We all know how expensive car insurance can be, especially if you are under the age of 25 and a male. Unfortunately, it is all too easy to give in to the temptation of trying anything to reduce the cost of insurance. However, in doing so you could be placing your entire insurance policy under threat.

One increasingly common way of lowering car insurance costs is by fronting. This refers to the practice of naming a secondary driver as the main driver on a policy. Parents commonly do this for their children, naming themselves as the main driver so that their children, who are probably under the age of 25, do not have to pay extortionate insurance rates.

Research carried out by comparethemarket.com found that approximately 25% of UK residents have used fronting at some point. Although you are not officially breaking the law by carrying out this practice, your insurance policy may become void if you are caught. This will leave the driver uninsured, which will subsequently leave you breaking the law. However, the worrying fact is that approximately 30% of those questioned were aware that they were risking their claims. Furthermore, one in ten respondents aged between 18 and 24 stated that they would not be put off fronting just because they ran the risk of being caught.

An expert in insurance at comparethemarket.com, Jeremy Moll, has released a statement following the publication of the worrying research. Moll believes that culprits of the practice are usually young drivers who have recently passed their driving test and are desperate to save some cash. He was quick to point out the long-term dangers of fronting, with a court appearance and ban from driving proving to be the worst-case outcomes.

The elation at passing your driving test and buying your first car can fade quickly when you realise just how much you are likely to pay in insurance, especially if you are a young man. According to a recent research carried out by AA Insurance, the average premium for a 17 year old male is quite likely to be double that for a young woman of the same age. Whilst this may well seem unfair, there are facts and figures to support the notion that males of this age are a far higher risk for insurance companies.

Although we may well feel proud as a nation that our accident rate on the roads is falling, the fact remains that the rate of death or serious injury in the under 25 age group has actually risen in the last eight years, the lion’s share being accounted for by young men under the age of 21. They are ten times more likely to have an accident than their counterparts over 35, whereas women under the age of 21 are a mere five times as likely as women over 35 to have an accident.

When it comes to looking at the cost of accident claims, young men come off badly too. The average cost of a claim for a young male driver is a staggering £4500 compared with £2700 for young women. For the over 30s, the costs are reduced to £1400 and £1200 respectively.

The good news for careful drivers is that once you start accruing your no-claims discount, the costs drop pretty quickly, by about 30% in the first year up to a maximum of 80% after three years. Just don’t be tempted to change car to one in a higher insurance group!