The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has issued a public notice requiring every driver to transfer their details to the electronic system before the end of 2016.
“NTSA has migrated Motor Vehicle Registration, Motor Vehicle Inspection Booking, Motor Vehicle Transfer of Ownership, Motor Vehicle Record Search, Driver License Record Search, Driving License Issuance, Driver License Renewal and Application for Road Service Licenses to the Transport Integrated Management System (TIMS),” the statement read.
Manual transfer of vehicle ownership will come to an end beginning next month, making the process purely digital in the new year.
“From January 1, 2017, NTSA will not accept any manual submission of transfer of ownership applications”, NTSA director-general Francis Meja said in a notice.
Moving the transfer of motor vehicles by dealers, individual owners and finance institutions to the online portal is aimed at easing the process and cutting the amount of time vehicle owners spend on the task.
The system allows for real-time transfer of vehicles without having to lodge physical paperwork with the regulator.
The buyer and seller will be required to register on the TIMS portal and submit their full details, including Personal Identification Number (PIN), identity card and mobile phone numbers
“Individual car owners, companies, motor vehicle dealers and financial institutions are required to create own profiles on TIMS by December 31st,” says Mr Meja in a gazette notice.
The notice says all persons holding onto transfer forms are required to submit them to the nearest NTSA offices for processing,
The system is linked to the Kenya Revenue Authoriy’s online platform and will update all the vehicles registered to a person based on duty payments.
To transfer a vehicle, one is required to enter the buyer’s PIN, paving the way for the system to prompt for payment of the transfer fee.
The fee varies based on engine capacity and can be paid through the mobile money system. It’ll cost buyers Sh 1,500 to transfer a small car.
Once the fee is paid, the system will generate a two part verification code. The first part will be sent to the seller and the second to the buyer through their mobile phones.
Each has to enter the code on their TIMS profile for the transaction to be completed. The system will then show that the vehicle transfer has been completed.
“If there is a dispute after the transaction, then the parties have to come to the office to have it reversed,” Fernando Wangila, NTSA’s ICT director said in an earlier interview.
This message came days after the Authority dismissed a message making rounds on social media instructing license holders to send a short code message in order to know the status of their DL and avoid being delayed on roadblocks.
