Lying to your car insurer could land you in hot water

It has been revealed that as many as 1 in 10 drivers in the UK have lied to their car insurance company in a bid to save the cost of a possible rise in their premium.

These are the findings from a recent survey into car insurance, which also showed that people mislead their insurer most commonly about a driver’s age, address, or where the car is parked at night time. A small minority of motorists fail to declare any speeding penalties or bans for drink driving, when renewing a policy too.

The Association of British Insurers says that the cost of uninsured motorists to people who stick to the law, works out at an average of £30 per person per year.

Insurance companies are getting wise to these tricks and are now investing heavily in technology that is more sophisticated in order to prevent fraudulent information being used to reduce premium costs. This is good news for honest consumers too, as it is hoped the cost of dealing with people who lie to their insurer will fall, which could have a knock on effect to premium prices.

The software can analyse the patterns of claims that are being made by certain individuals in a bid to cut back the current trend in falsified claims.

If an application for a car insurance policy contains false information and is discovered the insurer has the right to reject the claim. Dependant on the severity of the misleading information offered, the applicant could be blacklisted by all motor insurance companies, making it impossible for the offender to be able to drive legally again.

The most obvious danger to giving false information is when a motorist actually needs to make a claim following an accident, theft or damage. However, if the insurance company discovers false information has been given when a claim is made, they are within their rights to refuse to make any payment whatsoever.

In the case of a car accident, the details supplied when the application was made are checked against the applicants’ current circumstances and the particulars of the claim itself. If a discrepancy is found, the insurer can again exercise their right not to make a payout, which highlights the importance of telling the truth when giving details to you insurer.

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