On second thoughts, it is possible that the slight price disparity I witnessed was caused by the fact that I tended to look at manual transmission cars on autotrader and corresponding automatic transmission ones on papera. Manuals are supposed to be cheaper, aren't they?

Here's an example of a car I've liked. At STG 3,450 exchanging at approximately 134 shillings to the pound, this car comes to KES 462,300. Now, about how much would it cost to get it here? The CRSP for this car is KES 3,555,585 so KRA will expect KES 376,402, bringing the total to KES 838,702. Estimating agent fees and port charges at KES 30,000, transport seems to be the only thing not factored in yet. And now we are at KES 868,702. Is this making sense to the old soldiers? Is transport the only source of difference (if any) in the cost of importing a car from these two places?

@sepp, it cost me 700 pounds to ship the car from southampton and 124 pounds for the jevic inspection, I shipped the car FOB so there was no insurance cost though this is a risk

the only risk with shipping FOB is that the ship sinks or the car is damaged while its on transit as these car carriers dock on many ports before they reach MSA and the car might get damaged during unloading and loading from the different ports however chances of this happening are very minimal and if you dont want to take chances you might opt for the insurance

I am not sure, but i asked a car dealer what the insurance covers. He told me that it covers vandalism and damages but the car is not covered if the ship sinks.he was of the opinion that it is reason many people are ignoring it. Any comment on the same from those knowlegable dealers?

UK cars are a million times better to import than Jap cars. you get a higher spec, get a car with a manual and display systems that are in english, etc. There are numerous ways to verify the service history. You can even check the average price of the vehicle prior to purchase if you have the UK reg. I can't actually believe I'm saying this since UK was once the most expensive source...but we've moved from Dubai cars to Jap cars and now to UK cars!

Get used to reading speed in mph if you import from the UK.

Thank you everyone for your very useful contributions. I am sure they will benefit not only me but also other Wazua users out there. It seems you guys think shipping insurance is overrated. As I understand it, due diligence is most important when sourcing for the car and that requires someone on the ground, right? I am not buying my car tomorrow. I’m still saving. It’ll be another couple of months before I make the mark, but I want to gather as much information as I can upfront in order to avoid costly mistakes later. I suppose when I get there I can start asking for references of good dealers I could use. @JkMwatha, you do this sort of thing, don’t you? I will remember you. Now, out of curiosity, if UK cars are so good, how come the majority of Kenyans remain so infatuated with Japanese?

@jbanda, @perminusotieno, That’s a lot of good things you guys have said for UK cars. Thanks.

@tuvok, It seems I need a twitter account to follow your link. Ouch! I don’t have one.

@Mkimwa, as far as I know most UK cars have another scale on the speedo in kph. And even if they don’t, the conversion isn’t too hard to do, is it? It's certainly easier than trying to read Japanese stickers and manuals!

@JkMwatha I won’t care too much about resale value because I intend to keep the car for like 7 or 8 years. In any case, a manual guy is a manual guy. They are not many, but there’s always someone out there looking for exactly that in a car.

My bad..

How comes Top gear always quote the speed in mph?
I know some cars have dual-meters showing both mph and kph.

@ JK,

How is the Navara performance in UK? I am falling in love with Navara Aventura; have chekced prices on Auto trader and those with less than 40,000 miles and about 6 years for about 11,000 pounds. How are the prices generally with private sellers. I will be getting one soon, let me know how you can help please