Scope offers car insurance to supporters

Scope, the UK’s largest disability charity, is piloting a motor insurance operation underwritten by Axa Sun Life.

The product will be marketed under Scope Select, the direct brand Scope launched earlier this year offering home and travel insurance products. These are available to all 1 million members and supporters of the charity, whether they are disabled or not.

The motor insurance venture has been put together by MCIS, an insurance broker specialising in the voluntary sector.

Mark Griffiths, assistant director at MCIS, says: “In many cases, disabled people are charged higher premiums when they are actually no more at risk than anybody else. They are also often rejected altogether. Scope Select will offer greater flexibility and won’t discriminate.”

Axa and Scope staff are piloting the new motor insurance products among their staff, with the launch expected imminently.

Scope is also in discussions with Royal & Sun Alliance to set up a series of insurance products for retailers.

Griffiths says: “We have a chain of 400 Scope shops and realised there was a gap in the market to offer an insurance package targeting retailers. But we need to think carefully about this because it would encompass a much broader market than our current products.”