starwalker

Im still fuzzy on the compounds so I’ll let others reply, but as far as cars go, I’ve been watching Haraj and some other sites, and I’m coming to the conclusion that prices on cars are “about” similar to what I’m used to in North America. So in your example, that’s a decent amount for a good lease on a modern German car, for example. However, remember that in your salary, the “transport allowance” is just a way for them to lower your base salary that will be used for calculating your final salary bonus - so in principle, you can use “none” of your transport allowance (in other words, buy a decrepit rusty crapbox for $1,000, and pocket the money), or you can spend 3X on a luxury cruiser - there’s nothing preventing you from doing either. It’s just a category in your paycheque - ultimately, it has no relationship to how much you should be spending on your car. Pick something you like.

Djuro

My 2 cents: don't buy German! You don't want your car being towed to the shop in 40+ heat. Buy Japanese/Korean. A crapbox too, if it's a Toyota or so it will still work. And pocket the money, why would you want to drive a flash car there (well anywhere but you're going to KSA specifically to save up, aren't you..).

HiHo

120k will get you a nice two bed apartment or a two bed town house on a compound. Villas tend to be bigger starting at 3 bed up. The newer compounds tend to be further out of town in the northern suburbs or in the middle of nowhere. Its more difficult to get a maid the further out of town you go ,Lease the car too who wants the headache of getting the thing bought registered repaired maintained and sold. Just set up the standing order and forget about it. You will then just pay the compound maintenance boy to clean it or better still lease it with a driver who can do all your errands when your not using him. Make sure you get a white/silver 4x4 with air conditioned seats.

starwalker

How much do drivers go for, by the way, any idea?

HiHo

I don't know of the top of my head and it will be dependent on the unit numbers Hertz will give you a quote

Djuro

Wouldn't it be expensive to rent/lease cf. eg buying a 10 yr old semi-banger Toyota for cash?

HiHo

"Cars & Girls cause you grief and cost you money." (my dad) You need to make your mind up how much grief you can stand and how much money you are prepared to spend avoiding it. Its all about value to you personally.

Djuro

Fair enough. So it will be a banger then. Always scored more with the other grief-causing loss maker when driving bangers, too.

nonthaburi

I have a company car right now so it's not an issue, but when I lived in Riyadh I bought my own 2nd hand which I'd recommend. Some initial outlay but after that you're done and insurance is cheap. Allow around 500 SAR a month for gas unless you're traveling loads of Kms.

Personally I'd go for a Corolla or Elantra maybe, both are everywhere, parts everywhere, easily fixable everywhere. There is a big 2nd hand car market around exit 27ish? on Khurais road as you go East out of Riyadh.

Go with a Saudi or other Arabic speaker you can rely on.

Portuguese_KSA

Thank you nonthaburi,

In the transportation allowance clause in my contract, there is a provision of 3,500 SAR or a provided vehicle.
I guess that means I can choose whether the company provides me with a car or I get 3,500 SAR per month and rent or buy a car by myself.
One advantage of being a company car is that they take care of insurance and periodic reviews and when I leave KSA I don't have to worry about selling the car or ending the lease.
The advantage of me doing a leasing is that I can save some money in the process.
When I get to the KSA I decide what to do about the car.
Now I want to see if I start pre-selecting a compound to live in and a hotel to stay in for the first few days.
Any help in these fields will be very welcome!

HiHo

So when your looking around for a compound to live on why not kill two birds with one stone Al Bustan compound has a hotel on it. The chief is Greek so you will eat well and you will get hooked up with people quickly. Al bustan is arguably the best quality accommodation available in Riyadh. The down side to it is the number of Arabs that are resident who have made a terrible stink about some of the more liberal pool parties.
://albustanvillage.com/Accommodation.aspx

Djuro

Just what my line of thinking was..Elantra/Corolla, bought with an Arabic speaker in tow..thanks for the market tip.

HiHo : Al Bustan is very expensive.

Portuguese_KSA : are you sure you can get a company car? Since income tax is zero there is no incentive to provide benefits such as company cars so you should check with the employer whether this is even an option. If I had a company last thing I'd want to deal with is cars for my employees if there is no financial gain for anyone in it.

nonthaburi

Re the car thing, there are many variations and different companies do things different ways.

In my case right now, the company made a leasing agreement with Ford for the duration of their contract in Saudi. For anything to do with the car, I would go directly to Ford.

flares

Do you get Ford Broncos in KSA nonthaburi? They look great. Would love to hit the south circular in one of those.

HiHo

There's a lad that specializes in them in Riyadh that's his address below.

طريق ابي بكر الصديق، الفرعي، المرسلات،، Abi Bakr As Siddiq Branch Rd, Al Mursalat، الرياض 12462