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Oriental car insurance in the UAE: suspended since August 2025
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Regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE
Regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE
Oriental car insurance in Dubai is closed to new business. The Oriental Insurance Company's UAE motor portfolio has been in run-off since 7 August 2025, which means the branch cannot issue a new motor policy and cannot renew an existing one — but it remains legally responsible for every policy written before that date, until that policy reaches its natural expiry. If you hold an Oriental motor policy, your cover is still valid and your claim is still payable. This page explains what changed, how to claim, how to check your policy, and what to do when it expires. If you were looking for Orient car insurance — a different UAE insurer that is still selling — that is the page you want.
Oriental car insurance status in the UAE right now
Oriental motor insurance is in run-off in the UAE and has been since August 2025. On 29 July 2025 the Central Bank of the UAE announced it had suspended the motor insurance business of a foreign insurance company's UAE branch for failing to meet the solvency and guarantee obligations set out in Articles 33 and 44 of Federal Decree Law No. 48 of 2023. The Central Bank did not name the company. The Oriental Insurance Company subsequently confirmed that the branch was its own, and that its Dubai motor operations moved into run-off from midnight on 7 August 2025 after it was unable to immediately place the required statutory bank guarantee.
Run-off is a defined state, not an informal pause. It means the insurer stops writing and renewing business in that class but continues to administer and pay out on the policies it has already written. Oriental has publicly stated that it will honour all liabilities and commitments arising from policies issued before the cut-off date until their natural expiry.
Insurer
The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, Dubai branch
Ownership
Wholly owned by the Government of India
Operating in Dubai since
1960
Regulator
Central Bank of the UAE
Motor status
Run-off since 7 August 2025 — no new policies, no renewals
Existing policies
Valid and claimable until their natural expiry date
What still works and what does not
The distinction that matters is between servicing an existing policy, which continues, and starting or extending one, which has stopped.
| Action | Available | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Claim on a policy issued before 7 Aug 2025 | Yes | Follow the normal claims process |
| Use the approved garage network for a claim | Yes | Check the garage list before you book a repair |
| Request policy documents or a duplicate copy | Yes | Contact the branch directly |
| Cancel early and claim a pro-rata refund | Yes | Arrange replacement cover first |
| Renew an Oriental motor policy | No | Buy from another UAE insurer before expiry |
| Buy a new Oriental motor policy | No | Compare quotes from insurers still writing business |
| Add a mid-term extension or new add-on | No | Treat the policy as fixed until expiry |
What Oriental motor insurance is, and how it differs from Orient
Oriental motor insurance is the UAE motor cover written by the Dubai branch of The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, an Indian general insurer founded in 1947 and wholly owned by the Government of India. The Dubai branch has operated since 1960 and sold both comprehensive and third-party motor cover to individuals and businesses in the UAE until the 2025 suspension.
Two insurers are routinely confused here, and the difference is not cosmetic. Orient Insurance PJSC is a UAE company in the Al-Futtaim group and is still actively selling motor cover today.The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd is Indian, state-owned, and its UAE motor book is in run-off. One letter separates the names; a live insurer and a closed one separate the outcomes. If your certificate, renewal notice or policy schedule says Orient rather than Oriental, none of the run-off information on this page applies to you.
Can you still renew Oriental car insurance?
No. Oriental car insurance renewal is not possible in the UAE and has not been since August 2025. The suspension covers renewals as well as new business, so an Oriental motor policy simply ends on its expiry date and cannot be extended. There is no grace period that changes this — a grace period would only matter if the insurer were able to write the renewal at the end of it, and it is not.
The same answer applies however the question is framed. Oriental motor insurance renewal, online renewal without a login, and renewal through a broker or an aggregator are all unavailable for the same reason: the branch is not permitted to write the business, so there is no version of the transaction that can complete.
This is the single most common misunderstanding about the situation, because the phrase "oriental insurance renewal" still returns pages across the market that describe a renewal process as though it were available. It is not. If your policy is approaching its expiry date, the only route to staying legally insured is a policy from a different insurer, arranged to start on or before the day your Oriental cover ends. Driving without valid cover carries a fine, black points and vehicle impoundment, so the timing matters more than the choice of insurer.
How to claim on an Oriental car insurance policy
An Oriental car insurance claim is handled exactly as it was before the suspension, because the branch's obligation to pay claims on pre-August 2025 policies is unaffected. Report the accident to the police first — in the UAE, an insurer will not process a motor claim without a police report.
