Can I own one here
Owning one in Vilas 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 Vilas County.
To confirm. Vilas County is reported to open every lettered county highway to ATVs and UTVs all year outside Lac du Flambeau, and the amendment still has to be read.
In town To confirm
- Closed Lac du Flambeau. The county's 2025 opening leaves out the Town of Lac du Flambeau, reservation land. Vilas County amendment of 28 January 2025, as reported, read 28 October 2026
County roads Open
County A, B, C, E, G, J, K, M, N, O, P, S and W plus County H in Boulder Junction only, all year and outside the Town of Lac du Flambeau, from an amendment passed 10 to 9 on 28 January 2025 and signed by spring, as local news reported. The amendment was not read. Vilas County ordinance amendment of 28 January 2025, as reported, read 28 October 2026
State highways Segments open
- WIS 17 from County E to Deerskin Road in Phelps and WIS 155 from County N to Plum Lake Drive, with other numbered highways closed Vilas County release, as reported. The WisDOT orders were not read., read 28 October 2026
Getting one here
From Japan to Vilas County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The Port of Savannah, Georgia Ports Authority, about 1,300 road miles.
- The JAXPORT, Jacksonville Port Authority, about 1,400 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
Vilas County, counted.
Vilas County averages 89 inches of snow a year. 100 percent of Vilas County's people live outside urban areas. Farms in Vilas County hold 3,185 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 Vilas County?
Ask about a truck, a state or the papers, and we answer with what applies to you.
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