Saudi Arabia: Auto insurers to employ female staff to serve women drivers

Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Nov 2017

All branches of the 29 insurers in Saudi Arabia which offer motor insurance will open a special section, staffed by women employees, to receive female customers, said the official spokesman for the insurance industry, Mr Adel Abdulaziz Al-Essa.

This plan by the insurers follows the Saudi government’s announcement that it would lift a ban against women driving. The decree will take effect in June 2018.

Mr Al-Essa added that in any case, motor insurers will charge premiums based on the behaviour of the driver regardless of gender, reported Argaam.

An estimated nine million Saudi Arabian women are expected to get behind the wheel after the ban is lifted.

Analysts said that the decision to allow women to drive in Saudi Arabia could restore car sales growth in a market hit by the economic slowdown caused by weak oil prices.

Insurers are expecting higher demand for cars and further growth in the Saudi insurance market when women are allowed to drive. Total motor premiums in Saudi Arabia rose by 12.6% last year to about SAR12.2 billion (US$3.3 billion), the second-largest sector after health insurance. M

SAR1 = US$0.27

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