Translations for insurers

Where Turkish documents reach an insurer

Motor insurance is the first encounter for most Turkish residents. UK premiums fall sharply with proof of claim-free years, and Turkish insurers issue a no-claims letter (hasarsızlık belgesi) that some UK insurers will honour if it is recent, in English and shows what they need. Your Turkish driving licence tells the insurer how long you have held a licence. Travel insurance comes next: treatment in a Turkish hospital during a holiday produces a discharge summary, invoices and receipts, and a theft produces a police report (karakol tutanağı), all of which support the claim. Life and critical-illness claims rely on Turkish medical reports and, in the worst case, a Turkish death certificate. Private health insurance underwriting asks about pre-existing conditions and may request Turkish records. Home insurance rarely needs anything Turkish, unless a valuable item was bought in Türkiye and the receipt is the only proof of ownership.

What insurers require

No insurer we could find publishes a translation format, and the Association of British Insurers does not set one; the box on this page says so rather than inventing a rule. Claims handlers ask for a certified translation and accept the standard UK form: a complete translation, a written statement that it is a true and accurate translation of the original, the date, and the translator’s or company’s name and contact details. For no-claims letters the substance matters more than the certification. Insurers generally want the letter on the Turkish insurer’s letterhead, dated within the last few months, giving the policy number, the policyholder’s name, the vehicle, the period insured and the number of consecutive claim-free years. A translation cannot add anything the letter does not say, so check the letter before it is translated. Whether an insurer will count foreign no-claims years at all is a matter for its underwriting policy; ask before you buy.

Turkish documents that come up

• No-claims letter (hasarsızlık belgesi) and Turkish policy schedules.
• Driving licence, both sides, for licence-held dates.
• Hospital discharge summaries and medical reports for travel, health and life claims.
• Hospital invoices, pharmacy receipts and repair invoices.
• Police reports for theft and accident claims, and Turkish accident report forms (kaza tespit tutanağı).
• Death certificate and certificate of inheritance for life policy payouts.

Common reasons insurers reject or delay

• The no-claims letter states a discount percentage (hasarsızlık indirimi) rather than the number of claim-free years, and the UK insurer cannot use a percentage. Ask the Turkish insurer for the years.
• The letter is older than the insurer’s limit, often two years from the policy ending, or the policy was in someone else’s name.
• Medical reports arrive with Turkish drug brand names and abbreviations that a claims doctor cannot read; we add the international drug name and expand each abbreviation once.
• Invoices are translated without the itemised lines, so the handler cannot match treatment to policy cover.
• Lira amounts are converted in the translation; insurers convert at the rate on the date of loss and want the original figures.
• The police report is translated but the annex with the list of stolen items is not.

How we prepare insurance documents

Medical translators handle clinical documents and a second linguist checks drugs, doses, dates and amounts against the original; no-claims letters and licences are handled by our general certified team. Every page carries our certification statement with the company’s Ankara registry details, the date, stamp and signature, and the original is attached. Insurers accept the PDF through their claims portals or by e-mail; a paper set by UK Special Delivery is £8. A no-claims letter or licence is one page (£10); a discharge summary 2–4 pages (£20–40); an itemised hospital invoice bundle is quoted on the economy tier when the claim deadline allows. Turnaround is 1–2 working days, with single pages received before 11:00 UK time returned the same day. No UK VAT is charged. Our guide to UK car insurance with Turkish no-claims history explains what to ask your Turkish insurer for, and translations and the DVLA covers the twelve-month licence rule that insurers also ask about.