car insurance question

rfowler

My niece just bought her first car, insurance is very very expensive is it possible for me to be main driver and for her to be second driver (and she will be registered keeper at her own address)

Quentin

Of course.

But don't be put down as the main driver if that is just a wheeze to reduce the premium, and in fact your neice is the main driver! (That's fraud, and the insurers will be looking closely for this in your case!)

bouncydog1

Suggest you look up what "fronting" means which is precisely what you are suggesting you do.

Repercussions for you as the insured are the insurance failing to respond to an accidental damage to vehicle claim, and pursuit by insurers for their outlay in the event that they have to pay out for a third party injury claim. This could run into £ms and they may make you bankrupt in the process!

You would then have problems getting insurance again, because of the insurance fraud you would have committed.

Your niece is in no different a position to the thousands of other young, first time drivers. Suggest you should have a look at all the threads for young driver insurance on here and try some of the suggestions for bringing down the premium in a non-fraudulent manner!

rfowler

bouncyd!!! wrote: »

Suggest you look up what "fronting" means which is precisely what you are suggesting you do.

Repercussions for you as the insured are the insurance failing to respond to an accidental damage to vehicle claim, and pursuit by insurers for their outlay in the event that they have to pay out for a third party injury claim. This could run into £ms and they may make you bankrupt in the process!

You would then have problems getting insurance again, because of the insurance fraud you would have committed.

Your niece is in no different a position to the thousands of other young, first time drivers. Suggest you should have a look at all the threads for young driver insurance on here and try some of the suggestions for bringing down the premium in a non-fraudulent manner!

I have asked the question and have not said that I will do anything fraudulent.

It was a simple question no need to be arsey son!!!

27col

bouncyd is not being arsey he is simply stating facts. What you are suggesting doing is "fronting" and is frowned upon by insurers. Another point to bear in mind is that the other person will not be earning any NCB of their own. So their insurance is going to remain, as you put it "very very expensive" indefinitely.

bouncydog1

I was not aware that I had indicated you were intending to commit fraud - that was not the intention.

However you may be interested to see the following extract from the Fraud Act 2006

2 Fraud by false representation

(1)A person is in breach of this section if he—
(a)dishonestly makes a false representation, and
(b)intends, by making the representation—

(i)to make a gain for himself or another, or
(ii)to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.

(2)A representation is false if—
(a)it is untrue or misleading, and
(b)the person making it knows that it is, or might be, untrue or misleading.

So if you say you are the main driver of your niece's car when you aren't in order to obtain a lower cost insurance premium, then this would appear to fall nicely under the above.

You came on here asking a question and were provided with an answer that set out for you the reasons why it would not be in your interests to take such an approach. If you don't like the answer then that is up to you. Surely better to be forewarned of the pitfalls rather than come back later saying that insurers are pursuing you for their outlay and you don't know why!

d123

rfowler wrote: »

My niece just bought her first car, insurance is very very expensive is it possible for me to be main driver and for her to be second driver (and she will be registered keeper at her own address)

As long as you can explain how you will be the main driver when you are not the keeper and the vehicle is kept at the address of the alleged "second" driver.

Being the main driver means you use the car the most, and the second driver occasionally uses it. Not really possible if you don't even have the car at your house......

queline

I got quotes through all the usual comparison sites for my 20 year old daughter to drive my car on occasions when she is home from University. She wouldn't be driving it very often however as I need it and would be the main driver of course. Direct Line came back with a reasonable quote considering her age, she has been driving for 3 years, but with a total excess for her of £550! I phoned Direct Line to arrange the insurance but was refused point blank to do it in my name even though I would DEFINITELY be the main driver and I own the car! I was told it was because of this 'fronting' business because people have been dishonest in the past about who actually is the main driver and insurance companies are now refusing to pay out if the young driver has an accident. I didnt proceed as was told that the premium would be very high but people like us are being penalised because there are dishonest people out there. However, I did question why I had been able to get a reasonable quote online and was told they would have changed the policy holder anyway when they discovered the age of my daughter as named driver, also that the web prices are just a way of getting you to take out a policy and more often than not things will have to be changed when you get down to the nitty gritty. So beware, comparison sites are not all they are cracked up to be and be prepared for further changes to your premium. My daughter did have her own car until recently but so expensive to run for the little use it got we decided to get rid of it and thought she would be able to drive my car, ha ha! Result: my daughter cannot be insured as we can't afford it! Any advice would be welcome if there is any way to get over this (legal and honest of course)

dacouch

How many cars are there in your household and how many adults ?

Do you have another car that you own

gocat

Have 2 cars between 3 of us. Hubby and I both have full ncb and years of driving experience and son age 24 who has been driving 4 years with no claims.

Cars are focus 1.8 registered 1999 and KA 1.3 registered 2007. Up to now I have been main driver on the focus with son and hubby as additional driver. I drive the car most of the time with son occasionally and hubby who is insured as main driver for KA but only driving KA occasionally and rarely driving the focus.

Just phoned up directline to ask if son can be insured on KA as additional driver as well as the focus, so that when Im using the focus he will have access to the KA (hubbies main car which he hardly drives). They accused us of insurance fronting on the focus despite them renewing the insurance via phone only 2 months ago. How can this be so when I drive the focus more than him?

Anyway, have now decided to put him as main driver on the KA as it is a lot cheaper for him to be main driver insurance on that compared to the focus even though the KA is a lot newer and more expensive. Seems crazy. Guess its down to engine size.

StevieJ

queline wrote: »

I got quotes through all the usual comparison sites for my 20 year old daughter to drive my car on occasions when she is home from University. She wouldn't be driving it very often however as I need it and would be the main driver of course. Direct Line came back with a reasonable quote considering her age, she has been driving for 3 years, but with a total excess for her of £550! I phoned Direct Line to arrange the insurance but was refused point blank to do it in my name even though I would DEFINITELY be the main driver and I own the car! I was told it was because of this 'fronting' business because people have been dishonest in the past about who actually is the main driver and insurance companies are now refusing to pay out if the young driver has an accident. I didnt proceed as was told that the premium would be very high but people like us are being penalised because there are dishonest people out there. However, I did question why I had been able to get a reasonable quote online and was told they would have changed the policy holder anyway when they discovered the age of my daughter as named driver, also that the web prices are just a way of getting you to take out a policy and more often than not things will have to be changed when you get down to the nitty gritty. So beware, comparison sites are not all they are cracked up to be and be prepared for further changes to your premium. My daughter did have her own car until recently but so expensive to run for the little use it got we decided to get rid of it and thought she would be able to drive my car, ha ha! Result: my daughter cannot be insured as we can't afford it! Any advice would be welcome if there is any way to get over this (legal and honest of course)

I didn't think Direct Line used comparison sites?