ABU DHABI Garages in the UAE will soon be classified and rated according to the standard of services they offer, a senior official at the Ministry of Economy told XPRESS. Following country-wide inspections, the 18,000 garages in the country will be given star ratings -- three, four or five -- based on a new set of criteria.
Dr. Hashim Al Nuaimi, Director of the ministry’s Consumer Protection Department, said the the move is aimed at clamping down on unsafe practices.
“We are planning to introduce a new procedure to benchmark quality. Besides their size of operation, garages will have to provide details about their tools, spare parts, manpower training, hygiene and safety standards and level of customer service,” he said.
Unregulated sector
“The car services industry is an unregulated sector. Many garages use fake spare parts and customers get cheated.” Al Nuaimi said some garages and service centres even outsource vehicles to third parties.
The ministry will set up a Garage Standards Committee to draw a roadmap and come up with safety and quality checklists to bring unregulated garages under its purview. “Improving road safety goes well beyond educating motorists or imposing harsh fines on drivers. Raising standards in garages and service centres is as critical as is our fight against counterfeit spare parts,” said Al Nuaimi.
A series of measures designed to improve the overall standard of services in the automotive industry was discussed during a recent meeting with the Automotive Dealers Council meeting chaired by Al Nuaimi.
The meeting reviewed several issues that focused on the importance of organising automotive safety conferences, and implementing measures to increase the safety levels of vehicles such as the manufacture of date plates, third party inspection and cruise control-related issues.
YOUSPEAK: What do you think of the proposed move?
