Traffic Accident in Jeddah

Assalamalaikum,

I had a traffic accident on Friday. A guy hit me on the back of my car while I was moving backwards. However, Najm came and declared 50% fault of both, printed a paper and left. He asked to visit the traffic police station in Al Naseem.

I have no idea what the procedure is. I speak very basic Arabic and use google maps for addresses. And it is a peak time for company's business and they are not letting me take a day off.

Could someone please advice me on the following?
1. Procedure to follow after the car accident.
2. Working hours of the police station and number of days within which I have to visit them?
3. Do I have to take someone who speaks/writes arabic?
4. Can I drive the car if the damage is not effecting it's functionality? The damage is on the rear bumper and tail lights.

Thanking you in anticipation for your replies.

POST-ACCIDENT PROCEDURES
Go to concerned authorities along with the forms the surveyor provided you. Follow the steps mentioned below:
1- Get a “Repair Authorization” form from any Traffic Police Department. Present the form provided by the Najm's surveyor for this purpose.

2- Obtain damage evaluation quote from any workshop approved by the Traffic Police Department. Present the form provided by the Najm's surveyor for this purpose.

3- Take the “Repair Authorization” form and damage evaluation quote received from authorized workshop to the concerned motor insurance claim agency within 48 hours of the accident.

4- Obtain a repair approval from your motor insurance company to get your vehicle repaired.

Note: In case of non-liable party who has a comprehensive insurance policy, they can claim their insurance company directly.

^^ it is a painful procedure but very simple if followed in sequence, if Najm printed out 3 or 1 paper for you do as suggested above, however, sequence is below:

1)Stamp from the police station (the one I went to is Sulemaniya) opposite the construction of new railway station, there are two buildings, the one you need to visit has entrance from Bani Malek road.
2) Police approved Surveyor: There are two locations, 1 near Bin Laden road, other near airport. Hard to give description. Here they will take pics of your car and charge you 20 or 50 I believe to give you rough estimation of 3 shops.
3) Go to the nearest spare parts shop to get official spare part quotation, I suggest going to the dealer direct. Small shops normally charge but that shouldn't be an issue.
4) Head over to your insurance with all the documents and submit the folder provided by Police surveyor along with the spare parts quotation. You will be directed to workshop authorized by the insurance
5) Head to the workshop, take a copy of the repairs from them and workshop will email the insurance the quotation for approval.
6) Now just wait and follow up.

Also the 48h hour crap doesn't not exist, my last accident I went to insurance 1 month after the stamp of police and surveyor quotation.

I guess it all depends on Insurance....good luck and be PATIENT!!

Thank you very much hosam017 and hamudi. I really appreciate that you guys took so much time and effort in writing detailed replies. Jazak Allahu Khayran

Following is the procedure that I followed:
I took the slip issued by Najm to the Muroor in Al Sahafa. Their they stamped it and asked me to visit Shaikh Warash that is located at the airport end of Sabaeen (somewhere near intersection of Hira and Arbaeen, I asked around for directions). Google Map: goo.gl/maps/uX0Pl
There was a long line of cars waiting, when my turn came, the representatives took pictures of my car, asked me to pay 30 SAR, gave me three papers which looked like quotations but only one was filled with pen. They asked me to go to their office which was located nearby. I went there and submitted the quotations. He prepared an electronic quote, stamped it gave it to me. He also stamped the Najm slip and asked me to visit the spare parts office located adjacent to it. I went there and they didn't have spare parts for Honda CR-V so asked me to visit the dealer. I went to Honda Medina road and paid 50 SAR to take a spare parts quote.

All together at this point, I had the following:

1. Najm Paper stamped by muroor and maintenance quotation office
2. Quote for repair from Shaikh Warash office
3. Quote for spare parts from Abdullah Hashim Honda Spare Parts at Medina Road

I took all these and visited the Insurance office, in my case Malath Insurance. Their office is located on Arbaeen. If you go towards Palestine street from Danube, it will be on your left before Manarat School. The reviewed my papers and told me that I will have to pay 3,500 SAR if I want to repair my car at Honda Workshop and they will pay the remaining. If I would like to repair it outside then I will have to pay them 2000 SAR, no matter what percent was my fault. Worst insurance I must say. The total cost of my repair is about 5000 of which they are asking me to pay 3500.

However, I agreed to repair my car in Honda Workshop. They printed another few papers and asked me to visit Honda Workshop at Mina road in order to get an estimate. I am planning to go there during next week.

I wrote all this in detail as I believe that the procedure I followed might be of help to someone who is new to all this like I was before.

Thank you all.

Salam  guys hope to be in jeddah soon

Really good post guys very useful
Do you have to have insurance to drive in Jeddah.
Is it worth driving? my company say they will  provide me transportation but only really to work.

Also how safe is it there to drive?

I hear some crazy things about driving there.

If they give u a company car then according to the "Contract" it should only be driven to work but people here use it for personal trips as well. If they are paying you allowance then u can do whatever.

Insurance is mandatory if car is leased. I own my car so I've driven my car without insurance for a few months but not worth the risk, if the damage to other party is severe and you can't pay up then expect lockup time

Car insurance is mandatory, as far as I'm concerned. There are police checkpoints where traffic enforcers inspect for car insurance.

Further, there are company provided cars that can only be used within the premises of the job site. There are others that can also be used outside the premises. Do ask your company if you can drive your company-provided car outside the work site. If yes, then you might as well use it for your personal use so you won't have to buy one for yourself.

Driving is ok. There are instances you see drivers not using any signal when they change lanes or make a turn, but that is something you can easily adapt to.

thanks guys