Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off As some insurers exploit a loophole to get around discrimination law, Nic Cicutti reports on
the fight against being denied cover Scores of UK motor insurers are dodging anti-discrimination laws by refusing to cover people with disabilities, using a loophole designed to exclude boy racers with heavily modified cars. Up to 10% of the country’s 35 million driving-licence holders are estimated to be disabled. This includes 2.3 million Blue Badge holders, plus hundreds of thousands of others whose mobility is not impaired but who may drive adapted cars, or have a registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). Ten insurers asked for more details, while most others declined to quote “at this time”. But 31, including MoreThan and Asda, said they were not prepared to quote on a vehicle with “modifications” – despite being told that these involved a wheelchair ramp and hand controls, not a race-tuned engine, alloy wheels, spoilers or lowered suspension. A spokesman at Moneysupermarket said: “All we do is provide the information to the insurer and they then decide whether to offer a quote.” Warren Dickson, marketing director at Fish Insurance, a specialist provider for people with disabilities, said: “We have been seeing this for some time, despite the fact that – if anything – people with disabilities are generally better risks than many other groups of motorists.”
Not all insurers deny disabled people cover. A spokesman at Churchill Insurance said: “We do not ask people who come to us whether they have disabilities. As for modifications, we may apply terms and conditions, depending on what they are and what they might cost to repair or replace in the event of accident or damage.”