A forum (frequented by learners) has yet another thread on the go, with people giving illegal, dangerous, and misleading advice about getting “cheap insurance”. It makes you wonder how – with so many A* grades being handed out like confetti, and all the University places being massively oversubscribed – people can be so stupid or naïve.
Let’s just look again at what “fronting” is.
I originally mentioned it last summer in this article. A BBC news story suggested that 41% of parents deliberately lie on their insurance forms to get cheaper cover for their kids. The implication is that somewhat more of them don’t even realise they are in the wrong when they try to get premiums down.
I wrote another article this year, based on further statistics concerning the problem. This time, 25% of young drivers had lied, and 70% of those claimed they didn’t realise they were doing it. The source material says that “over half of the 17-21 year old respondents” had admitted to “fronting”.
“Fronting” doesn’t have an absolutely rigid definition. The best one I have seen is this:
Fronting, is simply where a parent/more experienced driver/(anyone likely to get a lower premium when named as policyholder than the named driver would get) [puts themselves down as the main driver].
So for example,
You insure a car as the policyholder, therefore the main user, but your son is the named driver – if he uses the vehicle more than occasionally, he could be classed as the main user, which would create a huge premium compared to the one offered.
I like this one because it covers the grey areas. Particularly that phrase I have highlighted.
There is a misconception that if Mr X (the daddy) insures the car in his name, and drives it for 51% of the time, and his son drives it the other 49%, then there isn’t a problem. Unfortunately, there probably is, meaning that the policy could easily be void if a claim had to be made.
I have spoken with one insurance company, who say that if someone is found to be fronting then they will not pay out in the event of a claim. They say that if the policyholder uses the car 90% of the time, and the named driver 10%, then there isn’t a problem – but if it’s the other way round then there is.
When I asked them about what happens when car use is around 50:50 between the policyholder and the named driver they were a little less certain. They admit that there are grey areas, and that there are various factors that have to be taken into account, but if a driver is using the car that much then they really ought to have their own insurance. They made it clear that they can find out using various investigative techniques.
Tesco is much clearer on the topic. On its website, it says this:
We understand that it can sometimes be unclear who the main driver of a car is so we have provided clarification below to explain situations in which we would treat the young driver as the ‘main driver’.
- If a young driver regularly uses a car to drive to or from work / place of education then they should be the registered main driver.
- If a young driver uses the car on a daily basis, then they should be the registered main driver.
- If the car is maintained by the young driver, then they should be the main driver.
That one is crystal clear. It isn’t just about who uses the car the most. It’s also about who uses the car regularly, and especially if they use it for getting to work or their place of education.
That means anyone taking a car to University had better be bloody careful if they’ve got mum or dad down as the main driver. If Tesco sees it like this, even the company I mentioned above who were less specific could see it that way if a claim were made and they didn’t like what they saw.
On the forum I mentioned, one clown is arguing that “they can’t prove anything”. Well, if mummy and daddy live in Kent, and little Johnny is at Uni in Leeds, it’s going to be pretty damned obvious that little Johnny is more than just a named driver in the event of any claim up in Leeds. So the insurance company won’t really have much to do by way of proof, will it?
In actual fact, Tesco is the only insurer I can find whose definition is so clear. Recent statistics have been widely covered in media reports, but although these reports talk of the shock and horror parents feel when given “an accurate definition of fronting”, the actual definition isn’t actually given anywhere. All these reporters do is trot out the bit about “main driver” and “named driver” – they simply don’t cover the grey areas.
Remember that if the problem is as acute as is being claimed, more and more insurers are going to seek to apply more rigid interpretations as more and more people get themselves put down as “named drivers” to save money, even though they are major users of the insured vehicle.