Ukrainian refugee car insurance

STAVROS

I am a host for a Ukrainian refugee under the official Homes for Ukraine scheme. On phoning for a quote for car insurance the telephony agent said she  must have details of all driving incidents, claims etc even for when the Ukrainian was in the Donbass warzone. I said to her you are reading from the wrong script. This is someone in a war zone not driving around Reigate. ( Inane discussion followed regarding if driver is at fault if Russian bullets hit car ) In the end I gave up. My question is ...Is Ukrainian no claims bonus accepted by UK insurers? Does the insurer need details of the last 5 years driving history in Ukraine? From the Facebook support group it appears most Ukrainians buying a small hatchback have to pay the equivalent premium to a British teenager.

TELLIT01

I wouldn't expect non-UK no claims history to be accepted by a UK insurer.  The person requiring insurance would more likely be considered high(er) risk.

As an aside, they will need to take a UK driving test within 12 months of arrival or they will have no valid insurance.

Aretnap

TELLIT01 said:

As an aside, they will need to take a UK driving test within 12 months of arrival or they will have no valid insurance.

A Ukrainian licence can be exchanged for an (automatic) British licence without the need to take a driving test.

Aretnap

Non-UK non claims discount (or equivalent) is not usually accepted by UK insurers. However age, length of time licence held and lack of accidents will all help reduce the premiums.

As for claims history the question is "have you had any accidents or claims", not "have you had any accidents or claims in the UK?" so yes accidents in Ukraine would have to be declared. In terms of what I actually declared I'd probably differentiate between "drove into the back of someone two years ago" and "car hit by Russian shell", especially if the latter didn't actually result in an insurance claim. (In the UK acts of war are excluded from car insurance so couldn't result in a claim anyway). It's also probably the case that data sharing between UK and Ukrainian car insurers is probably a bit less, ahem, complete than it is between UK insurers.

STAVROS

Thanks for the replies. My Ukrainian resident is exchanging her full Ukraine car licence for a UK one but as has been mentioned this will only be valid for automatic cars. However she only wants to ride a 50 CC moped. I can't find any information on this. Can she ride the moped with an exchanged licence without completing the CBT test? Any thoughts ?

DullGreyGuy

You could only avoid the CBT if you passed your car license prior to Feb 2001. I'd assume that the exchange of license has an effective date of the change and so they'd need a CBT 

https://www.gov.uk/motorcycle-cbt/car-driving-licence

STAVROS

Thanks for that reply. I was hoping that there would be a period of exemption from the CBT whilst L plates were worn but as you say that is not the case.