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California
Mini trucks in San Bernardino County, California
Kei trucks in California belong on private land, farms and closed sites.
San Bernardino CountyCalifornia
Can I own one here
Owning one in San Bernardino County.
On your own land
No plate, registration or off highway sticker is needed on private land closed to the public under the owner's or an agent's immediate control where permission is required and granted.
On the farm
A truck used only in farming is an implement of husbandry under Vehicle Code 36005(k) when its one highway use is hauling farm products no more than a mile along the highway from where the trip began, and it then needs neither registration, 36100, nor an off highway sticker, 38010(b)(2).
No DMV or CHP page applying 36005(k) to a kei truck by name was found. Federal import terms for a truck brought in as off road equipment still apply.
A 25 year truck on the road
Closed to road use. California registers an imported kei truck for the road only after it is modified and tested under CARB's direct import program, which the DMV says may be expensive or impossible for a vehicle over two years old.
A newer governed truck
Private land only. The DMV registers an off-highway vehicle only if it was originally built to US and California emission standards, which an imported governed kei truck was not.
Roads and towns
Roads and towns in San Bernardino County.
To confirm. In San Bernardino County a kei truck may work private land closed to the public with no plate or sticker, where county code bars OHV use that disturbs neighbors with noise or dust, but off that land it needs a road plate or an OHV sticker, and only a vehicle carrying the sticker may use the 9.20 miles of Needles streets the city named for OHVs in 2025.
In town Some
- Some Needles. Twelve combined use roadways, 9.20 miles in all and most under a mile, run from points in the city to BLM land under the Vehicle Code 38026.2 pilot, at 35 mph or less. The council adopted the OHV Master Plan with CHP concurrence on 9 September 2025 and a signage plan on 13 January 2026, and expected to open the routes in 2026 once the signs were up. Only an OHV carrying identification may use them, 38026.5(a). AB 1756, Chapter 131 of 2026, approved 27 August 2026, carries the pilot past its 1 January 2028 end, to 1 January 2034 by the chaptered text read on a bill tracker. City of Needles OHV Master Plan, adopted 9 September 2025, read through the Assembly Transportation Committee analysis of AB 1756 of 6 April 2026 and a city FAQ of June 2026, the adopting resolution not read, read 28 October 2026
County roads To confirm
No combined use designation under Vehicle Code 38026 was found in the state record, the OHMVR Commission's papers or a search for the county's own board actions. The county code was not read in this pass.
State highways Closed
Closed to OHVs.
Getting one here
From Japan to San Bernardino County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The Port of Los Angeles, about 150 road miles.
- The Port of Oakland, about 500 road miles.
- The Port of Tacoma, The Northwest Seaport Alliance South Harbor, about 1,100 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
San Bernardino County, counted.
26 active surface mines and quarries work San Bernardino County's ground. San Bernardino County grows 4,630 acres of orchards and vineyards. San Bernardino County has 809 farms and 106 cattle operations, by the 2022 Census of Agriculture.
Areas
The areas San Bernardino 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 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 San Bernardino County?
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