Moving to Kenya from UK, import my car?

You can only avoid duty if your car will spend a maximum of 6 months in Kenya and then be taken out of the country, if you are a returning resident, or if you are with a foreign embassy, or the UN. 

Whether it is worth exporting depends on the make/model of your car, in terms of availability of servicing/parts and the durability of the vehicle itself.  Ride height, tyre profile for example, are important factors, to cope with large speed humps and potholes (there's no suing the council for tyre/suspension damage, in Kenya!).

You are not permitted to import a car that is over 8 years old and it must be right hand drive.  Before export, the vehicle must be taken for inspection by JEVIC (or whoever is doing them now).  The inspection takes in the general condition of the vehicle, inspection of documents and is not as thorough as an MOT. If it passes, you are issued with a windscreen sticker - the vehicle must be exported within 3 months of the inspection.  There are a few JEVIC inspection points in the UK.  There used to be one at Tilbury Docks, for example. 

Shipping is likely to take 1 - 3 months.  You will need a clearing agent, in Kenya.  In reality any company that does car shipping will already have this.  On arrival, duty will be as follows:

Import duty is 25% of the Customs value (CIF) of the vehicle i.e. 25% of (Invoice value + Insurance + Freight charges)
Excise duty is 20% of (Customs Value + Import Duty)
VAT is 16% of (Customs Value + Import Duty + Excise Duty)

Further, an Import Declaration Fee (IDF) of 2.25% of the CIF is also charged subject to a minimum of Ksh. 5,000 payable in advance on application.

Vehicles are expensive to buy in Kenya and relatively expensive to insure, as insurance is a % of the assessed value, so import can be a realistic option.  If you say the make/model of your car, I may be able to advise further.

Sorry for the late reply. It's a citroen xsara Picasso 1.6 vtr 2009. Cost me £2500 last year.

Getting that make/model serviced, plus availability of parts in Kenya might be a problem - I have never seen one there, although there are a few Peugeot vans.  It is really best to consider exporting a vehicle which is available in Kenya, as you can obtain parts. 

Kenyans also know which makes/models are the most durable and reliable and these are the ones that they tend to drive, so if it is not seen on the Kenyan roads, then its probably not worth importing.

Yes I was thinking a Toyota would be better. I have seen the same car, same year for sale in Kenya on the web for around £7000 but you're right citroen have no coverage in Kenya.

I have just seen this.

cheki.co.ke/importing-a-car-to-kenya-through-mombasa.html

This is quite confusing, seems to say duty free for expat with work visa?

"Duty Free Cars in Kenya

Under certain circumstances it is possible to avoid all of this and import a car duty free.

The broad categories are expatriates and investors, UN / Diplomatic staff and Kenyan returning residents.

For expatriates and investors, you’ll need a valid work permit, and you’ll need to have owned the car in its original country for 12 months prior to its landing, and be able to prove it. You have a three month window from the granting of your work permit to import the car."

I was not aware that expats and investors can import a vehicle duty free (I was on the KRA website recently too).  The rules you mention (as I understand it) apply to returning residents and the import of one vehicle.  Certain expats (UN staff, for example) can import a vehicle duty free, but duty must be paid if it is sold on.  Certain specialist vehicles are duty exempt. Otherwise, duty must be paid and from what I have read, there are no exceptions to this, for others.  this information is echoed on Auto-Kenya.com's website.

A Toyota Rav 4 is a good choice of vehicle, as it has the ground clearance to deal with the mega speed bumps, etc, while being relatively cheap to run.  Don't forget, it cannot be over 8 years old.

I think some NGOs are tax exempted
So it may depend if you'll be joining one

Ok I am going to do some more research on this and post the findings on here if it helps out anyone else in my position. I will be taking a teaching position if that counts as NGO.

As far as I am aware, NGO vehicles are only duty exempt in respect of their 'company vehicles'  This does not seem to apply to the import of personal vehicles of NGO employees.

The School I am going to work for says that I can import the car duty free BUT they advise against it as the bureaucracy and charges in mombasa are a real problem. What do they mean by this?

They mean there is a lot of corruption at the Port, you might end up paying more than you expected

You need to check the duty situation with KRA, don't listen to the school.  The KRA website is very clear on duty exemption for vehicles - even if you are attached to an NGO, this will still be your personal car, rather than an official vehicle.

You don't want to assume, then be landed with a large bill for duty and/or port costs for storage, while the issue is sorted out.  Last time we imported a vehicle, the process at the port was very straight forward - we had a good clearing agent and there was no corruption involved, but we imported the vehicle with full knowledge that duty was payable.

I've been lucky enough to be given a 20ft shipping container by my company to help move to Kenya. I don't need anywhere near all this space and feel it would be a great opportunity to import a car rather than buy one out here.

If I pay all the aforementioned duties and taxes surely it is a sensible thing to do seeing as the container is already being covered? I can then sell it on no? The Toyota Rav sounds very swanky...

Unless it's changed you need to have owned the vehicle for 12 months before shipping and continue to own it for 12 months in Kenya.
However for importing a vehicle you will require a PIN number from KRA  but to get that you need a Kenyan ID this can take 2 months to obtain there is no fast track, then you can get the PIN number that can be another 10 days.
It may be beneficial to delay shipping by 4-6 weeks
Else the vehicle will be held until you have a PIN number for customs clearance this will incur storage charges.
Good Luck

Unless it's changed you need to have owned the vehicle for 12 months before shipping and continue to own it for 12 months in Kenya.
However for importing a vehicle you will require a PIN number from KRA  but to get that you need a Kenyan ID this can take 2 months to obtain there is no fast track, then you can get the PIN number that can be another 10 days.
It may be beneficial to delay shipping by 4-6 weeks
Else the vehicle will be held until you have a PIN number for customs clearance this will incur storage charges.
Good Luck

These is "No Duty Free" should you wish to sell the car after the 12 months then you have to use a clearing agent and pay the relevant duty.
Only after a vehicle is 10 years old will there be little or no duty payable

As I understand it, the 12 month rule applies to those who are returning residents shipping a vehicle duty free.  Otherwise you can basically buy a vehicle, then ship it.  I can't find anything on the KRA website about requiring a PIN to import a vehicle.

Duty will usually be payable on import, which leaves you free to sell the vehicle on without payment of further duty.  If you are a returning resident, your vehicle can be sold after 12 months of import without the need to pay duty on it.  Its mainly UN or NGO vehicles which have to be assessed for duty when sold in Kenya, as they are free of duty while they are in the possession of the relevant organisation.