My expenses in KSA (7 / 7) - Offer evaluation

When evaluating an offer you need to take care about the following points:

Abbreviation	Description
S	Basic salary, most of offer attributes depends on this.
A	Accommodation, usually it is in number of months of the basic salary, most of companies offer 3 basic salary, sometimes paid monthly, sometimes paid every 6 months.
B	Bonus, usually it is in number or portion of the basic salary, depends on company, job nature, and in some cases there is a minimum bonus specified in offer.
T	Transportation, it is different from company to another, and job nature, and in some cases on ob grade.
-	Non interest loans, some companies offer in some situations, like first coming to KSA, buying a car, considered a great added advantage but very hard to be added in monthly computation as you will pay again the money, you won't gain it.
-	Medical Insurance, as mentioned before never accept an offer without medical insurance covering you & your family.
R	Annual raise, usually percentage of basic salary, paid annually or every two years, and sometimes based on negotiations.

Advices:
1- Don't accept lump sum monthly salary, as any bonus or incentive is factor of this figure, and a common trick to minimize basic salary as possible.
2- You MUST know what will be your degree & its benefits, and the higher degree and what is the difference.
3- Make sure everything is written not verbal, this is the second most tricky thing, you will find people working on same position in same company with different benefits because someone thought he will get them by default while this was not the case.
4- Try to have accommodation paid every 6 months to match your payment for your flat.
5- Ask for initial free accommodation in hotel or furnished flats for at least 14 days to 1 months.

To unify the monthly offer across if you are receiving multiple, use this formula to compute unified monthly salary = ((12 * S) + A + B + T) / 12

Example:
If you have offer with basic salary as 10000 SAR, 3 months accommodation, 1 month guaranteed bonus, no transportation = ((12 * 10000) + (3 * 10000) + (1 * 10000) + 0) / 12 = 13333 SAR / month

From previous posts in this blog, you can compute your monthly saving after computing your expenses and subtracting from above monthly salary.

Most readers want quick ranges of expenses rather than reading all posts, below table provide this information based on moderate lifestyle from my point of view, good flat already furnished, and moderate international schools distributed over 12 months of the year:

Family	Monthly expenses in SAR
Single	5000 - 8000
Newly married without children	7000 - 11000
Married with 2 children before school	9000 - 15000
Married with 2 children in school	11000 - 18000
Married with 3 children in school	16000 - 22000

I prefer that everyone read previous posts as there are opportunities for saving, like singles can live in shared flats saving too much, cook your own food instead of delivery, ... etc

My expenses in KSA (3 / 7) - Transportation

In a famous saying in Saudi Arabia that gasoline is cheaper than water :) price of a liter of petrol 91 octane is 45 halalas, and gasoline 95 octane is 60 halalas, while the price of a liter of water more than 1 Saudi Riyal and so I will focus in the article on the car rather than gasoline expenses.

1 - Taxi 
Good option if you are in the first visit to Saudi Arabia, but it's expensive on the long run, the cost depends on how far away the home of the workplace.



2 - Car rental 
Good option only in the first few months, but it's expensive in the long run, can rent daily or monthly. Usually monthly rent small car (Toyota Yaris - Chevrolet Aveo - Hyundai Accent - Kia Rio) in the range 1700 - 1900 Saudi Riyal.Sample of leasing offices Budget - Avis, but their prices higher rates than the rest of the companies.Tip: Before renting a car, ask your workplace if there were offers from car rental companies, and when you rent a car make sure by asking the seller that the car is fully insured in order to be safe if an accident happens, God forbid.

3 - Buy used car 
Most expatriates prefer this option because used cars available continuously throughout the year at prices much lower than the new, an example most cars less priced from 40% to 50% after using only 3 years (the car is a consumer good in Saudi Arabia and is not a commodity durable as it is the case in some countries), this link contains some car prices collected in the year 2011.Tips when buying a used car:
    a- Start by selecting the make and model of car you want to buy and range of the Year.
    b- Know the price range of the car to be purchased either by asking expert or follow up their prices through newspapers ads or websites as waseet - expatriates - mstaml.
    c- Search for the car in the above-mentioned sites and ask the seller to see it.
    d- When you try the car and you are satisfied, ask to have it examined at a specialized center, usually there is a lot next to the car market, must check the status of the motor, car suspension, paint, condition of air bags, car internals, and car tires.


4 - Buy a new car
Some expatriates do not prefer to buy a used car and prefer to buy a new car and are usually a lease-purchase system because the car will be owned by you at the end and the amount of monthly installment less than the car rental. Tip: Try to purchase before the coming of the new model a month or two where there will be good discounts.General advice when buying a car, whether used or new to be Japanese (Toyota - Nissan - Honda) or U.S. (Ford - Chevrolet - GMC) and avoid European where resale value of the Japanese better than the U.S. and the U.S. is far better than the European.