THE mechanisms for assessing vehicle accident damage are outdated and can easily be manipulated to benefit one party over the other. Responding to public calls for the mechanisms to be overhauled, Al-Riyadh daily reports on how the Saudi Authority for Accredited Valuers (TAQEEM) and the Traffic Department are working together to find new mechanisms and qualify Saudi evaluators to enter the market. The first thing the Traffic Department does when an accident occurs is set an estimate of costs. It does not allow vehicle owners to see the estimate and instead asks them to bring three estimates of repair costs from three different car repair workshops. These estimates are then sent to the insurance company for a final decision. "Some insurance companies have good connections with car workshop owners and they abuse this relationship by asking them to give a less costly estimate of the actual damage," said Muhammad Al-Khalifah, owner of a car showroom. According to Al-Khalifah, most car valuers are elderly men who are unaware of the real prices of spare parts, especially of new models. He characterized the current mechanisms adopted by the Traffic Department as ineffective and said they almost always lead to an incorrect assessment. "The total cost of all spare parts and new paint job for a damaged car should be estimated correctly and should be done by more than one person to ensure a fair estimate. Some people may personally know the valuer and they may try to influence his estimate so they receive more money," he complained. He also said only Saudi valuers should be permitted to practice the profession. "Expatriates do not have experience in this field and some of them may be inclined to accept bribes to manipulate the estimate. The owners of car showrooms are the best people for this job," he said. Faisal Al-Jasim, also a car showroom owner, said some car repair shop owners exaggerate the estimated costs of repairing a damaged car deliberately so that they can maximize their profits. "This is why valuers should be changed every two or three years and new ones should replace the old," he suggested. Abbas Al-Shwaish, another car showroom owner, called on the Traffic Department to benefit from the experience of other countries that use sophisticated mechanisms to properly and accurately assess the damage sustained by a car. He asked why insurance companies in the Kingdom do not take charge of estimating repair costs instead of asking the owners of the cars involved in the accident to get an estimate. "Many members of the public refuse to accept such estimates and even file a complaint at the Traffic Department and sometimes in court. If such a case ends up in court, it will drag on and on for months and maybe years before a ruling is made," he said.
