Car Importer Counting Huge Loses as Vehicle Carrier Overturns on Nairobi-Mombasa Highway

A car importer is counting losses running into millions of shillings after a carrier overturned along the busy Nairobi-Mombasa highway, damaging several brand-new cars.

Police said the accident also left the driver of the multiple-car carrier that was destined for Nairobi and his assistant with injuries.

The truck overturned in Kibwezi, Makueni County on December 24th, leaving all the nine newly imported cars it was ferrying damaged.

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear, but the vehicles were loaded onto another carrier and transported to Nairobi, where owners are still assessing the damage and losses.

James Ndung’u, a Nairobi-based car dealer, said “It is the last thing you want to hear when expecting a unit (vehicle) from Mombasa,” 

 “I am expecting some units from Mombasa and so when I heard that there is an accident, I got so worried because I did not know what to tell the owners, luckily we were not affected,” he told Capital News.

Ndung’u said those affected “will have to seek guidance from their insurers and the carrier but I can assure you it is not as easy. It is a complex matter.”

Most car importers prefer to use a car carrier for safety as opposed to having them driven on the 400-kilometer journey from Mombasa to Nairobi or onward to other destinations including neighboring countries like Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.