Maintenance, repair: Vehicle owners to get more choice

Doha

More local automobile distributors have complied with the directive of the Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC), giving a fillip to the ministry's efforts to end monopolistic practices in the country.

Some other distributors, after having received preliminary approval from manufacturers, have sought meetings with the ministry’s officials to discuss relevant issues, the MEC said in a statement Saturday.

Gulf Times had reported last month that some distributors had already complied with the directive while others had asked for more time.

The Competition Protection and Anti-Monopoly Committee at the MEC has been following up on the steps taken so far to ensure the compliance of automobile distributors with the directive issued earlier this year.

One of the core issues championed by the ministry was the protection of a customer’s right to take his vehicle to a workshop of his choice for repair and regular maintenance works. This was in light of the fact that some distributors had made it mandatory for customers to have vehicles serviced at the dealers’ workshops to be eligible for manufacturer’s warranty.

As part of the ministry's campaign in this regard, distributors have been asked to review the terms and conditions of warranty documents and remove phrases and clauses that limited such options. They were also advised to remove ambiguous wordings that could be an issue of dispute and rephrase such clauses in a way that eligibility for warranty was not linked to servicing or repairing vehicles at the workshops of the distributors. This also included routine maintenance.

The distributors that recently joined the list of companies that have implemented the MEC directive are Alfardan Automobiles (BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce), Alfardan Premier Motors (Jaguar and Land Rover) and Q-Auto (Audi and Volkswagen), according to the MEC.

Companies that had complied earlier are Jaidah Automotive (Chevrolet), Domasco (Honda, Volvo and GAC), Ibin Ajayan Automobiles (Skoda and Seat), Mannai Corporation (GMC and Cadillac), Teyseer Motors (Suzuki), Taleb Trading Company (Daihatsu) and Almana Motors (Ford and Lincoln).

Meanwhile, Alfardan Sports Motors (Maserati and Ferrari) and Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co (Nissan, Infiniti and Renault) have affirmed that they have got preliminary approval from the manufacturers on following the new regulations and sought appointments with MEC officials to discuss the required modifications and agree on various aspects of the process pertaining to phrasing of the new terms and conditions and printing of new warranty booklets, the MEC statement added.