A major crisis has hit car dealers due to an ongoing nationwide shortage of number plates that has affected the sale and registration vehicles.
More than 7,000 vehicles are currently stuck at the Port of Mombasa and Container Freight Stations (CFSs) after the government failed to pay suppliers of number plates. The car dealers traders lamented they are incurring massive losses because of lack of car number plates.
Kenya Car Importers Association wants the government to move with speed and pay suppliers to unlock printing of number plates and logbooks by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).
Through the association's chairman, Peter Otieno, the traders are now calling on the government to pay the debts that have been piling up since February 2025.
"The government has not paid the suppliers, so they cannot print the logbooks and the number plates in Ruaraka. You cannot get a vehicle from the CFS without these documents," Otieno said.
The shortage of number plates has entered the third month, halting sales and piling up of units, which is forcing clients to use temporary KD numbers, for which they pay Ksh1,000 per day.
"I sold a car in January, and until now the customer has not received the number plate," one of the car dealers told Citizen TV.
''New vehicles are rarely registered. There are no number plates; allocation is even more difficult because the systems are always down, so you can barely allocate a vehicle for a whole day," another dealer said.
The car importers' association lamented that they are facing massive losses because of the crisis, which has forced some of the traders to sell cars at throwaway prices.
''For example, by next month, the vehicles that were registered in March cannot be sold at the same price as the vehicles that will be registered in April or May. You have to accept that you have recorded losses," Otieno said.
This is the second time in nine months a shortage of number plates has hit the industry after a similar case in June last year.
In August, the NTSA refuted claims of a shortage of number plates, saying the delays were due to the dealers themselves.
NTSA blamed the mess on the car dealers accusing them of failing to collect their plates from centres identified during the application process.
"There is no shortage. Dealers are currently collecting their plates from the centres they identified during the application process,” said the authority, in a statement.
