One new device that is provoking serious concerns to car insurers and the car insurance industry as a whole is the issue of fronting. A couple of months ago, it emerged that car fronting was become a flourishing business across the country as parents, experienced motorists, considered possible means of saving on cost of insurance. Even then insurers did not hesitate to warn that the practice was not only misleading but equally illegal. Yet it has continued to endure.

What is fronting?

Fronting is generally understood as the practice whereby a parent or mature driver insures a car in their name, but the car is primarily used or driven by a younger, inexperienced driver who is their child. This helps them in getting a cheaper premium for the named driver, whose experience could not have ordinarily earned.

What are the main features of a fronted policy?

A fronted policy is one in which the policyholder deliberately misinforms that insurer about the main driver and the base (address) of the car. They add their child, who lives elsewhere as a named driver on the policy, but the truth is that the named driver is the main driver and the parents’ address, which is on the policy, is not where the car is based.

Although this device helps in lower the premiums and allows parents to transfer their no claim bonus, even inappropriately, to an inexperienced or immature driver, the risks in this practice are numerous. One very clear problem is that it could affect their entire policy if detected by insurers.

It could start with a claim arising from damage or theft of the vehicle. At this point insurers, despite the belief by those fronting that an investigation would be rare, would definitely want to investigate suspicious claims. The danger here is that it could lead to a number of secretes being unearthed, creating a litany of issues for the policyholder.

To deal with the problem of fronting car insurers are already training their staff to detect a fronted policy. They are trained to detect signs like a young driver attempting to arrange a policy in their parent’s name but having his or her name included as a named driver on the policy.

Other manifestations of this act include a parent using their child’s debit card to pay for a car insurance cover, a child giving their mobile number or e-mail address as their parent’s contact details for a policy and a mature driver insuring a car with a personalised numberplate indicating the named driver.

Also among the features are parents transferring their no claim discounts to a second car with a named young driver and a theft claim in which the car was stolen from a different address from the one given by the policyholder.

Overall, fronting is clearly an illegal act which may save people a few pounds but in the long run could become very expensive and counterproductive. The best way to save cost is to shop around for the cheapest possible deal.