The Ministry of Commerce’s control teams inspected auto shops and showrooms across the Kingdom to count the numbers of new vehicles, monitor stocks among agencies and deal with any harmful selling practices, the ministry announced in a statement. Control teams started inspections in cities and provinces to monitor distributors of agencies and showrooms to check business practices. The drive included collecting official data on new cars, sources, types, prices, showroom warehouses and inventory, the ministry said. Last week, the ministry said that it is investigating into complaints about car agencies giving preference to selling new cars to car showrooms and dealers and delaying delivery of cars to consumers on the basis of their requests and bookings and that on the pretext of non-arrival of vehicles. The ministry stated that it is verifying the number of cars sold by agents to showroom dealers and comparing them with the number of cars sold to consumers directly. It emphasized that priority shall be given to consumer requests. Consumers’ reservation records and agents’ commitment to deliver them on time will also be reviewed. The ministry warned that it would take deterrent penalties against violating agencies. — SG