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Changing the colour of a car has always been one of the most visible ways for owners to personalise and give their vehicles a fresh look.
But in recent years, many Kenyan motorists have been choosing an expensive shortcut instead of following the conventional respraying route wrapping.
Wrapping vs respraying
Traditionally, car owners who wanted to change their vehicle’s colour would opt for a full respray. However, a new trend has emerged, car wrapping, where a special vinyl film is applied to cover the entire vehicle.
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Although not exactly cheap, it offers several advantages: the original paint remains protected, the wrap can be removed if desired, and resale value is easier to maintain compared to resprayed cars.
Some motorists even use wraps to mimic luxury finishes such as matte black, chrome, or even colour-shifting designs, which would otherwise cost a fortune to achieve with paint.
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A car being spray-painted in a garage
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Why it’s called an expensive shortcut
Despite its higher cost compared to budget paint jobs, wrapping is seen as a shortcut because it allows car owners to sidestep the hassle of full-body resprays.
The car spends less time at the garage, there’s no strong smell of paint afterwards, and it’s possible to revert to the original colour without much fuss.
But this comes with a catch: while it may look like just an aesthetic upgrade, the law still requires that any visible change to the car’s colour be updated in the official records.
The legal process of changing vehicle colour
In Kenya, the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) oversees motor vehicle registration and ownership details.
By law, the colour listed in your logbook must match the actual colour of your car. Whether you repaint or wrap your vehicle, failure to update this detail could get you into trouble with the police or during inspection.
Car undergoing wrapping
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Here’s how you can change your vehicle colour legally:
Apply through NTSA TIMS platform – Log into your NTSA TIMS account and select the option for “Reflect Changes.”
Select colour change – Indicate that you are changing the colour of your vehicle. You’ll be required to provide details of the new colour.
Pay the applicable fee – The NTSA charges a fee (usually around Sh1,000) for processing colour change requests.
Vehicle inspection – You will need to present your car for physical inspection to confirm the new colour.
Logbook update – Once approved, NTSA will issue an updated logbook reflecting the new colour of your vehicle.
Why compliance matters
While wrapping offers flexibility and style, it’s not a loophole to skip NTSA procedures. Traffic police can penalise you if your logbook states a different colour from what’s on the road.
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Additionally, in the case of accidents, theft, or resale, mismatched records can lead to serious complications.