Car Import Process

Everything starts with a conversation about what you actually need — make, model, body type, colour, acceptable mileage and, just as importantly, the all-in budget you want to stay within.

Browse the listings on this site to see what is currently moving through the Japanese auctions. Found something close to what you had in mind? Send us an inquiry on that vehicle and we will come back to you with the full picture.

Prefer to talk it through? Call us or drop into the yard on Ngong Road and one of our sales team will walk you through the options coming up at auction.

Torn between two models, or not sure what suits your driving? That is a normal place to start. We will lay out the trade-offs honestly — running costs, spares availability, resale — so you commit to a car you are still happy with in three years.

Once we know the brief, we watch the auctions for vehicles that genuinely match it rather than pushing whatever happens to be available.

When something suitable comes up we send it over for your review. If you like it, we verify its condition against the auction grading sheet and, where it is worth the extra certainty, have our partners in Japan physically inspect the unit before bidding. We will also tell you exactly when it goes under the hammer.

Before you commit, you get a written cost breakdown: CIF value, import duty, shipping, port and clearing charges, our agency fee and the smaller incidentals. No figures appear later that you have not already seen.

To bid on your behalf we ask for a 30% commitment deposit against the total landed cost, and we sign a binding sales agreement that sets out the payment schedule in writing.

With the deposit received, we instruct our partners in Japan to secure the vehicle at auction.

After purchase the vehicle goes through the mandatory KEBS pre-export inspection, which is what allows it to enter Kenya at all.

Our partners then de-register the car in Japan and prepare the export paperwork — export certificate and bill of lading — so it is ready for the next available vessel.

With documentation complete, the vehicle sails. Expect roughly 27–30 days at sea, though vessel schedules and port congestion can move that either way.

On arrival at Mombasa our Kenyan team takes over: customs clearance, duty payment, port charges and NTSA registration all happen on our side while you wait.

Once the logbook is issued we hand the car over — at our Nairobi yard or delivered to your door, whichever suits you.

We move every vehicle on a carrier rather than driving it up from the coast, so the car reaches you with the delivery mileage it left the port with.