The Court Compensates A Citizen with 405,000 Riyals from a Car Company

The Civil Court of Appeal—Civil and Commercial Department decided to obligate a car company to pay a citizen an amount of 405,066 riyals, the value of a modern car he bought instead of a car damaged due to manufacturing, where an engine failure was detected as a result of the high temperature, and obligate the company to pay compensation to its owner of 50 thousand as a moral and material compensation.

The appellant had filed a lawsuit against a car company, demanding that it be obligated to compensate him with a new car, And obligating the company to return all amounts obtained during the warranty period, which are estimated at 40,000 riyals, according to invoices, As well as an amount of 500,000 riyals as compensation for material and moral damages for the losses he sustained, represented in the amounts he incurred, and for what he missed from not using the car as a result of the defendant's mistake.

The facts indicate that a young man bought a newer model car from a car company for 520,000 riyals, with a warranty of 5 years or 150,000 kilometers, And He performed all maintenance work inside the company's workshops and before their scheduled time. Then, an emergency engine failure occurred, and it was found that the reason was the excessive heat in the car, which damaged the internal parts of the engine.

The report of the expert delegated by the court revealed that the lack of water as a result of breaking the water pipe connected from the radiator to the cooling machine is the reason for the high temperatures, and consequently the engine failure

Law No. 8 on consumer protection and in relation to the existing dispute states that the consumer is the one who obtains a good or service for or without consideration to satisfy his personal need or the needs of others, or the transaction or contract is being dealt with and that the provider concerned is the one who provides the service, manufactures, distributes, or trades it, sells it, exports it, imports it, or interferes with its production or circulation with the aim of providing it to the consumer, or dealing or contracting with it in any way.

With regard to the defect, it is that every decrease in the value of a good or service or its benefit according to its intended purpose leads to depriving the consumer wholly or partly from benefiting from it.

Also, Article 5 of the law states that the supplier of the commodity is obligated to return the commodity with a refund, exchange, or repair for free in the event that a defect is discovered in it or if it does not conform to the standard specifications.

What is proven from this lawsuit is the existence of a manufacturing defect that requires 3 solutions: either returning the car, replacing it, or repairing it free of charge, as it was found that it was left in the open under the weather factors such as the heat of the sun and dust, which led to its destruction.