Fronting might look like a great way of cutting the cost of your car insurance, but the potential consequences really aren’t worth the risk, as our car insurance expert, Rebecca Goodman, explains.
Young drivers pay the highest bills on average for car insurance, often thousands of pounds every year, because insurers see you as a high risk for having an accident and making a claim.
While these sky-high prices might seem inevitable, the good news is that there are lots of ways to cut the cost of car insurance. Fronting isn’t one of them. This is where the wrong person is put down as the main driver of a car and, while it might look tempting at first glance, the bottom line is that it’s illegal, and it’s car insurance fraud.
Read on to find out more about how car insurance fronting works, what happens if you’re caught, and other, legal, ways you can cut the cost of insurance.
What does fronting mean?
In a nutshell, fronting is lying about who uses your car most often to try and lower your car insurance.
Let’s go back a step; when you take out car insurance, you need to declare who the main driver of the car is. This is the person who usually drives it. If you put someone else down instead, you’re fronting – and technically breaking the law.
While fronting can happen for many reasons, it often happens when parents with good intentions try to help their children get cheaper car insurance. The more experienced driver will typically pay lower premiums, but their child will be the one who drives the car more regularly and is, in fact, the main driver.
Is fronting fraud?
The short answer? Yes. Fronting is car insurance fraud because it’s cheating the system and lying about who drives a car to get cheaper insurance. It’s as simple as that.
There are serious consequences if you’re caught too – and we’re not just talking about a slap on the wrist. You could end up invalidating your car insurance, which can make it harder to get cover in the future, but in the most severe cases you could be prosecuted and end up with a criminal record!
Why does fronting happen?
Fronting to lower a car insurance bill can happen for many different reasons. It can even happen by accident. But even if you do end up crossing the line by mistake, if you’re caught, the consequences remain the same.
Here are two common fronting scenarios:
Your mum takes out a car insurance policy in their name as the main driver. You also use the car and are a named driver, but you’re also the person who drives the car most.
Your dad takes out a car insurance policy in their name as the main driver. You occasionally use the car when you’re home from university. Half-way through the policy, you graduate, move back home, and start using the car every day, but your dad forgets to tell their insurer about the change.
Why should you avoid fronting?
Breaking the law is never worth the risk, even if those cheaper car insurance costs look tempting. It’s always better to be safe than sorry; the bottom line is, you should avoid fronting because it’s illegal.
How does fronting impact my insurance?
Fronting could make your overall car insurance bill lower if the person named as the main driver is a lower risk. But if you’re caught, it could make it a lot harder to buy insurance in the future, and your bill will probably be higher too. That’s because insurers can check if you’ve committed insurance fraud previously and if they see you have, they’ll charge you more – if they decide to sell insurance to you at all.
How can I get cheaper car insurance?
Luckily, there are lots of ways to cut the overall cost of car insurance:
Consider telematics insurance
As a young driver, you could try telematics or black box insurance. Not only can it lower your premiums, but it can also help improve your driving skills as the amount you’ll pay will be based on you being safe behind the wheel.
Shop around
Being a savvy shopper can get great results! Always compare prices and never take the first quote you’re given.
Avoid auto-renewal
Sure, it might be the most convenient option, but you should never auto-renew your car insurance without first checking if you could get a cheaper deal elsewhere.
Pick a cheaper car
Insurers put cars into groups of between one and 50. If you pick a car in a lower-down group, it’ll be cheaper to insure. There’s always time to buy that high-spec BMW or speedy GT turbos in the future, stick to the Ford Fiestas and Vauxhall Astras for now.
