JEDDAH, 20 November 2002 — Driving license (rukhsa) insurance becomes mandatory from today amid confusion among motorists about how to insure.
The National Company for Cooperative Insurance (NCCI), the central authority for rukhsa insurance, said in Riyadh that policy-seekers could apply through the National Commercial Bank, Al-Rajhi Banking and Investment Corporation as well as through driving schools.
Many young Saudis Arab News surveyed a day before the deadline confirmed that they were in the dark about procedures to obtain the rukhsa policy. Most of them said they would wait until their driving licenses were about to expire before checking what procedures to follow.
Abdullah, 29, said: “I have heard that insuring the license is very important now, I am willing to do it before my license expires.” Asked what he knew about the insurance policy, he said: “I have seen TV advertisements but when it is time for me to get the policy I will take the insurance company’s phone number and find out.”
Muhammad, 24, said: “I think everybody is going to take out insurance sooner or later. Like the seat belt which is now compulsory... In the beginning we did not take it seriously but with time we realized that it was going to cost us a lot of time and money. Now you can see all the drivers are putting on their seat belts.”
In order to find out how the driving license insurance could be obtained, Arab News went through all the necessary steps. First of all, we found the number of NCCI, dialing 905 which provided us with two numbers that had answering messages. There was no reply from the operators for more than two hours. Again asking 905 for the toll free number, the one that was given did not answer for six hours. Finally, an attendant answered and provided Arab News with the customer service number which explained the steps of getting a driving license insurance. (The toll free number is on TV ads.)
First of all, one should ask for the application form to be faxed. After filling the form it should be faxed back with a copy of the driving license and the ID together with credit card number or bank receipt.
The insurance rate is SR350 for those over 21 years and SR700 for those under 21.
A temporary card will be mailed within 10 days and the insurance card will follow after a month.
The insurance cover provided is up to SR500,000 in damages. The policy also covers third party rights and blood money (diya).
Motorists can also insure their license through car agencies that have an agreement with the NCCI to accept insurance applications at their showrooms.
Sources at the state-owned NCCI told Arab News that at the end of each year the company will distribute surplus cash to those with no record of accidents, after covering the cost of all accidents caused during the year.
The source also said that license insurance is compulsory for processing government documents or carrying out government transactions.
The source also said that they are facing a huge public demand for insurance policies and each salesman was handling at least 100 applications a day in Jeddah.
“We are receiving, on an average, 7,000 calls daily from the motoring public,” Ali Al-Subaihin, assistant general manager for marketing and sales at the NCCI, told Arab News in Riyadh. He said 50,000 rukhsa insurance policies had already been issued.
The NCCI manager confirmed that as of today insurance of driving license has also become mandatory for motorists transiting through the Kingdom.
K.S. Ramkumar adds from Jeddah: There was last minute rush yesterday on the part of motorists in Jeddah to get the insurance cover. A number of drivers were disappointed as the NCCI offices could not cope with the rush, especially due to the restricted working hours.
According to insurance company sources, there was a meeting in Riyadh between top officials of the Interior Ministry, traffic police and the NCCI yesterday in which it was suggested that although there would be no postponement or relaxation of the rukhsa insurance scheme that entails a licence holder pay SR350 annually during the validity of his driving licence to obtain the cover, the authorities should not resort to its strict implementation. Instead, even as the plan is implemented, drivers should be enlightened through a campaign about the positive aspects of the rukhsa insurance. The cover is a third party liability insurance scheme, which essentially solves the problem of a driver’s insolvency when meeting with an accident.
The scheme insures the licence holder against human, vehicle and property losses incurred by third parties in case of an accident. “It is meant to cover the blood money of a person killed by the insured driver in an accident. So far, due to the absence of such a cover, the erring driver remained in police custody until the blood money, or a bond or guarantee from his sponsor was furnished. This also had a psychological impact on the driver due to uncertainty of stay in police custody and entailed a burden on the police department in holding such drivers in custody,” said a team of top management executives of Saudi Allied Co. for Cooperative Insurance & Reinsurance (SACIR). Its Jeddah Branch Manager Sadek N. Khouja clarified that the group insurance scheme offered by SACIR did not cover the driver’s rukhsa, only his vehicle. “Our policy remains valid but we will know in due course whether it is acceptable to the authorities. If not, such policy holders will have to go in for a separate rukhsa insurance cover,” its Marketing Executive Mohammed Sabti said.
There were also reports that the police might not strictly monitor the rukhsa insurance cover due to lack of awareness among motorists.
However, a couple of drivers interviewed said they were checked by police in the Al Rawdah district on Friday and asked whether their rukhsa had the insurance cover.
