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Hisham Al-Jundi
Doha
Bogged down by"higher prices as well as unavailability" of car spare parts in the local market, residents and citizens say they sometimes have to look to the neighbouring countries to buy the same at much cheaper rates.
A number of motorists Qatar Tribune spoke to said it's quite a challenge for them to repair or maintain their cars as one can find genuine parts only at very few outlets.
They say that those who can't afford to pay for the genuine parts have to go for the duplicate ones, which usually expire very soon.
Faisal, who bought a brand new European car three years ago, rues his struggle with the long waiting time for repair of his car at the dealer's workshop.
"Repair works at the dealer's workshop are far too costly. To add to the woes, it also takes a long time due to the unavailability of some spare parts in stock and the need to order it individually," he says, adding that one hesitates to repair one's brand new car at a workshop one can't trust. Recently, the Ministry of Commerce and Economy (MCE) had made it clear that people can get their cars repaired at a workshop of their choice without affecting the warranty.
Others say they have to go for private workshops for cheaper maintenance but the challenge they face is lack of experienced staff at these workshops compared to the dealers, and sometimes, fraudulence, when replacing spare parts.
Says another car owner, Nabil Abdulmonim:"Once I was duped by a workshop owner as they replaced my AC compressor. It stopped working just a week after I got it replaced. To my horror I discovered that the compressor they had installed wasn't even compatible with my car."
Private workshops sometimes install used spare parts in vehicles selling them as new, and sometimes also carry out unnecessary repair works just to maximise profits adds Abdulmonim, who had to ask his friends in a neighbouring country to send him the spare parts he needed, as they came almost half the price.
A routine check-up of a vehicle at the dealership here costs up to QR3,000. Dealers levy a big sum as labour charges when changing parts, prices of which are not negotiable.
However, owners of spare-parts stores say they also face high operations costs including high rents.
Besides, smaller shops get spare parts from large importers and distributors who control the prices.
Muhanna al Nuaimi, a Qatari citizen whose car was damaged in an accident and needed urgent repairs, recalls,"After the accident I took my car to the dealer, who said the repair would cost more than QR20,000. Some of my friends advised me to take the car to a neighbouring country and I did so after finding out that it would cost me only QR10,000 including the shipping charges."
Nuaimi has called for intervention by the authorities to create a more competitive local car spare-parts market.
