Buying car parts from Dubai for Kenya

Kenya's roads belong to Japanese cars, and to Toyota most of all. Business Daily, working from Kenya Revenue Authority registration data, reported in December 2018 that Toyota took 57.3% of vehicles registered in the 22 months to October 2018, 97,105 of 169,206, led by the Probox, Corolla, Land Cruiser, Vitz and Hiace. Kenya took 63,236 used vehicles from Japan in 2024, according to Japan's Ministry of Finance figures reported by Uchumi360, so the demand for Toyota parts keeps renewing. The UAE reported exporting USD 60.10 million of vehicle parts and accessories to Kenya in 2024.

Toyota parts are where UAE stock and Kenyan demand overlap most. Sharjah's yards mostly hold models sold in the Gulf, such as the Land Cruiser, Hiace and Corolla, and far fewer cars built for Japan alone, such as the Probox. Send the engine code or the VIN and the person quoting matches the part to your car, not to the market where that car was first sold.

Much of the asking in Kenya happens in public. The Facebook group called Automotive Spares Parts in Kenya showed about 28,800 members when we read it on 7 October 2026, and Nairobi's used-parts trade has long clustered around Kirinyaga Road and Grogon, according to Business Daily in 2019. A buyer who already deals with a Nairobi supplier can still ask us for a part that supplier cannot find.

A buyer sends the part and the car on WhatsApp, and a person replies with a quote for parts in UAE stock or from the Sharjah and Dubai yards. The buyer then names a cargo agent in Dubai, who collects the part from the seller, prepares the export papers and books the freight. Easy Auto does not ship abroad, promise a delivery time or book the freight. A clearing agent in Kenya handles customs and hands the goods over.

Two modes cover almost everything. Air consolidation suits a few parts that must move fast, and sea suits engines, gearboxes and anything heavy. The table shows what two Dubai freight businesses publish for Kenya. These are guide ranges, not quotes, and not promises from Easy Auto, so ask your own agent for a rate on the day you ship.

One Mombasa forwarder plans the sea leg at 7 to 12 days and air at one to two days, so the published ranges overlap but do not agree. All of them are port to port or airport to airport. Customs clearance, and the road from Mombasa or the airport to the buyer, come on top of every figure in the table.

Kenya applies the East African Community's common external tariff. In the 2022 schedule as updated in June 2025, every line under heading 87.08, the vehicle parts heading that covers brakes, gearboxes, axles, suspension, radiators, exhausts and clutches, carries a 10% rate, except seat belts and airbags at 0%. Petrol and diesel engines for road vehicles, starters and alternators are also in the 10% band. Batteries and new car tyres are in the 25% band.

Two charges on the customs value come on top of duty: an Import Declaration Fee of 2.5% and a Railway Development Levy of 2%. VAT at 16% is then charged on a value that includes duties and levies. Worked through, a part in the 10% band lands with about 32.8% of its CIF value added in tax, where CIF means the goods plus insurance and freight, and a part in the 25% band with about 50.2%.

The July 2026 changes to the East African tariff, as summarised by KPMG, list nothing for vehicle parts in Kenya's schedule. Partner states can still set one-year stays of application, so ask your Kenyan clearing agent to confirm the applied rate for your tariff line, and treat the clearing agent's assessment as the figure you pay.

KEBS, the Kenya Bureau of Standards, has appointed Quality Inspection Services Inc. Japan, known as QISJ, to inspect used spare parts leaving the UAE. The inspection happens before the parts ship, against the relevant Kenyan standard, and ends in a certificate of conformity. The KEBS manual also makes a radiation contamination check mandatory for used spare parts from Japan and the UAE. In a May 2026 public notice KEBS renewed QISJ's contract for a further three years.

The fee is set in the manual: 0.6% of the FOB value, with a minimum of USD 265 and a maximum of USD 2,700, per unit or consignment submitted for inspection. The manual lists no separate charge for the radiation check, so ask QISJ whether it sits inside that fee. It is version 13, dated 13 March 2023, and is the version KEBS still links, so confirm the current figure when you book.

Used parts that reach a Kenyan port without a QISJ certificate are inspected there instead, at a fee KEBS has put at 5% of the approved customs value. New parts take a different route. The manual describes the programme as checking goods in the exporting country against Kenyan standards, and KEBS issued a public notice in February 2026 on the expiry of its general-goods contracts. Ask your clearing agent which firm covers new parts from the UAE before anything is collected.

The fixed charges do not shrink when the part does. At 0.6% of FOB value, the QISJ fee only rises above its USD 265 minimum once the goods are worth more than about USD 44,000. Below that the minimum applies whatever is in the box. A used alternator valued at USD 250 would pay a certificate fee larger than the part itself, before freight, duty and tax.

Freight has the same shape. One Dubai air-cargo agent's card for Nairobi starts its rate table at 30 kg, where the price is AED 38 a kilo, so AED 1,140 for 30 kg, and falls to AED 22 a kilo at 1,000 kg. The card shows no lower band, so ask whether a lighter parcel is charged as 30 kg. Weight and volume both count, so a bulky light part can cost as much to fly as a heavy one.

That is the practical rule behind our Kenya offer. A single used part rarely makes sense once certificate, freight, duty and tax are added; a consignment of useful parts, or a heavy unit such as an engine or gearbox sent by sea, often does. For a trader loading several parts, the wholesale page explains how mixed orders and price lists work.

Cargo insurance is the newest requirement. Kenya's Insurance Regulatory Authority directed that from 1 July 2026 importers obtain marine cargo insurance digitally, from an insurer licensed in Kenya, before customs clearance. Car importers' groups have objected, so ask your clearing agent how it is being applied to parts before you plan costs.

Most buyers use a Kenyan clearing agent who knows the customs system. Give that agent a commercial invoice and packing list that describe each part and say plainly whether it is used, together with the original certificate of conformity for anything that needed one. Ask the seller to describe every item the same way on the quote, the invoice and the packing list.

Dangerous goods change the plan. Wet batteries, airbag modules and engines that have not been drained are normally treated as dangerous goods in air freight, and many agents refuse them or need a special contract. Tell the person quoting if your order includes any of these, so they can say which parts your agent is likely to turn away.

The best Dubai buys for Kenya are the major units and the scarce parts: engines, gearboxes, differentials, suspension arms, control modules, and parts for models the local dealer does not stock. A heavy unit by sea spreads its certificate and freight over a high value, and a scarce part has no cheaper local copy to compare against.

Wear items such as brake pads, filters and spark plugs are low in value, and a used one still pays the same inspection minimum, so they are rarely worth importing used. For those, ask for new aftermarket parts, which sit in the same duty bands but follow the new-goods route. A person at Easy Auto will tell you when a part is not worth the paperwork, rather than quote it anyway.

Start with the car: the VIN or the chassis number from the registration document, plus the engine code if you have it. Then the part: a photo of the old part or its data plate, any number printed on it, and whether you want new aftermarket, used or either. Add the quantity, whether it is for your own vehicle or to resell, and the name of the cargo agent who will collect in Dubai.

A person replies with what is in UAE stock and what the Sharjah and Dubai yards can find, and marks which items are used and so need the QISJ certificate. How to pay is confirmed with you on WhatsApp before anything is collected. Nothing is collected, certified or shipped until you and your agent have agreed each step.