Car
New NTSA inspection rules are tightening the road ahead for millions of motorists already stretched thin
By Hadassah Karangu
For many Kenyans, a car has always meant more than just transport. It has meant independence, progress, and the quiet satisfaction of having made it. But a wave of new regulations from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) is prompting a harder question: how much longer can ordinary Kenyans afford to keep one?
Under the Traffic (Motor Vehicle Inspection) Rules, 2025, NTSA yesterday moved forward with the rollout of a mandatory vehicle inspection programme — one of the most significant reforms to Kenya’s road safety framework in years. Private vehicles over four years old will now be required to undergo inspection every two years. Commercial and public service vehicles face annual checks, as before. Brand new cars are exempt for their first four years on the road.
The new fee structure adds further costs: owners of vehicles below 3,000cc will pay a KSh 1,000 booking fee to NTSA, plus up to KSh 1,000 at the inspection centre. Motorcycle and three-wheeler owners face a KSh 200 booking fee and a maximum KSh 300 inspection fee.
For vehicle owners already juggling rising fuel prices, insurance premiums, spare parts costs, and routine maintenance, the additional outlay stings. Small business owners — those who depend on a single vehicle for deliveries, school runs, or informal trade — are particularly exposed. Many fear those costs will eventually filter through to the price of goods and services, making consumers pay twice.
The safety case for the new rules, however, is difficult to dismiss. Kenya recorded 5,009 road fatalities in 2025, a 5.5 per cent rise on the previous year, out of 11,638 reported accidents — the highest figure in at least five years. Human factors, including distracted driving, drink-driving, and non-compliance with traffic laws, account for the overwhelming majority of crashes. NTSA says the new inspection regime directly targets unroadworthy vehicles, which have long been linked to accidents and traffic violations on Kenyan roads.
A High Court challenge to the rules was dismissed, with the court ruling that the government had followed legal procedures in developing the regulations, including gazetted publication and nationwide stakeholder consultations conducted between February and March 2023.
To ease implementation, NTSA is licensing private vehicle inspection centres under a public-private partnership model to expand capacity and reduce delays, with clear benchmarks set for safety and emissions testing across different vehicle categories. Vehicles that pass receive an inspection report and a sticker that must be displayed at all times. Those that fail receive a defect report; owners must rectify the faults before a fresh inspection, with a free re-inspection available within 14 days at the same centre.
Critics accept that safer roads are a legitimate goal. Their concern is the pace and sequencing of reform. They argue that new compliance costs should be introduced alongside genuine support for lower-income motorists, and that enforcement must not become a revenue exercise at the expense of road users already operating on thin margins.
The debate cuts to a deeper issue. As Kenya’s transport sector modernises, policymakers face a familiar balancing act: improving standards without pricing out the very citizens those standards are meant to protect. With fuel costs high, the shilling under pressure, and the cost of living showing little sign of easing, the timing of the new rules has landed in difficult terrain.
For now, Kenyan motorists are watching closely — hoping that safer roads and affordable car ownership do not become mutually exclusive goals.
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