Can I own one here
Owning one in Dane County.
On your own land
On a farm or private land closed to public traffic a kei truck needs no registration in Wisconsin, with the owner's consent.
On the farm
No Wisconsin farm rule names a kei truck. An implement of husbandry under 340.01(24) must be manufactured, designed or reconstructed for farm work and used only for it. Whether a kei truck can qualify by reconstruction is not settled.
To confirm.
A 25 year truck on the road
Road use with limits, to confirm. Wisconsin law names Kei class vehicles, refuses them regular plates and counts them as off-road utility vehicles that may never use a highway posted over 35 mph. The statute's words leave collector plates open to an eligible special interest vehicle, and WisDOT decides whether a kei truck qualifies.
A newer governed truck
Private land only. A Kei class vehicle may be titled. A newer truck is too young for collector plates, so no registration is open.
Roads and towns
Roads and towns in Dane County.
Some routes. Dane County opens a county highway to ATVs and UTVs only by a permit for that highway in a town that has opened its own roads, never between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., and keeps thirty six busy stretches near Madison closed.
This rests on Wisconsin law. No Dane County ordinance or resolution was read.
In town To confirm
- Some Mazomanie. County Y from the village limits to WIS 78 is a standing county route that grew from the village's 2022 pilot. Village streets were not read. Dane County Code 79.023(11)(i), read 28 October 2026
County roads Some
Only county trunk highways the Highway Commissioner approves by permit, with one permit for each highway and only where the town, village or city has its own ordinance opening its roads. County Y from Mazomanie to WIS 78 is grandfathered. Thirty six named stretches are closed for good, most of them in and around Madison, Middleton, Sun Prairie, Verona, Oregon and Cottage Grove. The county's map of approved routes was not read. Dane County Code 79.023, created by 2021 OA-31 and amended by 2023 OA-31, published 27 July 2023, read 28 October 2026
State highways Closed
Closed to OHVs.
Getting one here
From Japan to Dane County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The Port of Savannah, Georgia Ports Authority, about 1,100 road miles.
- The JAXPORT, Jacksonville Port Authority, about 1,200 road miles.
- The Port of Everett, about 1,900 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
Dane County, counted.
Dane County has 2,284 farms and 654 cattle operations, by the 2022 Census of Agriculture. Dane County averages 39 inches of snow a year. Dane County grows 509 acres of orchards and vineyards.
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 Dane County?
Ask about a truck, a state or the papers, and we answer with what applies to you.
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