JEDDAH, 28 January 2004 — A few days ago, another driver made a U-turn directly in front of me, causing me to collide with his car. I went to the traffic department and was told to go to three workshops to get an estimate for the repairs to my car, a 2003 Audi. Naturally, I began with SAMACO, the Audi dealer. Their estimate for repairs, including parts and labor, was SR25,600. I then took the car to other repair shops for estimates. These ranged between SR10,500 and SR13,000, excluding parts.

I returned to the traffic department with my estimates expecting to be paid by the other driver’s insurance company a reasonable amount close to what SAMACO required to repair my car. I was astounded to be told by the policeman that the estimates I received, including the Audi dealer’s, were invalid because there are only three workshops in Jeddah whose estimates are accredited by the traffic police.

The same policeman continued to tell me that the estimates were too high. I might have accepted this had the policeman behind the desk bothered to get up out of his chair and go outside to inspect the damage himself — which he didn’t. He somehow magically decided that the estimates were too high and that I needed to go to the three workshops accredited by the traffic police.

So I was directed to the industrial part of Jeddah, near the airport, to a fairly large workshop, which I was told was next to the other two accredited workshops. When I arrived, there were several wrecked police cars and other government vehicles, obviously awaiting repair. Under a shelter specifically built for drive-up estimates were two individuals. Between puffs of smoke, foul language and tasteless jokes thrown at my previously obtained estimates, these individuals decreed that to repair my car would cost only SR9,000 including parts.

I told myself this was a bad joke since a single headlight for my car costs SR4,800. I needed a new headlight, a front bumper, left and right fenders, two wheels, a tire, as well as paint for over 75 percent of the car. There was no way in the world I would get my car repaired to the same German standard of safety and reliability that it was in prior to the accident for SR9,000.

However, I was not panicking because I was sure that the other two accredited workshops would give me a more realistic estimate when I got to them — once I found out where they were. When I asked for directions to the other two workshops, I was told, “You are at all three workshops. You get your other two estimates from us also. Wait.”

The chain-smoking man behind the desk at the drivethrough estimate line soon handed me, not one, but three estimates, on three different letterheads from what were supposed to be three different workshops — all for the same amount of SR9,000. Each estimate bore the stamp of the Governorate of Jeddah and the stamp of the owner, Marzouq ibn Muhammad Al-Juaid. Al-Juaid is the man who owns all three workshops. He and his workshop were the three workshops the traffic department had accredited. This man, empowered by the traffic police, was the sole ultimate authority, who would decide what it would cost to repair my car or any car involved in an accident. This, in turn would affect how much the other driver’s insurance paid me.

I asked the man who gave me the estimates if he had any training from Audi or from Volkswagen (many Audi parts and components are manufactured by Volkswagen) but with a smile, he replied in the negative.

This did not seem right to me. So to double-check, I called some other workshops to ask if their estimates would be accepted by the traffic police. They all said, “No.” Apparently, any estimate I obtained would be considered invalid unless it bore the stamp issued by the traffic police from one of the three workshops.

So, now with my itsy-bitsy, teenie weenie, estimates, I returned to the traffic police, who decreed that the other party was 100 percent at fault, and indeed I was entitled to the full cost of the repairs as estimated by the man at the three workshops.

I called SAMACO and asked them if there was any way they could repair my car to the same German specifications of safety and reliability it was in prior to the accident for SR9,000. “The headlight alone costs SR4,800,” I was told by the man at SAMACO between chuckles and fits of laughter.

I couldn’t believe it. I was going to have to cough up the other SR16,500 to fix my car. It was either that or I go to the accredited‚ chain-smoking man’s workshop. I knew this man would be cutting corners to fix the car for SR9,000. I couldn’t trust him to put together a decent estimate so how could I trust him with doing decent repairs? He had a monopoly, and he knew it. By putting his prices far lower than everyone else, he was almost guaranteed that the repair job would take place at his workshop. He was so confident that most people would come back to him, or didn’t care if they didn’t. Of course, what did he have to be worried about? Cars were pulling in for an estimate at a rate of one every six minutes. How many times a day did this happen to other drivers?