Innocent Victim of Car Accident in Bahrain

I've been following up your comments on Facebook and I am so sorry to hear what you've been going through. Well, I know it's what everyone else says but I am glad you were not in that car when the accident happened.

Thanks for sharing this on the forum.

Likewise, scottrace. Sorry to hear of what you had to go through - and for no fault of yours.

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. There is a lot to learn from it.

Hope all is well.

Sorry we had to learn from your experience and not from the leasing company. Really wish this hadn't happened to you

Sorry for that , what you state here is exactly my country attitude ... yet in more elegant way,they take the car for couple of weeks , make you pay only for the paper work ... then when it comes to the next year payment they double the installment due to "hi risk"

So as an advise "RENT" or "Buy" ? and for Driving , I ma used to crazy drivers of Cairo , but what will be better ? Driver or I do it my own ?

I would say rent everytime - much less hassle.

Walaamaher wrote:

Sorry for that , what you state here is exactly my country attitude ... yet in more elegant way,they take the car for couple of weeks , make you pay only for the paper work ... then when it comes to the next year payment they double the installment due to "hi risk"

So as an advise "RENT" or "Buy" ? and for Driving , I ma used to crazy drivers of Cairo , but what will be better ? Driver or I do it my own ?

Renting is less hassle but if you use a car rarely and want to save money then use a local driver to get you around.

from my own experience, and after more than 6 years of continuous rent-a-car life style, i say that the best option (when calculating the TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP) that rental in this part of the world is the best option, at least for me.

just make sure that your rent-a-car company has a good and valid insurance coverage.

no matter how good/safe driver you maybe, there will always be some risk, with rental you are -almost- always covered (at least with a replacement car).

So unfair, hope it gets sorted out quickly.

I spoke to my car leasing company today to check my insurance cover. They were absolutely disgusted when I said how you had been treated. They said they had never, ever heard of this happening in Bahrain and if the accident is NOT your fault then you should not have to pay a penny. They suggested that you get someone to look in to this as they feel you have been very wrongly treated.

Thanks Jo.  The issue seems to be that OUR insurance does not cover this because our car came from Saudi. 

I will send another email to his insurance company to see.  What we are also discovering is that even if you are covered for a hire vehicle it will only be for 7-10 days and you try getting a car fixed in Bahrain that fast!!  Inshallah strikes again

What about your car though?

Does the above post only relate to the saudi car?

Thought you said your hire company couldn't do anything until the insurance was sorted.

Sorry, thought the above was regarding both cars

@Scottrace, Sorry to hear of your accident.

In this part of the world on the road, i see alot of the drivers here have the one rule..."one man for him self - let me do what i want on the road"  No indicators are used when turning left or right, no give way to traffic on the left when approaching the roundabout.. lets not give way to others arriving on the motorway via the slip road, in fact lets speed up instead..let me text while i drive at high speed...and the list is endless!

The driving laws here need some policing...big time! Not long ago i posted on this forum about the driving laws may change in the future, but i see alot of the expats on the forum were not sure whether the change would take place..and I dont blame them either.

About your car being hit, i hope this drunk pest got a severe penalty!

Just to help others out there too, I do know there are some insurance companies that allow you the option to include breakdown cover and its for a small price added to your insurance (something like 22BHD per year).  This includes about 8 days replacement car, tow truck without you having to pay anything too.

With the loss of earnings, i dont think it exists here unlike the UK.

What insurance company were you with out of interest?

With the other stuff you listed on there i.e. that you have to cover your own costs, i agree its a total disgrace that the innocent party has to pick up all the costs when it should really be the person at fault!

Hope your stuff gets sorted fairly quickly..

best of luck..

Josnuggles wrote:

What about your car though?

Does the above post only relate to the saudi car?

Thought you said your hire company couldn't do anything until the insurance was sorted.

Sorry, thought the above was regarding both cars

Josnuggles - the issue is only the car that we lease purchase.

As I said in my original post, if you lease purchase or outright purchase your own vehicle this could happen to you. 

The rental car was absolutely fine and Tooranco were fantastic - one call, new car delivered, old one taken away - no problem.

Thank you jazzy851

My point was, and remains, that as the innocent party, it is irrelevant (or should be) what insurance cover we have/had - the other guy should pay.

The fact is, that our car was lease purchased in Saudi Arabia so it seems that there are no add ons to our insurance when it is in Bahrain so we are effectively only covered for repairs.

His insurance company are a well known worldwide Insurer but I guess that makes no difference and they will try all ways not to pay out any money if possible!

This is important information for anyone driving their Saudi car in Bahrain - just unfair something like this had to happen to you scottrace for us all to be made aware of it.

My husband's company told him that if he chose to live in Bahrain that his company car (Saudi) would not be covered for anything once he crossed the border but they never explained why. Now we know.

I see lots of cars with Saudi plates at school for pick up so this must affect quite a number of people. I wonder if it works in reverse i.e. take a bahrain car to saudi.

silver356 wrote:

This is important information for anyone driving their Saudi car in Bahrain - just unfair something like this had to happen to you scottrace for us all to be made aware of it.

My husband's company told him that if he chose to live in Bahrain that his company car (Saudi) would not be covered for anything once he crossed the border but they never explained why. Now we know.

I see lots of cars with Saudi plates at school for pick up so this must affect quite a number of people. I wonder if it works in reverse i.e. take a bahrain car to saudi.

Dont quote me but we were told that the other way round -  Bahrain to Saudi is not so complicated.

What you need to do if you have Saudi car and bring it into Bahrain is make sure you top up the insurance at the causeway to fully comprehensive and add on the extra's.  Something we were not told either - just assumed when purchasing the insurance that it was all ok - more lessons learned.