New research by car insurers Swiftcover.com, the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB) and Aviva has found that as many as 36,000 parents own up to ‘fronting’ on their children’s car insurance applications.

This means the older and more experienced driver, i.e. the one with lower premiums, is listed as the main driver of the vehicle – even though the younger ‘named driver’ is in fact the main driver.

This illegal activity also sometimes involves parents putting their child down as their spouse on forms to get them even cheaper quotes on their car insurance. Perhaps most concerning is the fact that most people involved in ‘fronting’ saw it as a ‘little white lie’ rather than a serious fraud.

Although ‘fronting’ cases have risen in response to an increase in the cost of motor insurance in recent years, the activity itself adds costs to car insurance policies, as any insurance fraud does.

People guilty of fronting could be taking a serious risk as motor insurance could be deemed invalid if the insurance firm discovers that a fraud has occurred. The MIB’s Ashton West explained, “in the event that the driver of a fronted policy is involved in an accident, both the policyholder and the driver could be open to additional costs, penalties, fines and – potentially – prosecution. It simply isn’t worth the risk.”

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