Importing cars into Kenya

Growth of the Kenyan economy has led to increased registration of new motor vehicles as demand, especially for commercial vehicles, increases. Statistics from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) show that in the first quarter of 2007, there was an increase of 46.2 per cent on the number of vehicles registered compared to the same period last year.

The Government imposes 2.75% of service charge on imports. Upon access to the World Trade Organization, the government made its commitment that it will not impose any other fees in the process of imports.



Pre-inspection certification is required for all goods that are to be shipped into the country. All goods must demonstrate compliance with standards or approved equivalents by evidence of a “Test Report or Certificate” from an accredited laboratory or recognized by the International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (ILAC) or the International Federation of Inspection Agencies. Goods shipped in without the above mentioned certificates or reports would be held at the port of entry at the importer's expense until their quality is determined.



Certain individuals are exempt from duty. These include individuals currently working for the following:-

i) Armed Forces.

ii) Aid agencies.

iii) United Nations and its agencies.

iv) The Olympic Team.

v) British Council.

vi) Wellcome Trust.

vii) Diplomats of any country. Diplomats are allowed to ship in 1 vehicle/motor cycle at a time and any extra vehicle/motor cycle will be subjected to duties and taxes at the rate of 20% + value added tax(VAT) 16%.

viii) Charitable Organizations.

ix) East African Development Bank.

x) The Desert Locust Control Organization and International Red Locust Control (DLCO).

xi) Members of the National Assembly.

xii) Returning Foreign Missions personnel.

xiii) Aga Khan Development Network.

In addition, returning Kenyan passport holders are entitled to duty exemption provided they satisfy all of the following conditions:

i) If you have been out of the country for more than two years

ii) Have not visited Kenya for more than 90 days cumulative in the two years

iii) Owned the vehicle for at least one year before shipping it into the country.

If an importer does not at all qualify for duty free status according to Customs prescriptions, Customs may demand inspection of the whole consignment to determine value. Duty will then be levied on strength of clean report of findings and import declaration form.

The following include original documents that are needed for clearing a vehicle at the port:

a) Certificate of Permanent Export (V561) or Vehicle Registration Document (V5)

b) Bill of Lading.

c) CIF Invoice.

Apart from the conditions that I have mentioned above, there are other main issues about that you must know about before you embark on shipping in a vehicle . These issues include:-

i) No left handed vehicles are allowed into the country unless they are Ambulances, Fire Trucks and large construction vehicles that are meant for the Government's use.

ii) All cars must be less than eight years old when they arrive in Kenya.

iii) All used vehicles shipped in shall be inspected for Road Worthiness, safety and other requirements.

Please click the following link if you are interested in importing a car into Kenya.



In 2008, more than 140 vehicles have been deregistered as the Kenya Revenue Authority(KRA) started a crackdown on irregularly imported vehicles.

De-registration of the vehicles means that their owners must surrender them to the tax man or they be impounded by police. KRA senior deputy commissioner in charge of marketing and communications Kennedy Onyonyi said most of the vehicles had been struck off the register for tax evasion while some had been brought into the market contrary to the set age limit and specified hand drive requirements.

Mr Onyonyi said some of the vehicle owners were not aware they were flouting the rulesort that their cars had been put under caveat for repossession. He said KRA had decided to de-register the cars after their owners failed to honor summons to have them properly registered.

KRA wishes to advise prospective buyers of motor vehicles to obtain a copy of records to ascertain their position prior to entering into any agreement

Last year, KRA published the registration numbers of more than 600 cars which it said had been irregularly registered. It gave the vehicle importers an amnesty period to have the cars registered afresh and to pay tax. The vehicles were named in a report by a task force constituted by the authority last year.

Until October 2007, KRA used to register 200 second hand cars daily but this has more than doubled. The registrar has to grapple with more than 500 new imports every day but the prisons industries can only print 200 new number plates.

Late last year, the authority complained that it had ran out of car number plates because there was a large number of cars being imported into the country. More than 2,000 cars were subsequently held up at the port of Mombasa for more than a month.