Used Cars from China to Uganda — 2026 Export Service

Not without written confirmation first, and we want to be precise about why. Uganda drives on the left and is a right-hand-drive market in practice. But when we went looking for the statutory requirement we could not find an express RHD requirement — or any express LHD permission — in the Traffic and Road Safety Act 1998 or in the UNBS US 845 text, and commercial import guides contradict one another on the point. Our yard stock is left-hand drive. We are not going to resolve that ambiguity at your expense, so we require written confirmation from UNBS and URA that your specific unit can be registered before we ship.

25% import duty under the EAC Common External Tariff plus 18% VAT, and an environmental levy on top for older vehicles. The levy is the number that decides deals: under the Traffic and Road Safety Act as amended, vehicles nine years and older from the date of manufacture attract 50% of CIF (20% for goods vehicles), while vehicles up to eight years pay nothing. Some commercial guides say the levy starts at five years instead of nine — the enacted Act is the primary source and says nine, but we confirm the age band with URA against the exact manufacture date before quoting.

A UNBS Pre-Export Verification of Conformity (PVoC) inspection before shipment, and for used vehicles a Certificate of Road Worthiness under Uganda Standard US 845. The roadworthiness certificate is the part most first-time importers miss — it is a used-vehicle requirement specifically, not a generic customs document, and shipping without it means the car sits at the border while it is sorted out.

Yes — vehicles 15 years or older from the date of manufacture may not be imported. This is section 14A of the Traffic and Road Safety Act 1998 as inserted by the 2018 Amendment Act, in force since 1 July 2018. A 2026 proposal to tighten the cap to 13 years was withdrawn, so 15 years stands. URA calculates age by exact month of manufacture rather than model or registration year, which matters because a car can age out during the 30-45 day transit; we leave a buffer and check the manufacture month before booking.