MADINAH — Insurance companies have increased their charges by about 95 percent. The increase is effective since early April. Local daily Al-Madinah quoted industry sources as saying that they saw no reason for the increase. A large number of insurance companies have lately cropped up in the Kingdom and it was thought that consumers will benefit from the competitive rates they offer, sources said calling the increase “arbitrary, illogical and unjustified”. They said citizens and foreigners have to cover their vehicles with insurance in order to process their paperwork at any traffic police department. “There is no one to supervise or control these numerous insurance companies which do not provide any valuable service to the customers,” they said. The sources noted that the services extended by the insurance companies to their customers were either non-existent or of very low standard. “The companies do not shoulder their responsibilities in timely compensating the customers whose cars are damaged as a result of traffic accidents. They also charge fees on policy holders wishing to transfer their policy to other customers,” they said. Sultan Al-Burkani, a Saudi citizen, expressed his anger over the insurance companies gouging prices without being deterred. He said he went to the traffic police department to renew the registration (Istimara) of his car but the police asked him to show a new insurance policy first. “I went to a nearby insurance company only to be shocked by the high fees which were raised by about 95 percent without any prior notification,” he said. Al-Burkani said he asked the officials of the insurance company for the reasons behind the sudden increase. They merely said they got instructions by fax to increase the policy fees. “The value of my insurance policy was SR320 which went up now to SR699. I had no use for the insurance policy except to renew my car registration,” he said. He questioned the role of the concerned government department which is tasked with closely monitoring the work of the insurance companies. “The insurance companies are emptying our pockets and there is no one to stop them”, he said. Badr Al-Mutairi, another Saudi, said he changed his mind from transferring the ownership of one of his cars to his son after the insurance company asked him to pay a large sum of money. He said he went to the traffic police department to change the car registration to one of his sons but they asked him to bring a new insurance policy in the name of his son. “I went to an insurance company to change my insurance policy, which is only three months old, in the name of my son but they asked me to obtain a new insurance policy for my son at a large sum of money,” he said. Khaled Mushrif said he could not get compensation money from his insurance company for more than five months to fix his car damaged in an accident. He had bought the car after obtaining a bank loan. He said he had to rent a car at SR1,500 a month and to pay the monthly installments to the bank. “As a result, I have lost confidence in all insurance companies,” he said. Director of Madinah Traffic Police Brig. Mohammed Al-Shanbari said: “We have nothing to do with the policy prices or the supervision of the insurance companies.”
