london_to_ksa

Hi again all

Any recommendations on driving out in Saudi, my employer is paying car allowance, should i lease a car? buy a car?

If to lease, then has anyone had any experience with prices/ companies - any advice would be highly beneficial

Thanks!

coffindodger

As per my last reply on the other thread.
If you plan to drive here you can drive on your UK license for 90 days,
but it is easier to get an International driving license.
That's if you are on a Business visa.

If you are on a Working visa then its easier to buy a car they are cheap enough,
But make sure you have some one with you who can speak the local lingo,
there is a nice web site expatriates.com - classifieds and community for expatriates and the area you are living in, Riyadh/ Jeddah/ Khobar etc etc you will find some good deals.

A local driving license is easy enough to obtain ONCE you have your Iquama, you will need the help of your company PRO man, he will sort out the paperwork etc.

As for Hiring well the normal suspects are available, Avis Budget, etc etc.

super_hans

I assume you are coming here on a work visa. Personally I would lease and I do, my car's from Budget. Service is ok by Saudi standards. I could probably make a little more money if I bought and took the allowance but I like the convenience (they service the car at my workplace, if I have an accident...sorry, change that to when I have an accident I can get an English/Arabic speaker on the phone).

nonthaburi

You can exchange your UK license for a Saudi one fairly simply. A 10 year one costs 400SAR I think, takes about 3-4 hours depending on queues and laziness.

If you're in Riyadh, as well as the internet, try out the car souk around Exit 28 on Khurais road. They will also do all the paperwork for you regarding transfer of ownership. It's all online and takes about 30 mins.

Have an Arabic speaker to go with you if buying, and a mechanic as well.

To get a Saudi license you will need to get your UK one translated and then stamped at the chamber of commerce before you go to Dala driving school.

nonthaburi

Forgot to add, if you're renting in Riyadh, as you go into the centre on Mekkah Road from Exit 13, on the right hand side after about 5 minutes there must be 30-40 rental shops with shitloads of cars. Ask around and you'll get a good price.

london_to_ksa

Thanks for your responses.

I think i will lease for a year, it sounds like less of a headache. I don't know any mechanics or locals.

Any ideas on the prices of leasing a car out there and insurance?

nonthaburi

Some kind of sedan will probably set you back about 2-3000 a month depending on the age, condition of the car and greediness of the company.

FriendlyExpat

Don't lease, the interest rates are high. Either rent or buy.

You can rent a small car (2,000 SAR a month from the Autoworld or Best car rental agencies at Riyadh airport for a nissan sunny or hyundai accent, or 2,600 SAR/month if you rent from Budget or another international chain). NB It will take 20 mins+ of negotiating to get these prices. Insist on a recent (2015) low mileage car.

Pros of renting:

- you cannot get a final exit visa owning or leasing a car until the car is sold or the lease is cancelled. with a rental you can leave immediately if needed so its less hassle in a worst-case scenario.
- when you damage the car (as you will often - driving in saudi is crazy) - you just return it, usually pay nothing or maybe a small fee and you get a new car straight away.

Cons of renting
- even for a small car, the cost is way higher than buying.
- renting a medium or big car is prohibitively expensive (10% of the value of the car per month....)
- hassle of negotiating the rental costs.

Buying:
You can buy a Hyundai Accent (small rubbish car) for 40,000 SAR, a Hyundai Tucson (small SUV) for 70,000 SAR, a Toyota or Nissane SUV for 90,000 - 160,000 SAR (depending on what model you want - the Landcruiser Prado and Nissan Patrol are currently very popular) or a Toyota Land Cruiser (for ultimate respect on the roads) for 250,000+ SAR.

Pros of buying
- bigger cars are much safer and you get treated with (a little) more respect on the road, less people cutting you up etc. Also driving off-road is a lot of fun in Saudi and you can get to remote desert areas if you have an SUV.
- its much cheaper, cars only lose 10%-20% of value per year (strangely) so you get a good price on resale. Toyota and other Japanese brands have the best resale. Toyota is the most highly prized model here.
- you can drive your own car to bahrain/doha/UAE (difficult with a rented car)


Cons of buying
- you MUST sell the car before leaving to complete proper exit procedures. if in a hurry leaving, and you don't sell, you will be banned from saudi for at least several years. This means if you sell in a hurry you will lose a lot more money.

If you do buy - DO NOT BUY SECOND HAND. cars get abused here, the hot weather destroys all the rubber bits and prices are VERY high so you hardly save anything. Instead, buy new, and you can either sell every 2 years and replace with a new car, or keep the car and drive it until its broken and then sell it on for what is still a pretty good price. In particular avoid any second hand US import cars - these have universally been heavily crashed in the US, imported to Saudi, repaired badly and sold at near full retail value.

Also worth noting that single men technically can't own or rent medium or full size SUVs (but this can be got round - ask in the showroom for details).

EastWest

Good luck with driving in KSA. I was there last month for a short visit and seen many accidents (one of them was fatal and the copter was in the middle of the road).

Bad Leg

I'm new to Riyadh. I had planned on buying a half-decent car and then shipping it back to Europe in 2-3 years. But importation into the UK and Spain looks to be a real hassle and judging by the driving here, the bad roads (especially the invisible speed bumps) and the crazy driving there's no way that I would buy any above 50,000 SAR. You would probably get 20,000 SAR for it after 3 years so it's cheaper than renting but right now I'm happy to pay 2,000 SAR a month for a rather beat up 2 year old Hyundai Elantra. It's pretty good on the dodgem track and I have no worries about damage. The main minus as I understand with renting is that I can't hop over to Bahrain for a cold one. Which is definitely not good.

mikewot

Why would you import a LHD car into UK?

Bad Leg

We have a place in Spain but I don't have residency yet so I can't import it there. But I have a British passport so I can there. I'll be going back and forth and most of the time in Spain. Hence LHD.

nonthaburi

If you get a letter from your company to take to the rental place and the rental company then gives you a paper to show at the border it can be done. It takes longer at the border though.