How to do a car search in Kenya | NTSA Tims Step by step guide

When purchasing a secondhand car in Kenya, you will have to verify the current owner of the vehicle on the NTSA Tims portal. Below is a guide that will help you through the car search process.

NTSA tims portal(car search portal)

Required details and documents

To do the search, you will need the following details:

Your ID number
Your KRA pin
The Registration number of the car(number plate)
The chassis number of the car
A service fee of Ksh 550 or above

Step by Step guide of doing a car search on NTSA Tims account

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Create a Tims account

To be able to do the search, you will need a Tims account, if you do not have one, follow the steps below to register:

Go to tims.ntsa.go.ke
Click on the register link on the page you will land
Next, enter your ID serial number(please note, not the ID number) and click on verify
On the next page, enter your KRA pin, your mother maiden name and your phone number
Click on send authorization code and you will receive a code on your phone through the phone number that you entered
Enter the code and verify
On the next page, enter the requested information and submit
You will receive a password through a text message but will be required to reset it on the first login

Reset your password

Here are the steps to follow to reset the NTSA Tims account password:

Go to the NTSA Tims portal
Click on login and enter your ID number plus the password that you received through a text message
Press on Get code and enter the code that will be sent to you through the phone number you used when creating an account
Click on Sign in
Now, click on your name at the top right
Choose change password
Enter a password that you can easily remember since this is what you will be using to log in to your account

2. Log in to your account

After creating an account, or if you had one, the next step will be to log in in order to do the search: Here is how you log in:

Open the NTSA Tims website
Enter your ID number and password
Click on get code and enter the code you will receive on the phone number you used to register
Sign in and you can now use your account

if you forgot your password, click on forgot password on the log-in page. Enter your ID and finish the process, you will receive a new password and you can reset it.

3. Do the car search

While still logged in, do the car search by following the steps below:

At the top of the site, click on Online search
On the next page, click on Moto vehicle search
Enter the car registration number, Chassis number and choose the car type
Submit the details by clicking on Search
Make the payment required
You will receive full information of the vehicle which include the engine number, chassis number, owner names, year of manufacture, make, model, caveat and body type

Why is car search in Kenya important?

When buying a locally used car, there is a big risk of getting conned or even, being sold a stolen car. To avoid this, one should do a car search to determine if the person selling you the vehicle is the current owner of the vehicle. If details do not match, just know you are dealing with a con and you should report them to the police.

Above is how you do a vehicle search on the NTSA Tims account. Cheers!!