Step 1
Call the police from the scene
Dial 999 and wait for the report. Do not move the vehicle unless the police instruct you to.
Step 2
Notify Oriental
Contact the branch with your policy number and the police report reference, and note the time and place of the accident.
Step 3
Submit your documents
Send the police report, your licence, your Emirates ID, the vehicle registration card and photographs of the damage.
Step 4
Surveyor inspection
A surveyor assesses the damage at an approved garage and the repair is authorised against your policy terms.
Step 5
Repair and settlement
The garage repairs the vehicle and settles with the insurer directly where the garage is on the approved network.
Take the repair to an approved workshop wherever possible — the Oriental insurance garage list shows which workshops settle directly with the insurer rather than requiring you to pay and reclaim. If a claim on a run-off policy is delayed or declined and you cannot resolve it with the branch, the Central Bank of the UAE handles insurance complaints against licensed insurers, and the process for escalating an insurance complaint in the UAE is the same for an insurer in run-off as for any other.
Documents you need for an Oriental claim
Prepare these before you contact the branch. A claim held up for a missing document is the most common avoidable delay.
Police report
Original copy, obtained at the scene or from the traffic department
Driving licence
Valid UAE licence, front and back
Emirates ID
Front and back
Vehicle registration card
The mulkiya for the insured vehicle
Repair estimate
From an authorised garage. For theft claims, add the original keys and the police case reference
How to check your Oriental insurance policy status
Your Oriental policy is recorded in the UAE's central motor insurance database regardless of the branch's run-off status, so you can confirm whether your cover is live and when it expires without contacting the insurer at all. You can check your car insurance status online using your vehicle or traffic file details, which is the fastest way to establish your exact expiry date — the date that now matters most, because nothing will renew automatically.
If you have lost the policy document itself, you can usually download a duplicate copy of your policy rather than waiting on the branch. Keep it: for a run-off insurer, your own copy of the schedule is the clearest evidence of what you bought and when.
What an Oriental motor policy covered
Oriental sold the two standard UAE motor products. Both are governed by the Unified Motor Vehicle Insurance Policy issued under Insurance Authority Board Decision No. 25 of 2016, which sets the minimum terms every UAE motor insurer must meet — so the statutory limits below applied to Oriental exactly as they apply to any other licensed insurer.
Under that unified policy, third-party property damage is covered up to AED 2,000,000 for any claim or total claims arising from one accident. Third-party bodily injury is different and widely misreported: for an injured third party the insurer's liability is the value judicially awarded, without any limit. A separate cap of AED 200,000 per deceased person applies to the death of the insured's spouse, parent or child, and disability compensation is calculated as a percentage of that AED 200,000 plus medical treatment expenses. These figures are drawn from the CBUAE Rulebook and were verified in September 2026.
| Feature | Comprehensive | Third-party |
|---|---|---|
| Damage to your own vehicle | Covered | Not covered |
| Theft and fire | Covered | Not covered |
| Third-party property damage | Up to AED 2,000,000 per accident | Up to AED 2,000,000 per accident |
| Third-party bodily injury | As judicially awarded, no limit | As judicially awarded, no limit |
| Natural disasters and flooding | Covered where the policy includes it | Not covered |
| Legally required in the UAE | No — optional upgrade | Yes — the legal minimum |
If you are choosing replacement cover, the same two products are what you will be comparing: comprehensive car insurance covers your own vehicle as well as your liability to others, while third-party car insurance covers only the legal minimum. Cover for driving into Oman is not automatic under either product in the UAE — it is arranged through an Orange Card, which is issued separately from the policy itself.
What an Oriental motor policy did not cover
The standard exclusions under the unified policy applied to Oriental cover as they do to every UAE motor policy.
Driving under the influence
Alcohol or drugs voids the claim entirely
Racing and speed tests
Including off-road competitions and track use
Driving without a valid licence
Or outside the licence category for the vehicle
Unapproved modifications
Engine swaps and structural changes not declared to the insurer
War, terrorism and nuclear risk
Excluded from all UAE motor policies
What to do when your Oriental policy expires
Arrange replacement cover before your expiry date, not on it. Because nothing renews automatically and there is no insurer-side reminder to rely on, the practical risk is not being underinsured — it is being uninsured for a few days without realising it.
Step 1
Confirm your exact expiry date
Check the policy schedule or the insurance database rather than relying on memory.
Step 2
Compare replacement quotes
Start two to three weeks out so you are choosing on price and cover rather than on urgency.
