Saudi Gazette report Repair costs at car workshops vary greatly from one shop to another, with many mechanics overcharging customers. Experts struggle to explain the large discrepancies in charges and attribute them to greed on the part of mechanics, who, in the complete absence of monitoring by the concerned bodies such as the Consumer Protection Agency, can charge customers whatever they want, Al-Riyadh newspaper reported. Many car repair workshops charge high prices claiming that they have the latest equipment and best mechanics, while others overstate the amount of work that needs to be done to justify the high cost of repairs. In the absence of any supervision or quality control standards, customers are left on their own devices to make the tricky decision of picking the right workshop. When Husain Alsakhen started experiencing engine trouble, he went to several workshops but was astonished at the different prices mechanics gave him. “The prices varied greatly. If a car owner does not know what is wrong with his car, how can he work out the right cost of repairs? One workshop asked for SR450 and when I told him that was too high, he said he would have to dismantle the entire engine, something which is time-consuming. Another workshop gave me a quotation for SR800 for the same job, including spare parts,” he said. When Alsakhen insisted on buying the spare parts himself, he was told it would only cost him SR500 for the repairs. The spare parts cost him SR150. He later went to another workshop and was told the repair would only cost him SR100. He advised customers to only visit large, well-established car repair centers. According to mechanic Mohsin Khan, it is impossible to set fixed prices for repairs because every case is unique. He also said the quality of work, time spent on repairs and the number of mechanics working on a car are all factors that must be taken into consideration. Echoing the same view, mechanic Nadeem Mohammad added that repair costs depend on the reputation and skills of the mechanic. “Reputable mechanics have a broad customer base that trust them to charge the right amount. Setting fixed repair costs is a bad idea because it will put workshops that have the necessary expertise and skilled workers at a disadvantage. Only workshops that carry out shoddy repairs will benefit,” he said. Both Khan and Mohammad said if repair costs are regulated, a large number of workshops will close because they have the latest equipment and trained labor, and fixing repair costs will affect their income. Ahmed Ali, the head of a car maintenance center, said the best way to avoid workshops that manipulate prices is to service cars in large specialized centers where prices are fixed and workers cannot control these prices. Unlike Khan and Mohammad, Ali believes that fixing repair costs may prove beneficial if certain standards are considered, such as the time required for the repairs and the classification of the workshop. “Price variations for repairs is not the only problem. I think the biggest problem is that a number of workers are not specialized or properly trained and many aren't even mechanics. Such workers learn by experience while repairing customers' cars. In many cases, they make mistakes and the customer ends up footing the bill,” he said.
