A "new" vehicle costs how much?!!! The numbers are in and it appears that a reliable used vehicle, about 5-15 years old will cost around $25,000-30,000. This price seems outrageous! However, when Kenyans or expats living in Kenya purchase a vehicle, the vehicle they purchase does not depreciate in Kenya like it would in North America. Kenya imports far fewer vehicles, vehicles imported must be built within the last 7 years, and taxes on imported vehicles are extremely high, up to 100% of the cost of the vehicle. For those of us planning to purchase, the number of vehicles available on the market is extremely low.
Due to the remoteness of our region we need to purchase a four wheel drive vehicle with hardy running gear and a reliable engine. Because our roads are two tracks with occassional bandits we would like something that we can count on getting us from here to there with few(er) break downs. The people we serve live in isolated pockets spread throughout a 15,000 square mile area with no gas stations or repair facilities in between. We hope to keep our old vehicle so that one vehicle could go on outreaches and the other on stand by as a rescue vehicle if the other vehicle breaks down.
Currently God has raised up $6,000 of the money needed to purchase a new used vehicle. A missionary friend that plans to change locations in August would like to sell us his Landrover when we return from home assignment. We would love to be able to do this as it would help him and provide us with the perfect car for our location. So we will see what God does.