Step 3
Start the new policy the day the old one ends
Matching the dates avoids both a gap in cover and a period of paying twice.
You can compare car insurance quotes from UAE insurers online and set the start date to match your Oriental expiry. If the timing is awkward because the replacement premium falls due before you expected it, you can pay for the new policy in four instalments with Tabby rather than delaying the start date to suit your cash flow — a delayed start date is the one thing worth avoiding here.
Which insurer should you switch to?
If you want the closest like-for-like replacement, choose New India. It is the other Indian government-owned general insurer with a long-standing UAE branch, it writes the same comprehensive and third-party products, and it is the most familiar substitute for the customer base Oriental served in the UAE. If your priority is claims handling and a wide approved garage network rather than continuity of insurer type, Sukoon is the stronger choice.
Closest like-for-like
New India — Indian state-owned, established UAE branch, same product set
Claims and garage network
Sukoon — large approved network and established motor claims operation
Lowest premium
Compare across insurers — the cheapest option varies by vehicle, age and claims history
Both are available directly: New India car insurance and Sukoon car insurance. Do not let the choice of insurer delay the start date — you can switch again at your next renewal, but you cannot retroactively insure a day you drove uninsured.
Cancelling an Oriental policy early and getting a refund
You can cancel an Oriental motor policy before its expiry date and recover part of the premium. UAE motor refunds are normally calculated pro rata on the unexpired term, less any administrative charge, and a policy on which a claim has been made will usually return nothing. As a rule of thumb, cancelling with three months left on a twelve-month policy returns roughly a quarter of the premium before deductions — which is why cancelling early rarely pays for itself unless you are selling the vehicle.
The mechanics are the same as for any UAE insurer: the steps to cancel your car insurance early apply here, and how the refund is calculated is worth checking before you commit. If you are selling the car rather than switching insurer, it may be simpler to transfer the cover to the buyer. And if you buy replacement cover before cancelling, check that you are not paying for two overlapping policies for longer than the day or two a clean handover needs.
Oriental Insurance contact details in the UAE
Contact the Dubai branch directly for anything relating to an existing policy — claims, policy documents, cancellation and refunds are all still handled there.
Claims and policy servicing
The Oriental Insurance Company, Dubai branch — confirm the current run-off contact number before calling [VERIFY]
Regulator
Central Bank of the UAE — for complaints about a licensed insurer
Emergency services
999 for police at the scene of an accident
Frequently Asked Questions.
No. Oriental car insurance renewal is not available online or offline in the UAE. The Central Bank suspension that took effect in August 2025 covers renewals as well as new policies, so an Oriental motor policy ends on its expiry date. You need cover from a different insurer starting on or before that date.
No. Oriental cannot issue new UAE motor policies while its motor business remains in run-off. Any site still offering to sell you an Oriental motor policy is out of date. Compare quotes from insurers that are actively writing business instead, and check the start date carefully before you buy.
Call the police on 999 from the scene and obtain the report, then notify the Dubai branch with your policy number and the report reference. Submit your licence, Emirates ID, vehicle registration card and damage photographs. A surveyor inspects the vehicle at an approved garage before repairs are authorised. Run-off does not affect this.
They are two unrelated insurers. Orient Insurance PJSC is a UAE company in the Al-Futtaim group and still sells motor cover today. The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd is Indian, government-owned, and its UAE motor book has been in run-off since August 2025. Check which name appears on your policy schedule.
Yes. The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd is wholly owned by the Government of India and has operated as a state-owned general insurer since its nationalisation. Its Dubai branch has been present in the UAE since 1960. Government ownership did not prevent the Central Bank of the UAE from suspending its local motor business in 2025.
No independently published claim settlement ratio exists for Oriental's UAE branch, and figures quoted online generally refer to the Indian parent company rather than UAE motor claims. What protects you under run-off is the regulatory obligation: the insurer remains liable for every policy issued before the suspension date.
Contact the Dubai branch directly for claims, policy copies, cancellation and refunds, all of which are still serviced during run-off. Confirm the current number before calling, as run-off operations are sometimes reduced or redirected. For a complaint you cannot resolve with the branch, the Central Bank of the UAE handles insurance complaints.
Partly. UAE motor refunds are normally calculated pro rata on the unexpired portion of the term, less an administrative charge, and a policy with a claim against it usually returns nothing. Cancelling with three months left on a twelve-month policy returns roughly a quarter of the premium before deductions.
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