JEDDAH — Car insurance companies in Saudi Arabia will work together to compile records of cars and their owners in the Kingdom and their accident and traffic violations history during their insurance coverage period. Badr Bin Ali Al-Ali, CEO of Najm Insurance Company, told Al-Madinah newspaper that his company would lead a group of insurance companies in the Kingdom to create these records. He said: “The company will this month establish ‘Najmnet', an insurance database of drivers and cars. “The system will specify all the accidents the driver was involved in and the damage the vehicle sustained during the insurance coverage period.” Al-Ali said under this system, every insurance company in the Kingdom could obtain a complete history on a car before deciding whether to provide its driver with insurance coverage. “The system will list all the traffic violations the driver has committed and the mistakes he has made. “The system will indicate whether the car owner is committed to traffic safety or not.” Al-Ali said the system has been applied by many countries in the world and added that it would enable insurance companies to treat customers according to their commitment to traffic rules and safety measures. “It is not fair to treat all customers on an equal footing when some of them are not observing traffic safety rules.” Al-Ali said Najmnet is similar to a system from the Saudi Credit Bureau that offers customer and commercial credit information to banks. He said Najmnet will provide enough data about the owner and the vehicle to insurance companies. He said traffic accidents in the Kingdom rose by about 26 percent during 2012, attributing this to a lack of concentration and the use of mobile phones while driving. “This is of course in addition to recklessness and speeding inside the cities.” Chairman of the land transport committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) Mohammed Abdul Rahman Al-Manie claimed more than 30,000 Saudis died in traffic accidents over the past two decades. “This is not a figure to be ignored. An effective traffic system has to be imposed to protect lives from the recklessness of drivers.” He stressed the importance of insurance history and said it would determine the value of any insurance policy. “Reckless drivers will be blacklisted and they will not be able to benefit from insurance services.” Al-Manie said the figures and statistics clearly indicated that the application of traffic safety rules in the Kingdom. Chairman of the car showrooms committee in the JCCI Owaidah Aljohani said insurance records would also help buyers find out the history of a car and the traffic accidents it was involved in. “The records will regulate the prices of cars and prevent people from selling their damaged cars at unreasonable prices, no matter how hard they have tried to cover up the damage.”
