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- Houston, the road hub for Texas and the central states, about 150 road miles. Port Houston lists no direct sailing from Japan.
- The JAXPORT, Jacksonville Port Authority, about 1,100 road miles.
- The Port of Savannah, Georgia Ports Authority, about 1,200 road miles.
- The Port of Los Angeles, about 1,500 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
DeWitt County, counted.
DeWitt County has 1,533 farms and 1,311 cattle operations, by the 2022 Census of Agriculture. DeWitt County grows 1,196 acres of orchards and vineyards. Farms in DeWitt County hold 50,336 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 DeWitt County?
Ask about a truck, a state or the papers, and we answer with what applies to you.
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