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From todays Guardian from the UK:
He may have walked away from the wreckage of his ?200,000 sports car with barely a hair out of place but Cristiano Ronaldo could still end up paying a high price for the accident.
The Manchester United star lost control of the 205mph red Ferrari 599 GTB in a tunnel near Manchester airport early yesterday morning, hitting one wall before careering across the carriageway and hitting the other.
To the amazement of onlookers, the 23-year-old emerged unhurt from the car, which he had owned for just two days. Today the UK's insurers seemed to be in an unforgiving mood to offer him a new insurance deal.
A spokesman for the AA said a quick ring-round of its insurers had failed to elicit a single offer.
"We cannot find anybody who would touch him with a bargepole," said a spokesman. "The minimum age to get insured for that car would be 25 and then the best price we could find would be ?44,000 but if the person had had an accident that would go up to around ?100,000."
But the AA said most insurers would be reluctant to cover any professional footballers ? whatever car they drive ? because they are seen as a high risk group.
"It's not just the cost of the car itself. Imagine if there were three Premiership footballers in one car and they received injuries that meant they couldn't play again. We would be paying out for loss of earnings, paying sponsors for failure to fulfil contracts ? the costs just go on and on."
Tony Chilcott, the head of Churchill car insurance, said the Portuguese player's "individual circumstances" meant he was not Churchill's ideal customer.
"The combination of his occupation, age and the car he was driving does make him a high risk. It seems that sometimes football players can be much more experienced at controlling a football on the pitch than a powerful car on the road." And if the winger, who is said to earn around ?120,000 a week, were to downsize to a 1.0 Fiesta?
"Possibly, I suppose," said a Churchill spokeswoman. "But it would still be difficult because he is under 25 and wouldn't have any no-claims so I really don't think it is very likely."
There was a slightly more optimistic response from specialist motor insurer Adrian Flux. Its underwriting manager, Gerry Buck, said "anything is possible", adding that the company had once insured a famous boxer in his early 20s for a McLaren F1 car.
"It can be done," said Buck. "It just depends how much money he is prepared to pay. Off the top of my head I would think it would be ?40,000 as an absolute minimum and possibly quite a lot more."
He may have walked away from the wreckage of his ?200,000 sports car with barely a hair out of place but Cristiano Ronaldo could still end up paying a high price for the accident.
The Manchester United star lost control of the 205mph red Ferrari 599 GTB in a tunnel near Manchester airport early yesterday morning, hitting one wall before careering across the carriageway and hitting the other.
To the amazement of onlookers, the 23-year-old emerged unhurt from the car, which he had owned for just two days. Today the UK's insurers seemed to be in an unforgiving mood to offer him a new insurance deal.
A spokesman for the AA said a quick ring-round of its insurers had failed to elicit a single offer.
"We cannot find anybody who would touch him with a bargepole," said a spokesman. "The minimum age to get insured for that car would be 25 and then the best price we could find would be ?44,000 but if the person had had an accident that would go up to around ?100,000."
But the AA said most insurers would be reluctant to cover any professional footballers ? whatever car they drive ? because they are seen as a high risk group.
"It's not just the cost of the car itself. Imagine if there were three Premiership footballers in one car and they received injuries that meant they couldn't play again. We would be paying out for loss of earnings, paying sponsors for failure to fulfil contracts ? the costs just go on and on."
Tony Chilcott, the head of Churchill car insurance, said the Portuguese player's "individual circumstances" meant he was not Churchill's ideal customer.
"The combination of his occupation, age and the car he was driving does make him a high risk. It seems that sometimes football players can be much more experienced at controlling a football on the pitch than a powerful car on the road." And if the winger, who is said to earn around ?120,000 a week, were to downsize to a 1.0 Fiesta?
"Possibly, I suppose," said a Churchill spokeswoman. "But it would still be difficult because he is under 25 and wouldn't have any no-claims so I really don't think it is very likely."
There was a slightly more optimistic response from specialist motor insurer Adrian Flux. Its underwriting manager, Gerry Buck, said "anything is possible", adding that the company had once insured a famous boxer in his early 20s for a McLaren F1 car.
"It can be done," said Buck. "It just depends how much money he is prepared to pay. Off the top of my head I would think it would be ?40,000 as an absolute minimum and possibly quite a lot more."
