Owners of vehicle repair shops in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman said that they have great pressure to maintain cars damaged by the rains that the country has recently witnessed, as demand has increased by rates reaching 80% compared to before the weather condition.
A number of workshop owners explained that the prices of some vehicle spare parts have increased by varying rates, sometimes reaching 100% due to the unprecedented demand for these parts, while some vehicle owners are waiting more than 10 days to receive their damaged vehicles.
According to Warsh, insurance companies force insured vehicle owners to wait up to two months for the vehicles to be repaired in workshops contracted by insurance companies.
Raslan Muhammad Al-Salamat, director of the RBM Vehicle Repair Garage, says that the most common malfunctions affecting vehicles as a result of the recent floods are the operating system and most of the vehicle’s computers (air conditioning, seats, gearbox, steering wheel, etc.), in addition to the malfunctions affecting the engine and gearbox. And fully electric.
He added: “We are witnessing great pressure as a result of the large number of damaged vehicles, and depending on the faults, because vehicles that were driven in rainwater, the engine was broken and must be replaced, while some of them may be repaired after removing the water from them. Also, the prices of some spare parts have risen to about 40. %».
- Frequent suffering
Othman Khan, director of the Al-Andalus workshop, explained that vehicles that were flooded with rain water will suffer greatly in the future even if they are currently repaired, calling for the necessity of replacing all oils, because they are mixed with rain water, and may cause major damage, leading to the engine malfunctioning, gear shifting, and other malfunctions. .
He stressed that most consumers complain about the lack of cooperation of insurance companies with them, as they force them to wait for a period extending to a month or two to have their vehicles repaired in their own garages, explaining that some owners of comprehensively insured vehicles have repaired their vehicles at their own expense and are waiting to apply to the insurance companies to compensate them.
- Most disruptive
An electrical engineer for computerized vehicle repair says: “Once water enters the vehicle, it means that everything is damaged, and we help the owners by repairing it by 50%, because some faults will return to their previous state after months.”
He added: “For days, we have been witnessing a huge demand for car computer repair, as demand has increased by 80%,” stressing that the airbag control devices and floor mats need to be replaced because they are damaged, and when they are repaired, they are maintained by 50%.
He explained that vehicle spare parts have increased significantly, pointing out that he bought a steering wheel at a price of 2,000 dirhams a month ago, and these days he bought it at a price of 3,000 dirhams, and some consumers bought it at a price of 4,000 dirhams.