Insurance firms crack down on lying parents

Recent developments suggest that car insurers are becoming stricter with their policies, after an increasing number of parents were found to be lying in order to get their children cheaper cover. Only recently a survey showed that one in ten people lie to car insurers, with one of the most common lies being courtesy of parents who say that they are the main drivers of their child's car. The situation is indeed serious as, in a new survey by price comparison site Gocompare.com, it has been revealed that two-thirds of adults have considered doing this in order to slash premiums.

Though no one can deny that parents are of course thinking in the best interests of their children, all parents are warned that this practice, which is often referred to as "fronting", is fraudulent and if uncovered will almost certainly result in a claim being declined and a policy being cancelled. In fact, not only does the activity of fronting put the policy at risk, but it is said that the young driver could face fines of hundreds of pounds, receive six penalty points, and even have to resit their driving test. All parents must ask themselves whether the small reduction in premium costs is really worth the risk of having a policy cancelled in the case of a serious claim or restrictions placed on their child's driving.

In order to be stricter on activities of fronting and limit them as much as possible, various companies have now introduced new questions and amended their existing policy. For example, Churchill, which is one of Britain's first and biggest direct motor insurers, has just amended its “young additional drivers” policy and put in clearer questions about the main driver of the car. Furthermore, from now on they will also check who is the registered owner of the vehicle.

Similarly, another major motor insurance company Esure has amended its policy and now bases its premiums on the highest-risk driver. This means that even if a parent claims that she is the main driver of a vehicle owned by her 19-year-old daughter, the premium will be based on the daughter and not the mum.

All these new measures mean that it has become more difficult for parents to lie in order to get cheaper cover for their children. For those parents worried about the high costs their young children will face due to being labelled "high-risk", there are various legitimate steps you could take to cut down costs as much as possible. For example, young drivers can install black-box technology in their car which will charge them according to how much they drive. Similarly, some companies such as Norwich Union are cutting down their premiums by up to a third for young drivers who leave their car at home at night. This is due to statistics which show that young drivers are more likely to have an accident between 11pm and 6am.

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