How to import a car from Japan to Kenya
Pick the car, check the seller, then pay. In that order. The car must be right hand drive and first registered within the last eight years. It must pass a roadworthiness check in Japan before it sails. When it lands you pay tax on it. The step people skip is checking who they are paying.
Most pages about this are written by car exporters. They are selling cars. We do not sell cars. We read what buyers said in public about the people who do. So this guide spends more time on the seller than on the car.
The whole trade runs on trust in one direction. You send money to Japan. The car comes weeks later, or it does not. Nobody holds the money in between. That is why the checks below matter more than the model you pick.
The rules your car has to pass
Kenya only lets in right hand drive cars. The car must be less than eight years old, counted from the year it was first registered. So in 2026, that means 2019 or later. It must also pass a check in the country it ships from. The rule is KS 1515:2000.
That eight year rule is the one that catches people. A car first registered in 2018 cannot come in this year. Some sellers will still offer you one. Ask for the export certificate and read the first registration date yourself.
The check in Japan is done by an agent Kenya appoints, not by the seller. Right now that is Quality Inspection Services Japan. They issue the certificate your clearing agent will need. Since July 2025 there is also a paper check on this side, at 12,000 shillings a car, done within four working days.
| What is checked | The rule |
|---|---|
| Steering | Right hand drive only |
| Age | Under eight years from first registration |
| Roadworthiness | Certificate from the agent Kenya appoints |
| Standard | KS 1515:2000 |
| Papers | Export certificate, invoice, bill of lading |
What you pay on top of the car price
Plan for a lot more than the price you see. On a used car Kenya charges import duty at 25%, excise from 10% to 35%, and VAT at 16%. Add 3.5% for the import declaration fee and 2% for the railway levy. Each one is worked out on the value the taxman sets, not on what you paid.
That last point trips up first timers. Kenya values the car from its own price list, then applies each tax in turn. A cheap invoice does not lower your bill. Ask your clearing agent to run the numbers before you buy, not after the ship sails.
Shipping, port charges and the clearing agent sit on top of all that. So a car that looks like a bargain in Japan often is not one in Mombasa. Write the full cost down on paper before you send anything.
| Charge | Rate |
|---|---|
| Import duty | 25% |
| Excise duty | 10% to 35%, by engine |
| VAT | 16% |
| Import declaration fee | 3.5% |
| Railway development levy | 2% |
How to check a Japan car exporter before you pay
Start with the trade body. Japan's used car exporters have an association, and it publishes a member list. Look the company up there. Then call the number on that list, not the one on the website you found. Ask for the bank details in writing. The account name must match the company name.
The Embassy of Japan in Kenya keeps a standing notice about this. It describes two things going wrong. Buyers pay and no car is ever shipped. Or a car ships and the buyer never pays. It points Kenyans at that member list, while saying plainly that it cannot vouch for each name on it.
The association itself says the same thing in blunter words. A price far under the market is the first sign. Fake sites copy a real member's name, and ask you to pay an account in someone else's name. And once your money is gone, it says it cannot get it back for you. Read that line twice before you send a deposit.
What the Japan sellers we list actually look like
Thin. On 25 August 2026 we list 1,743 sellers, and only 17 of them are based in Japan. They score a little above average on public buyer feedback, at 2.82 out of 5 against 2.48 for the whole list. But 17 is a small number. There is not much for you to read.
That is worth saying plainly. A quiet page is not a bad seller. It only means we could not find much to read. Plenty of solid exporters sell by email to repeat buyers and never collect a public comment. Treat a low score as missing proof, not as a warning about that firm.
Auto parts and vehicles is a thin corner of our list too. We hold 46 sellers in that line. Only 6.5% of them reached 4 or 5 out of 5 on public feedback. Across all lines it was 10.9%. So for cars, the checks you do yourself carry more weight than anything we can show you.
| Product line | Sellers | Average score | Scoring 4 or 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phones, gadgets and electronics | 28 | 2.79 | 25.0% |
| Hair and wigs | 56 | 2.70 | 16.1% |
| Auto parts and vehicles | 46 | 2.48 | 6.5% |
| Every seller we list | 708 | 2.48 | 10.9% |
Your check before you send a single yen
Work through this before any money moves. It costs nothing and takes about an hour. If the exporter fails two or three of these, slow down. None of it proves a seller is good. It only shows you how much you can find out about them first.
- Find the company on the Japanese exporters association member list.
- Call the number on that list, not the one on the site you found.
- Ask for the export certificate and read the first registration date.
- Check the car is right hand drive and 2019 or later.
- Ask your clearing agent for the full landed cost in writing.
- Make sure the bank account name matches the company name.
- Refuse a request to pay a person instead of a firm.
- Be careful when a price sits far below every other quote.
- Ask who books the roadworthiness check, and get the certificate number.
- Keep every email, invoice and payment note in one folder.
If you already paid and the exporter went quiet
Move the same day. Tell your bank and ask them to recall the transfer. Report it to the police in Kenya, who can pass it on to Japan. Send the same file to the Embassy of Japan in Nairobi. Keep every message. After a day or two the money is usually gone.
Then watch for the second hit. Someone will message you offering to recover your money for a fee. They call it a court fee, a transfer tax, or a cost to unfreeze an account. Recovery scams work because they sell hope to people who have just been robbed. No real office asks you to pay before a refund.
The trade body in Japan says it plainly. Once you have paid a fake supplier, it cannot get your money back. You would need a lawyer and a police case in Japan. That is slow and it costs money. Which is why the hour you spend checking is the cheapest hour in this trade.
How we worked this out
We read what buyers said in public. The figures come from all 1,743 sellers in our directory on 25 August 2026. We score each one on how much real buyer feedback we can find online. The scale you see is 1 to 5. We check the whole list again every week.
We do not inspect exporters and we do not hold your money. What we offer is a record of what buyers said in public, and a payment that leaves you a receipt. A score is what we could see, and nothing more.
Seven sellers on our list have changed their name at least once since we started watching. That is a small share of 1,743. It is still useful to know that a page can be rebuilt under a new name.