On August 30, 2022, the Kenyan government introduced a new digital plate number for all vehicles and provided owners with 18 months to update their plates. The introduction of this new digital license plate number coincides with the Traffic Act of 2016, which has a clause that enables law enforcement to track vehicles believed to be involved in criminal activity or other illicit activity. To facilitate tracing in the event of a crime or offense, the license plate number has both visible and invisible security.
In Kenya, there are costs associated with obtaining new digital number plates. Motorcycles must pay KSh 1,500 while motor vehicles must pay KSh 3,000 as a non-refundable fee.
The New NTSA Digital Number Plates Application Process
- Make sure your car is registered with the appropriate government body. The dealer typically helps with the first registration process if you just bought a new car.
- Prepare the application’s required paperwork. These normally consist of the original logbook for the car (also known as the ownership document), a copy of your passport or national identification card, and the car’s purchase receipt.
- Visit https://timsvirl.ntsa.go.ke to access the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) website. If you don’t already have one, register.
- Go to the “Services” area on the left-hand side of the page after logging into your NTSA account. Then, select “Vehicle Registration.”
- Click Reflective No. Plate, then Request a reflective number plate.
- If you have more than one registered vehicle, you will be directed to a page that lists them all. Pick the vehicle for which you wish to register a new license plate number.
- Review the vehicle information, then select next.
- You will be required to choose the justification for your request for a reflective number plate. then choose “new generation plate” from the menu.
- Choose either SMS or email as your preferred notification method.
- Choose from a square or an oblong front and back license plate.
- choose the nearby plate counter collection office that is closest to you.
- The original logbook’s PDF form and a picture of the license plates must be uploaded, respectively. This will be done under the Tape Lifting Report and Lost/Defaced Number Plate sections. When applying for a newly created digital number plate, that is, when registering a new car, you are not required to upload a Tape lifting report.
- Review and validate the specifics of your car.
- Buy the license plate. You should be aware that KSh 3050 will be charged if you pay with M-Pesa. The additional KSh50 will cover bank fees. The usage of alternative payment methods will also incur some fees for you.
- When the license plate number becomes available, you will be notified through SMS or email (depending on your preferred notification option selected during registration). It normally takes around seven days to get a plate number.
You should be aware that you will need to give the NTSA your old plate number to receive your new plate number. The previous license plate will be exchanged with the new one.