«التجارة»: ألزمنا 24 وكالة سيارات بنشر أسعار قطع الغيار إلكترونياً

The Ministry of Commerce has mandated 24 car agencies that have not complied with publishing spare parts prices to publish them on their websites, as part of its efforts to enhance transparency in the market and enable consumers to access accurate information regarding prices related to purchasing spare parts or benefiting from maintenance services.

According to the decision (which "Okaz" has reviewed), this will contribute to promoting fair competition among agencies through the public announcement of prices, thereby reducing monopolistic practices and providing consumers with multiple options to achieve balance in the market.

The ministry required the establishment of a clear and announced policy for providing spare parts and maintenance services at authorized sales centers. The obligations of the agents also include providing the necessary spare parts with a guarantee of their quality according to the specified regulations, and ensuring the continuous availability of consumable parts for consumers.

Last year, the Ministry of Commerce conducted recall campaigns that included 311,206 vehicles of various models and brands due to manufacturing defects or malfunctions, and agents were mandated to provide free repairs to safeguard and protect consumer rights.

At the end of last year, the ministry began creating a unified self-assessment model for car agencies belonging to the 37 licensed companies.

The assessment model included 4 rights represented in "commitment to consumer rights in sales, commitment to consumer rights in maintenance, inventory and reservation data, and compliance level".

Consumer rights in sales were evaluated through "the availability of electronic payment methods, a unified electronic code, the availability of a consumer rights and duties policy for purchasing a new car, the existence of a record of complaint handling and resolution procedures, the availability of an updated website with vehicle data (type of car, availability, price), the availability of a transparent mechanism for reserving vehicles and tracking reservations, and the provision of information about vehicles (specifications, price, expected delivery wait time, and warranty information)".

The evaluation will focus on inventory and reservation data to monitor the availability of the most requested vehicles by type and category, in addition to the number of customers on the waiting list for the most requested vehicles by type and category, and the waiting time for delivering the most requested vehicles by type and category.