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Kenya does not have an official used car dump or scrap yard. This sounds strange because we import so many used cars that do not last long. The question is, where do the last owners take them after the machines are no longer functional?
Did you know that for about 20 years between 1970 and 1990, the Peugeot model, especially 504, was dominant on our roads?
Their monopoly was disrupted by the arrival of imported Japanese used cars. With time, their main franchise holding company Marshalls East Africa Ltd weakened out of the market and in came another giant, Toyota Kenya Ltd.
Did you know that all the Peugeots that were on the road slowly disappeared from our roads and have become vintage? Do we know where they went to yet Kenya has no official dumping yard for old cars?
If you are looking for such cars just visit Bangla, Kenya’s unofficial car dumping yard from the late seventies that has remained so to date. The place started off as open air garages along the Nairobi River just next to the famous roundabout along Juja road.
The need for quick fix spare parts necessitated the jua kali mechanics to start cannibalizing old vehicles that stayed long in their custody. Owners of obsolete brands that could no longer get spares in the Kirinyaga Road shops started prowling Kariobangi to pinch parts from stalled vehicles. This attracted more owners and a market for buyers and sellers emerged.
It is said Kariobangi has some of Kenya’s fastest, smartest and ruthless mechanics.
The Kariobangi garages started swallowing up old vehicles that could no longer be serviced by formal garages and dealers. At some point spare part sellers along Kirinyaga Road relied on Bangla chaps to source for rare part to service their customers who could not go to Eastlands.
Bangla became the unofficial graveyard for old brands that were no longer in circulation like Volvo, Ford Escort, Peugeot, Hyundai, Ford Escort and Fiat.
It also became a dumping ground for salvage vehicles discarded or written off by insurance firms.
The sheer location of the open air spare parts market meant another ready market for stolen vehicles. Did you know that the Bangla mechanics are amongst the fastest in stripping off a motor vehicle?
They simply transferred their official skill to illegal activities. It is believed stolen vehicles can be delivered into a garage at night and within seconds it becomes a shell of stripped of important parts like ignition, tyres, rims, engine, gearbox, axles, brake drums. All these happens within minutes after its arrival.
The other trick they use is to switch parts and re-spray the whole vehicle. Did you know that white vehicles are easy targets for car thieves because of the short time it takes to change colour.
Without proper legislation on environmental implications of dumping cars coupled with the lack of cut off age on vehicles allowed to be on our roads, now you know why Kariobangi is Kenya’s unofficial motor vehicle graveyard.
