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Rise in number of parents illegally ‘fronting’ kids’ car insurance

Joanna Faith
Written By:
Posted:
16/08/2021
Updated:
16/08/2021

Almost one in four parents has committed fraud and risks a criminal record because they claim to be the main driver on their child’s car insurance policy when really, they’re not.

A survey of 1,000 parents of children aged 17-25 who were either learning to drive or were a young driver revealed 23 per cent had ‘fronted’, which is when an older or more experienced driver – usually a parent – claims that they’re the main user of the car but it’s mostly driven by a young person, to reduce the cost of car insurance. Technically, this is insurance fraud and therefore illegal.

This is a steep climb from 2019, when the research was last carried out, when 10 per cent of parents admitted to ‘fronting’.

Ryan Fulthorpe, motoring expert at GoCompare, said: “Unfortunately, parents are often unaware that fronting is insurance fraud and therefore illegal, so they could end up with a policy that’s null and void, as well as a criminal record.

“Fronted policies are often discovered during the claims process when the insurance company will look at the details of an accident. If they find that the main driver wasn’t the policyholder, then it can mean that the parent is liable for the costs of that accident, as the insurer will try to recoup any third party costs that they have paid out.”

Fulthorpe added: “The findings from this survey are worrying as we’ve seen the numbers increase since we last asked the same question in 2019, when one in 10 parents said that they had declared themselves as the main driver. Whether this increase is due to financial concerns following the pandemic, or that more education needs to be done about fronting, is not clear.”

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According to GoCompare, the average cost of a car insurance policy for a 17–19-year-old is £871.94.

The survey also revealed that, for the first time, the cost of car insurance was the top concern for parents when it came to their child getting on the road, over safety and other concerns.