Are you looking for a complete guideline about car imports from Japan to Kenya? If yes, you will definitely find the information that will help you with hassle-free transportation of vehicles.
Many people face difficulty while importing vehicles from one country to another because of the lack of research. If you do good research about the whole process and get an idea about what to do, it will be two times easier for you to understand everything. Also, you can easily contact the dealers.
Here I am going to give you an outline of the whole process of importing a car to Kenya so that you can get an overall guide and steps.
Importing A Car From Japan To Kenya:
Usually, the importers ship the cars in a container named Ro-Ro. The most used vehicles are usually placed onto the vessel deck, but this process is comparatively expensive and it can take one to four weeks to reach the vehicles to Kenya.
The second-hand vehicles mostly shipped by CIF or C&F basis. The dealers of used cars carry out the paper works that are involved in the process in Japan.
Rules & Regulations for Car Import from Japan to Kenya:
Like the other countries, you will need to maintain some rules and regulations, too. Here I have explained in a nutshell about it—
Age of Vehicle: The vehicle's age should not be more than eight years old from the year of the first Registration at Japan. And the time gap between the manufactured date and the first registration date should not be more than one year.
In 2021, you are allowed to import vehicles that are registered from the year 2013, and upwards.
Right-Hand Drive vehicles: In Kenya, the drivers always have to drive on the left side of roads, so the imported vehicles should only be right-handed (RHD).
But in special cases, left-handed vehicles also can be imported, like fire tenders, ambulance, construction vehicles, etc., and they are donated to the government of Kenya.
The roadworthiness of the Vehicle: All the vehicles must undergo RWI or roadworthiness inspection which is conducted by the Japan Export Vehicle Inspection Centre (JEVIC) before they are imported to Kenya. Other companies, like ATJ, QISJ, etc. obligated to carry out the inspection.
The inspection makes sure that, the age of the cars are within eight years old, right-handed drive, decent mileage and after that, they pass the mechanical and safety inspection.
About the Inspection: Radioactive contamination of the vehicles is being checked and only those vehicles will get a certificate of confirmation whose contamination level is within the acceptable limit.
Import Tax Rate: The import tax rate is determined by KRA (Kenya Revenue Authority). The KRA uses a database named Current Retail Selling Price which lists the brand-new showroom costs of different models of vehicles. Also, the total cost of an imported vehicle depends on some other factors, like—
1.Model (Pardo, Forester, Juke)
2.Making (Toyota, Nissan, Subaru)
3.Year of manufacture
4.Transmission of the engine (manual, automatic)
5.Capacity of the engine (1800cc, 1600cc)
6.Type of fuel (diesel, petrol)
7.Class (sedan, wagon, hatchback)
The KRA devaluates CRSP price about 10% each year. So, in Kenya, the older car is cheaper, and the newer car is more expensive. And the customs value will be subjected to some charges like—
-Import declaration fee 2.25%
-Railway development levy 1.5%
-Excise duty, import duty, value-added tax (16%)
-Import duty, excise duty (20%)
-Import duty (25%)
-Radiation check, marine levy (additional charge)
At the Mombasa port, you will need to pay some additional charge—
-Registration fee: It should be paid to the NTSA.
-Port agency fee: It is an agreement fee between you and the import agent.
-Clearance fee: It is due to port clearance.
-Port charges: This should be paid to the container freight station.
-Shipping: You will need to provide a charge to the shipping line.
-Insurance: It should be provided to the preferred insurance company.
-Fee for transporting the vehicle to your location.
These are the main sectors where you have to pay some fees, but there are different calculations that help the Kenyans willing to import vehicles to determine the customs cost.
Documents You Will Need for Port Clearance:
Some documents are required for the registration and clearance of the vehicle in Kenya. They are—
1.A copy of NID in case of an individual.
2.A copy of the incorporation certificate in case of companies.
3.Bill of lading (original). You can obtain it from the shipping company of Japan.
4.A copy of KRA (Kenya Revenue Authority) PIN certificate.
5.Japanese export certificate with the English translation. You can obtain it from the shipping company of Japan.
6.RWI (Roadworthiness Inspection) certificate. It can be obtained from the QISJ (Quality Inspection Services Inc. Japan).
Besides these, in the case of duty-free cars, you will be asked to provide the original UNLP or diplomatic passport. These are the main documents you will need for clearance, but it will be wise to collect this information from the dealers.
Bottom Line:
These are the main points that you must know if you want to import any vehicles. Like other countries, Kenya has also some unique formalities for this business. If you read through the whole article, I hope you will get to know about the most basic and significant information about car import from Japan to Kenya.
