Motorists are staring at higher fees for inspection of their vehicles after the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) said that the current charge of Sh1,000 is inadequate.
NTSA, the State agency tasked with a raft of road safety roles including ensuring vehicles are roadworthy, says that it is facing huge funding gaps mainly because of what it describes as a low inspection fee.
Motorists have been paying Sh1,000 for vehicle inspection since 1996, but this could change if NTSA moves ahead to push for an upward review of the charge, exerting pressure on motorists already hit with higher insurance premiums.
“Financial sustainability is a critical issue: Despite having an inspection fee of Sh1,000 in place since 1996, it has become evident that this fee is inadequate to cover operational expenses… The inability to generate sufficient funds undermines the Authority’s capacity to provide reliable and up-to-date services,” the agency says in its plan announced last month.
NTSA put its budget shortfall at Sh550 million in the year that ended June 2023, adding that the cash crunch has hurt its inability to provide services.
An increase in the cost of inspecting vehicles will be another setback to motorists. Many insurers have been increasing premiums and locking out low-cost vehicles deemed too risky in a bid to reduce perennial losses in motor vehicle insurance.
NTSA is under the law mandated to inspect motor vehicles to ensure they meet safety requirements.
Every vehicle that is more than four years old from the recorded date of manufacture is subject to inspection by NTSA’s Motor Vehicle Inspection Unit, according to Section 16 of the Traffic Act.
Motor vehicle inspection has been on a steady rise. NTSA data shows that the agency inspected 464,686 vehicles in 2023, which was more than the 230,615 that were checked in 2020.
NTSA has 17 motor vehicle inspection centres and has been pushing for law change to allow it to hire private firms to help with inspections.
Motorists are given a window of 13 days to fix faults identified during the inspection and then get a re-inspection at no extra cost.
Increasing the inspection fees for vehicles would see NTSA mirror other State entities that have recently hiked the cost of their services, despite public uproar.
These include the cost of passports, National Identity cards, charges for a range of land transactions, and fines for minor traffic offenses among others.