Economy Ministry said that the committee which is specialized in examining the great disparity between the selling prices of cars at the automobile dealerships in the state and the importers of cars has held a meeting to discuss the reasons for this disparity and the ways to preserve the rights of consumers in addition to search the decision of forcing the imported cars dealers who import the cars without the agents to provide the after-sales services, maintenance and recovery operations for cars sold by them. The ministry said that it had received a 5,000 complaints related tothe auto sector in15 months where 50% of these complaints is related to the engine and transmission system.
Dr.Hashim Al Nuaimi, the director of the Consumer Protection Department at the ministry said in a press statements that the relevant committee for examining the great disparity in the selling prices of cars between the automotive dealerships in the state and the importers of cars which was formedfinally to implement the decision of the Supreme Committee for Consumer Protection held a meeting which was attended by representatives from the Federal Customs Authority and local customs and economic developmentdepartments in various emirates and municipalities to discuss the reasons for these differences in prices that reached 40 thousand dirham and the best ways to preserve the rights of consumers.
He pointed out that this meeting also discussedthe decision of forcing the imported cars dealers who import the cars without the agents to provide the after-sales service, maintenance and recovery operations for these cars in a move that aimsto protect the rights of consumers and protect them from any future damage. He noted that the ministry has received many complaints during the last period about the non-availability of some services, maintenance and after-sales services for cars sold by these agents which forces some dealers to pay huge amounts of money to do the maintenance within agencies.
Also, he stated that the ministry is currently looking with the cars dealerships in the state the activating of after-sales services for cars’ buyers and operating more staff in customer service centers in order to make it easier for dealers to serve the customer and provide services easily as well as the need to find an alternative car in the case that the repairs operationscontinued for more than 15 days since there are many complaints about the lack of commitment by some agencies to provide a replacement vehicle for the customer if there are some manufacturing defects in the car.
