Insurance fronting - what would you do?

motorguy

A friend of my son got a brand new car as soon as he turned 17. It wasnt the entry level model, so it wasnt among the minimum grouped cars.

He passed his test and went to get insurance. Tried everywhere and the cheapest quote was £7000. Thus his mother now has it insured in her name with him as a named driver for £1800

Now this is clearly fronting - apart from anything his mum has a sports car already and i'm 99% certain the car is taxed in the sons name, so if he crashes the insurance will pick up on this right away, plus he takes it to school every day, so there'll be no evidence of the mother using it for her work etc, etc.

My son is out in the car a lot with this guy.

There is only a small handful of people who know its insured in his mums name.

Should i just be minding my own business here? What would you do?

vikingaero

Can you not have a friendly chat with the mum or get your son to chat to the son. Ask them how much he pays for insurance and then either of you could mention fronting if they bring up the mum insuring it.

At the end of the day the third parties will be covered and that's all that matters. Whether they get paid out for a claim or not is no skin off our noses.

Lum

He's still insured against third party risks as the insurance are still liable even if there is fraud on the part of the policyholder. If is has a crash they will still pay out to whoever he hits, and to any passengers that are injured, it just means that he will be left with a useless lump of scrap metal, or an expensive repair bill as the insurance wont pay him or fix his car.

As the only person they're endangering is therefore themselves, I'd keep my nose out. If you believe the kid's driving is dangerous and don't want your son riding in the car with him, then that's between you and your son.

At least he has some form of insurance, many 17yr olds don't.

FWIW, it's fairly normal for someone who owns a sports car to also own a "normal" car, cheaper to run and keeps the miles off the fancy car. I do exactly this and my partner is insured on both of them, if she crashes one of my cars does that mean the insurance are going to accuse me of fronting?

What car is it BTW?

Hammyman

Seconded. Anyone a victim would be paid out. The insurance companies have gone way beyond greedy with young drivers so I have no sympathy for them. When I was 17 in 1988, you could insure a 3.5L V8 car for the cost of two weeks wages - £170. Nowadays to insure a 1.2L car costs 3 months wages, £1000's, and they're not having any more accidents than we used to have back then.

Strider590

pgilc1 wrote: »

A friend of my son got a brand new car as soon as he turned 17. It wasnt the entry level model, so it wasnt among the minimum grouped cars.

He passed his test and went to get insurance. Tried everywhere and the cheapest quote was £7000. Thus his mother now has it insured in her name with him as a named driver for £1800

Now this is clearly fronting - apart from anything his mum has a sports car already and i'm 99% certain the car is taxed in the sons name, so if he crashes the insurance will pick up on this right away, plus he takes it to school every day, so there'll be no evidence of the mother using it for her work etc, etc.

My son is out in the car a lot with this guy.

There is only a small handful of people who know its insured in his mums name.

Should i just be minding my own business here? What would you do?

Don't let your son in this guys car.... Seriously.
From what I read some years back, more teenager's are killed in mates cars than any other cause.

He didn't work for it, he won't respect it and he'll drive like an utter !!!!!.... He WILL eventually crash it and probably write it off.

Buying new cars for new drivers is utterly irresponsible for both their safety and the safety of everyone else using our roads. Buying a fast car is like putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger.

maninthestreet

Hammyman wrote: »

When I was 17 in 1988, you could insure a 3.5L V8 car for the cost of two weeks wages - £170.

When I tried to ensure my first car back in 1987 (1.6L Cavalier), I strulggled to find any quote lower than £350 for comprensive insurance, and I was 24. So I doubt that you managed to get a quote, even just for TPFT, for a V8 3.5L car if you were only 17.

esmerobbo

The first car I bought was a Rover 110 I was 17 in 1973. I never drove it, they wanted £900 to insure it. I was only earning £1500pa.:D

Gloomendoom

Hammyman wrote: »

Seconded. Anyone a victim would be paid out. The insurance companies have gone way beyond greedy with young drivers so I have no sympathy for them. When I was 17 in 1988, you could insure a 3.5L V8 car for the cost of two weeks wages - £170. Nowadays to insure a 1.2L car costs 3 months wages, £1000's, and they're not having any more accidents than we used to have back then.

My first insurance at 18 was £150 for third party fire and theft. Mind you, the premium was heavily loaded because I was a student (when I queried the loading I was told it was because students typically carry more people in their cars.)

The accident rate as a proportion of young drivers on the road probably isn't any higher, but I think there has been a huge increase in the number of young people who are able buy cars now. I suspect that this, along with the current compensation culture and complexity of modern cars, has meant that the increase in insurance payouts has be enormous.

anewman

Strider590 wrote: »

Don't let your son in this guys car.... Seriously.
From what I read some years back, more teenager's are killed in mates cars than any other cause.

He didn't work for it, he won't respect it and he'll drive like an utter !!!!!.... He WILL eventually crash it and probably write it off.

Buying new cars for new drivers is utterly irresponsible for both their safety and the safety of everyone else using our roads. Buying a fast car is like putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger.

I agree with all above points. Plus if you watch these Police Camera Action type programs it is the 17 year old lads who end up in horrific crashes with 3 young ladies (use the word loosely lol) on the back seat and a mate in the front, obviously trying to show off by how fast they can take corners etc.

If I was going to buy a son/daughter of mine anything it certainly wouldn't cost over £1000, and they'd be paying for insurance :beer: Can't afford insurance, then take the bus.

My first insurance on a 1994 1.3 Skoda estate when I was 27 was nearly £1,500. Luckily a few years no claims and moving to a lower risk area, I'm now under the £500 mark.

Strider590

anewman wrote: »

My first insurance on a 1994 1.3 Skoda estate when I was 27 was nearly £1,500. Luckily a few years no claims and moving to a lower risk area, I'm now under the £500 mark.

My first was a 1986 Austin Metro, cost £600, insurance £560.....
My parents could easily afford to buy me a brand new car, but didn't.
I was 18 and at the time I thought it clever to do 90mph in a car that was designed for a maximum speed of 72mph (once).
I look back and I wonder how I didn't trash that car, but I also look back and im glad I didn't have anything faster until a number of years later when I'd grown up a bit.

My mate had an Austin Maestro which was written off when it got rear ended by a 17 year old in his dadies 309 GTI doing more than 80mph on a housing estate road past a primary school and over a blind hill.

My other mates mate (19 yrs old I think), his dad bought him an AMG Mercede's, he left it upside down in a field after leaving the road at over 100mph.

And finally I personally witnessed a 6th former leaving school, skid sideways past the school gates and launch a 2nd year 30ft down the road (he luckily somehow landed on his feet).

Kids and guns, kids and knives, kids and cars.... All one and the same in my book.

Hammyman

maninthestreet wrote: »

When I tried to ensure my first car back in 1987 (1.6L Cavalier), I strulggled to find any quote lower than £350 for comprensive insurance, and I was 24. So I doubt that you managed to get a quote, even just for TPFT, for a V8 3.5L car if you were only 17.

Believe what you want. Maybe its because I didn't live in a crime ridden hole - I lived in a seaside resort in East Yorkshire. And a 1.6L Cavalier would have been a fairly new car whereas mine wasn't.