Can I own one here
Owning one in McHenry 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 McHenry County.
To confirm. McHenry County has no county ordinance for non-highway vehicles as its sheriff's office describes it, and the codes of its towns, some of which open their streets, were not read.
In town Some
- Some McHenry. City streets on the city's usage map are open to registered non-highway vehicles. Read on the city's page, the ordinance and map were not read. city non-highway vehicle ordinance, number and date not read, read 28 October 2026
- To confirm Crystal Lake. The town's code was not read in this pass.
- To confirm Lake in the Hills. The town's code was not read in this pass.
- To confirm Woodstock. The town's code was not read in this pass.
County roads Closed
The sheriff's office told a newspaper in August 2024 that the county has no ordinance for non-highway vehicles, so deputies apply the state ban. The county's code was not read. no county act, as the sheriff's office stated in August 2024, read 28 October 2026
State highways Closed
Closed to OHVs.
Getting one here
From Japan to McHenry County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The Port of Savannah, Georgia Ports Authority, about 1,000 road miles.
- The JAXPORT, Jacksonville Port Authority, about 1,100 road miles.
- The Port of Everett, about 2,000 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
McHenry County, counted.
McHenry County averages 33 inches of snow a year. McHenry County grows 268 acres of orchards and vineyards. 2 active surface mines and quarries work McHenry County's ground.
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 McHenry County?
Ask about a truck, a state or the papers, and we answer with what applies to you.
Reach us
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