JEDDAH: New vehicle insurance regulations proposed by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) authorize policyholders to make repairs worth SR5,000 to cars damaged in accidents without the prior approval of insurance companies.
“The JCCI committees for transportation and car rental decided to recommend that policyholders be allowed to repair vehicles involved in accidents without prior approval, provided the cost of the repairs is less than SR5,000,” Saeed Al-Basami, deputy chairman of the Car Rental Committee, said at a meeting at the JCCI on Sunday.
Al-Basami said all procedural matters and documents for covering repairs should be stipulated in the initial insurance agreement.
The owner of a damaged vehicle is also entitled to a monthly allowance of up to SR1,000 toward the cost of car rental, security and transportation.
Al-Basami said insurance companies should reimburse cash payments made by car owners within 15 days of submitting the relevant documents. “Insurance companies should also appoint representatives at the Traffic Department to provide assistance to customers to make claims,” he said.
The committees demanded that the insurance companies provide policyholders with printed booklets containing instructions on what they should do in the event of accidents, telephone numbers and claims forms in Arabic and English, said Al-Basami. He said if the total cost of repair is 75 percent of the value of the vehicle or the damage is beyond repair, then the total value of the car should be paid minus depreciation at the rate of one percent per month since the start of the insurance policy until the date of the accident.
In the event of a partial damage to a vehicle, the cost of repair should include the price of replacement parts, costs of labor, cost of transportation and any other costs as specified in the insurance policy. In such a scenario, spare parts for cars less than five years old will be fully covered.
If the car is between five and 10 years old, then the insurance policies will only cover 75 percent of the replacement of spare parts, and if the vehicle is more than 10 years old then only 50 percent of the cost of spare parts will be covered.
The maximum third party liability is fixed at SR5 million for physical injuries or deaths a year.
