How many of us are Fronting??

[Nickersnackersnockers]

Fronting is a type of car insurance fraud where a more experienced driver claims to be the main driver of a car, when in fact they're not. People do this as a way to get cheaper car insurance, often for their children, or sometimes their partner.

I'm asking as I have friends who have unwittingly done this, and listed their child as a named driver when in fact they are the main driver. They had no idea it's illegal, and saved huge amounts of money.

I told them their insurance policy would be null and void if they are found to be fraudulent and they were horrified that they were breaking the law, changing it immediately. In one case they were saving hundreds of pounds.

It appears that that this practice is rife and the way that many people insure their vehicles. Most have no idea its against the law.

It made me wonder how common it actually is???

I’m in my 50s and this was common years ago, my dad did it for me. You could get the discount using the full no claims. I don’t think it was illegal in the olden days!
As far as I am aware the laws changed and you can now only use your no claims on 1 car, so if you drive yourself you can’t use it on your child’s car.

I don't think this is terribly common as most youngsters in reality cannot afford to own their own car, and borrow a parents.

The stupid thing is that it isn't cheaper often, certainly not after a year or so.
Insure in their name and the cost drops quickly if they don't have an accident and then add yourselves as additional drivers from the start. With a family policy from Admiral as an example.

When I passed my test decades ago, my parents just added me to my mum’s older smaller car as a named driver and if I needed to go anywhere, I used that. It was her car and she used it for work every day-I just used it in the evenings. That’s what most of my friends did, too-you could add a teenaged child quite cheaply.

To do it like this seems to be hugely expensive now which is a shame.

How would they know you’ve never used or driven the partners/childrens car though?

And so what if you don’t, your a named driver of the vehicle, doesn’t mean it’s compulsory to use it, it means you can use it if you want and your insured.

I was aware of this as did a spell working in car insurance which I have to admit really opened my eyes to the do's and don'ts of car insurance

I will add to that, that when we tried to add DS to DH’s insurance (small low insurance bracket car), as a named driver last year, it was going to cost £2-3000. We decided to get the insurance in DS’s name with DH as a named driver which was ‘only’ £900!

I felt this was stupid as DH drove it far more often (to work) and DS only drove it in the evenings/weekends-it certainly wasn’t his car, but that’s the only way we could afford to do it.

I don’t know anyone who bought another car for their child-most are just trying to find the cheapest way to add them on their own car. But it is definitely the adult’s car - they use it for work.

If what you describe is ‘fronting’ then that would have cost us 3 times the price.

@HeDidWhattt

How would they know you’ve never used or driven the partners/childrens car though?

And so what if you don’t, your a named driver of the vehicle, doesn’t mean it’s compulsory to use it, it means you can use it if you want and your insured.

If there is an accident they look into these things very closely if they suspect fraud.

Lots of people might get away with it, but it's very easy to prove by looking at where people live, work, socialise etc and also the fact that just about everyone has a GPS tracker with them at all times which records all their movements.

I witnessed a crash where it turned out the man who caused it had lied to his insurance company about where he lived and his job. He had told them he was a piano tuner(!) who lived at his Grandmother's address in rural Scotland when in reality he was a labourer on a building site and lived in a large city in northern England notorious for high levels of insurance fraud.

I was interviewed by an increasingly serious team of investigators because both insurance companies were trying to wriggle out of paying because it was my statement that gave the evidence that he was lying about the circumstances of the crash and all the rest of his lies were just uncovered along the way.

Plus there's ANPR data and MOT mileage logs which record the car movements. There's a lot of information out there that they can use.

Op are you a journalist?

Doesn't matter who is the main driver of the car, so long as they are insured as the main driver. People aren't aware that it's illegal to put them down as the named driver to save money.

I didn't even know about it until I read it on here some time back. I'm still not entirely clear on what constitutes 'fronting' if I'm honest. We have added our 17yo dd to our insurance for one of our cars. I certainly don't think of her as the main driver. We probably drive it more and she goes out with her dad as a learner a couple of times a week.

No I'm not a journalist!! I'm just a mum. But I always wanted to be one. I'm not trying to catch anyone out or anything!

I’d be hard pressed to say who is the current main driver of my car. DS probably drives it more frequently (largely picking up non-driving younger sibling), but I go longer distances when I use it.

DH and I use the car around 50/50, but I'm the main driver on the insurance. Some weeks he uses it more, some weeks I do. Not sure if that's wrong or not?

I did it for mine.

I think it's more common to do it for a child. A new drivers insurance premium will be loaded for some time particularly for the sporty cars young men like to drive. My child's insurance for his chosen vehicle is £7k. He wants me to take the policy in my name and put him on as a named driver. He is severely aggrieved as his friends parents are doing it for them.

Not a chance.

There's intentional fronting where the insuring person knows they have no intention of being the main driver for a car. This is fraud no matter how you dress it up.

Then there's incidental fronting as a result of family logistics and finance where the insuring person considers themselves to be the owner of the car but it is a family car for all intents and purposes so may not actually be the 'main driver' if investigated.

The first is clear fraud which I understand and agree with insurance companies being vigilant about. The second is more of a grey area that I think unfortunately catches people out if the insurance company chooses to investigate because the intent isn't to defraud, but just a case of practicalities.

I agree that not everyone fully understands the first type being a problem though which is why parents consistently risk being prosecuted for fraud with the aim of saving money. That sort of mark on your record is indelible and can seriously affect your ability to gain future employment or even keep current employment given how many companies fall under FCA/FSCS remit.

If you are fronting for your child on a second car, and they have an accident, would that increase your insurance on your own car?

Also, to those saying 'how's the insurance company gonna know?' - would you think it was ok to steal if you wouldn't be found out?

It's so common that Pharrell made a song about it.

Those that front intentionally clearly don't bank on getting caught. But it annoys the hell out me. I can theoretically pay hundreds more than my next door neighbour because they choose to break the law. No actually, it infuriates me.

No I took out my own insurance when I passed my test and my son took out his own when he passed his for his car. I am a named driver on his policy just for any emergency when I might need to drive his car but no one apart from me is on my policy.

Back when I learnt to drive early 2000s it was common for mostly lads to have done up cars that legally would belong to their parents & had them as the main driver and put their child on as a named driver.
I'm sure back then it depended who the legal owner was.

It's only the main driver that builds a No claims discount so might be cheaper to start with but all those named teenagers won't be building any. We are lucky to be able to afford it but 3 cars here, each owned on documentation and that person is the main driver. I on dh as additional and him on mine. We are both adds on sons but not him on ours. It's complicated

I did this with my dh years ago, I had an accident on ice aged 18 and he put himself down as main driver for me as my insurance was going to skyrocket, I didn't realise it was illegal. 15 years after and he's still down as the main driver as we've never thought to change it back, he maybe drives 5% of the miles. I mean I'll look at it next renewal but if the difference was more then £100 I wouldn't change it