Dr. Çetiner’s Blogs (Dr. Beytullah Gültekin Çetiner)

Free Fuel Campaign
In Saudi Arabia, a Daihutsu dealer has started a campaign called ‘Buy Daihutsu Sirion the Fuel is free for 3 years’.

‘Buy One Car, Fuel is Free from us’ Campaign
You can see the following advertisement in Saudi Arabia only. The advertisement (in Arabic) says that if you buy a Daihutsu Sirion the Fuel is free for three years.

The upkeep of your vehicle can be quite an expense - from initial purchase to insurance to maintenance. And sometimes we get the sinking feeling that every time we need a car repair, we are going to get taken for a ride. Actually there are some ways to make sure you don’t get a raw deal when dealing with a local body shop.

• How about some preventative medicine? Keep your gas tank filled. This will help you avoid the gas line freezing up in cold weather (not a recommendation for Saudi Arabia). Also, driving on ‘fumes’ allows little pieces of dirt at the bottom of your gas tank to run through the fuel lines with the last drops of gas. This debris clogs up the fuel filter and can cause carburetor damage as well.
• After you get recommendations for honest mechanics, call around to check out the prices for certain jobs. It’s always smart to get a second opinion.
• Sometimes a problem with your car’s electrical system results from a simple blown fuse. Check to see if you have any blown fuses before investing in a tow truck!
• Keep track of how much oil your car uses. A sudden change in oil consumption means you need to see a technician.
• Save your brakes by having your brake fluid changed every 45,000 kilometers.
• Check your tire pressure once a month. This simple maintenance check can add up savings at the gas pump!
• Stop and go traffic causes excess wear and tear on your vehicle. Go ahead and give your car a nice twenty minute ride at 90 kilometer per hour on the highway every couple weeks if you ‘major’ in short trips.
• Before you purchase from a dealer, ask about the dealer’s return policy, get it in writing and read it carefully. Dealers are not required by law to give used car buyers a three-day right to cancel.
• Find the ways for driving cost effectively and efficiently. (Do not drive too fast or in traffic times)
• Each 8 kph you drive over 90 kph is like paying an additional 4 halalah ($0.02) per liter for gas.
• In most cases, using cruise control on the highway will save gas.
• Replacing a clogged air filter can improve your car’s gas mileage by as much as 10 percent. This isn’t going to cost you an arm or leg either.
• Do your homework when buying a car after a rainy season. I know many people whose cars were stuck in water flood and useless last year during Hajj (2005). Remember the heavy rain. Many vehicles that have been damaged by floods were sold in the market. Be a little concerned if the carpet looks too new, and check carefully for signs of rust.
• When you consider all the ways you can save money on your current vehicle, you might be persuaded to put away the extra each month for a new car down the road!

I think it would be very difficult to setup a company or business for car insurance in Saudi Arabia since the accident rates are very high. I don’t know the policies of existing insurance compaines. I was insuring my car with full insurance in Turkey before coming to Saudi Arabia. I did it for the first year here but not anymore. It is very strange feeling and a question that must be answered by decision analyzers. Usually when the accident rates are becoming more, there are more insurance papers sold by insurance companies. But in Saudi Arabia, it is reverse. When there is more probability of having accidents, people become more reluctant to insure their cars. How would you explain this?

For the accident rates, please refer to article Are the worst drivers in the world in Saudi Arabia?

The question of whether Ladies can drive cars is very hot discussion in Saudi Arabia. It is another issue to discuss.

This topic is about the car accidents and other important problem when driving a car in Saudi Arabia.

I have seen some statistics about the accident rates in Saudi Arabia. According to stats:- Saudi Arabia has the highest rate of car accidents per capita in the world. As known, Saudi Arabia not only in the whole world but also in Islamic world, is one of the unique countries where women, who are proven to be more careful drivers anywhere in the world, are in the car but never behind the wheel.

Car accident reports litter the Saudi dailies, and every day dozens of innocent people die at the hands of reckless drivers in Saudi Arabia (not only Saudi drivers but also foreigners). Listen to one foreigner who drives in Saudi Arabia: I am a very careful driver obeying all the traffic rules in my country. But when I drive herein I become one of the traffic monsters on the road.’

In Engineering Management classes, in the topic of decision making under risk, I always ask the probability of having an accident to decide whether we should insure our car, there is always smiling on the faces of engineering students. Some students always answer this as 100%.

I never saw or heard a place that a 9-year-old boy (of course not girl) is allowed to drive a car on the road. The traffic policeman sees the boy driving the car but acts as if he has not seen him. Since driving becomes a habit like driving a bike or playing footbal from the early childhood, you cannot teach someone to drive his car to go on the right direction and obey the rules. When you drive on a one-way road, you should always expect a boy or an old person (they do the same thing) coming from the opposite wrong direction. You wait for the green light to be on to pass the road but the driver behind you keeps horning and shouting at you questioning why you don’t pass the road. This is very clear evidence that he does not know anything about the traffic rules.

So before discussing whether ladies can drive or not, this is a major problem to be solved..