JEDDAH: Looking for cheap prices might have an undesirable result and lead to paying a high price later, especially if the commodity involved is tires.

Many citizens choose to pay low prices for tires, but they may end up paying with their lives and those of their dear ones instead.

The matter is not merely one of a low price; it also involves the risks and dangers incurred. The tires might be of poor quality with a poor safety record, although they might be labelled with the names of well-known companies. Accidents stemming from the use of poor quality tires claim the lives of innocent people every day.

Those who have been affected by such accidents have called on the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to intervene and crack down on those who try to play with the lives of innocent people.

Two citizens speaking to local media, Abdul Rahman Al-Qahtani and Mubarak Al-Shahrani, held both the Ministries of Commerce and Industry as well as Municipal and Rural Affairs accountable. They appealed to both to follow up and supervise workshops and outlets that sell poor quality tires which may blow out during its first use on the roads because they cannot bear the high temperatures.

The bad quality tires are sold for less than SR130; the original ones are much more expensive, they said.

The cheap tires are usually sold without an agent and with no guarantees, they said. “They are sold for a quick profit and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Municipal and Rural Affairs are both responsible for this chaos in the market. The Commerce Ministry can ban imports and the Municipal Ministry should supervise the shops and dealers who sell them,” Al-Qahtani said.

A source at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said there were departments at the ministry to supervise the agents and dealers who sell tires.

“If the ministry receives any complaint on poor quality tires, or tires that do not meet certain specifications, it immediately deals with the situation. Periodic inspections are carried out to stop the sale of low-quality tires,” he added.