Can I own one here
Owning one in Effingham County.
On your own land
On land that is not a highway a kei truck needs no Illinois plate, because registration and title attach to a vehicle driven or moved upon a highway, 625 ILCS 5/3-402(A).
To confirm.
On the farm
The farm allowance of 11-1426.1(h) lets an all-terrain or recreational off-highway vehicle run county and township roads for farming operations between the home, farm, farm buildings and nearby farm land, without the equipment list of (e) and with farm, home or non-highway vehicle insurance if not on a motor vehicle policy. It names only those two classes, so it does not reach a kei truck.
No Secretary of State page, rule or opinion applying 1-130 or 3-402(A)(2) to a kei truck was found.
A 25 year truck on the road
Road use unclear, to confirm. Illinois registers only a vehicle originally manufactured for operation on highways, and the Secretary of State's own rule lets it refuse one it finds not manufactured or designed for general highway use. The Secretary of State has published nothing on kei trucks, so its Vehicle Title Division decides each truck.
A newer governed truck
Unclear. No Illinois title rule for a non-highway kei truck was found.
Roads and towns
Roads and towns in Effingham County.
To confirm. Effingham County's own ordinance stalled in 2020, the City of Effingham opens certain streets to permitted golf carts only and the other towns were not read.
In town To confirm
- Closed Effingham. Certain city streets and alleys are open to permitted golf carts only, at 20 mph, never on roads under the Illinois Department of Transportation. No UTV route was found. Read on the city's page, the ordinance text was not read. Ordinance No. 057-2022, read 28 October 2026
- To confirm Altamont. The city issues golf cart permits with a restriction map. No UTV route was found and the ordinance was not read. city golf cart ordinance, not read, read 28 October 2026
- To confirm Teutopolis. The town's code was not read in this pass.
- To confirm Dieterich. The town's code was not read in this pass.
County roads To confirm
A county board subcommittee drafting an ordinance for ATVs and UTVs on county roads was reported stalled in January 2020. No adoption was found and the county's code was not read. draft, stalled in January 2020, as reported, read 28 October 2026
State highways Closed
Closed to OHVs.
Getting one here
From Japan to Effingham County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The Port of Savannah, Georgia Ports Authority, about 800 road miles.
- The JAXPORT, Jacksonville Port Authority, about 900 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
Effingham County, counted.
Effingham County has 1,224 farms and 293 cattle operations, by the 2022 Census of Agriculture. Farms in Effingham County hold 25,154 acres of woodland. Effingham County averages 15 inches of snow a year.
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 Effingham County?
Ask about a truck, a state or the papers, and we answer with what applies to you.
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