Does Car Insurance Cover Towing in Saudi Arabia?

The short answer

Comprehensive policies in Saudi Arabia usually include towing after an accident to an insurer-approved workshop. Third-party-only policies usually do not, because third-party cover pays for damage you cause to others, not for recovering your own car. Roadside assistance, meaning a battery, a tyre or fuel, is a separate add-on and is rarely included by default.

What decides whether you are covered

Four things, in this order.

• Policy type: comprehensive (شامل) or third-party (ضد الغير). Third-party rarely tows your car.
• Cause: an accident is usually covered, a mechanical breakdown usually is not.
• Destination: most insurers only pay if the car goes to a workshop on their approved list.
• Report: without a Najm report for an accident, the claim has nothing to attach to.

The order that protects the claim

Get to safety and switch on the hazards. Call Najm on 920000560 before anything is moved, unless the police tell you to clear the road. Photograph both cars, the plates and the position on the road before the vehicles are touched. Then call your insurer and ask for the approved workshop by name, and only then book the tow to that address.

• Najm report number
• Photographs from before the car was loaded
• The towing receipt with the date, the two addresses and the amount
• The workshop's name exactly as your insurer gave it

If you pay for the tow yourself

This is normal and often faster than waiting for an insurer's own provider. Most insurers reimburse a reasonable towing charge to an approved workshop if you keep the receipt and the Najm number. Ask for the receipt at delivery, not later. A company that will not put the amount and both addresses in writing is a company to avoid.

What is almost never covered

• Breakdowns with no collision, unless you bought roadside assistance
• A tow to a workshop of your own choosing when the insurer named a different one
• Recovery of a car stuck in sand off a public road
• Personal items left inside the vehicle
• A second tow because the first workshop could not do the work

Worth asking your insurer once, in writing

Before you need it, send one message asking three questions: is towing included, up to what amount, and which workshops are approved near your district. Keep the reply. It takes five minutes and it removes the argument at the worst possible moment.