Fronting: The “Trick” That Voids the Policy

When you’re looking at first-year car insurance prices, it’s easy to see why some families start searching for ways to bring the cost down.

One idea that often comes up is putting the insurance in a parent’s name, listing them as the main driver and adding the new driver as a named driver. The quote might suddenly become much cheaper, but if the new driver actually uses the car most, there’s a serious problem.

It’s called fronting, and it’s a form of insurance fraud.

The good news is that there are perfectly legitimate ways to add a parent to a young driver’s insurance and potentially reduce the price. You just need to make sure the policy accurately reflects who actually drives the car.

What is fronting?

Fronting happens when someone deliberately lists a lower-risk person, usually an experienced parent, as the main driver when someone else actually drives the car most.

For example, imagine an 18-year-old has their own car and drives it to college every day. Their dad occasionally uses it at weekends.

If the daughter is listed as the main driver and her dad is an additional named driver, that’s fine.

If the dad is listed as the main driver purely to get a cheaper premium, even though his daughter uses the car every day, that could be fronting.

The easiest way to understand the difference is to ask:

Who genuinely drives the car most?

That’s the person who should be declared as the main driver.

When is adding a young driver to a parent’s policy allowed?

There’s nothing wrong with adding your son or daughter to your own insurance policy if the arrangement genuinely reflects how you use the car.

If it’s your car, you use it most of the time and your child occasionally borrows it, you can remain the main driver and add them as a named driver.

The structure might look similar to fronting on paper, but there’s one crucial difference: the information you’ve given the insurer is true.

Likewise, a parent can pay for their child’s insurance without becoming the main driver. Who pays the bill doesn’t determine who should be listed as the main driver.

How can an insurer find out about fronting?

Problems with fronting often appear when someone makes a claim.

When an insurer investigates an accident, it can look at the circumstances surrounding the vehicle and how it’s normally used.

For example, it may consider where the car is usually kept, who uses it for commuting, who was driving during the accident and other information available about its regular use.

Imagine a car is supposedly mainly driven by a parent at home, but their child actually keeps it at university hundreds of miles away and uses it every day. That could raise obvious questions during a claim.

This is why it’s important that the information on your policy reflects reality throughout the year, not just on the day you take out the insurance.

What can happen if you’re caught fronting?

The consequences can be much more expensive than the amount saved on the original premium.

Depending on the circumstances, an insurer could cancel or void the policy or refuse to cover certain losses.

That could leave you facing substantial costs following an accident, particularly if other vehicles or people are involved.

It can also make buying insurance more difficult in the future. Insurers commonly ask whether you’ve previously had insurance cancelled or voided, so an issue with one policy can continue to affect future applications.

Because deliberate fronting can amount to insurance fraud, there can also be more serious legal consequences in some cases.

Saving a few hundred pounds on a premium simply isn’t worth creating a much bigger financial problem later.

Why do families accidentally end up fronting?

Not everyone who gets their insurance setup wrong sets out to commit fraud.

Sometimes a parent has always insured the family car and continues doing so after their child gradually becomes its main user. In other situations, a car originally bought for the family ends up being used almost exclusively by one person.

The important thing is to make sure your policy keeps up with those changes.

If your child starts using the car significantly more than they did when you took out the policy, contact your insurer and explain what’s changed. They can tell you whether the policy needs updating.

It’s much better to correct the details before you need to make a claim.

Legal ways to make new driver insurance cheaper

Avoiding fronting doesn’t mean you can’t use an experienced parent’s driving history to potentially reduce the price.

You can add a parent as a genuine named driver on the young driver’s policy. If they’ll occasionally use the car, this can sometimes bring the premium down without incorrectly changing who the main driver is.

It’s also worth looking at several other ways to reduce the cost, including:

• Choosing a car in a lower insurance group
• Comparing standard and telematics policies
• Shopping for insurance several weeks before you need cover
• Comparing annual and monthly payment costs
• Choosing a sensible voluntary excess
• Building your own no-claims history
• Shopping around again at renewal

Rooster’s Test Drive can also help you build evidence of how you actually drive. It measures your driving over three to four weeks using your phone, and your score remains valid for 18 months. Safe drivers could save up to 40% on their car insurance.

These options might not produce the same artificially low quote as putting the wrong person down as the main driver, but they can reduce the cost without putting your cover at risk.

Fronting FAQs

Is fronting illegal?

Deliberately providing false information about the main driver to obtain cheaper insurance can amount to insurance fraud. It can also result in problems with your cover, including the possibility of the policy being cancelled or voided.

My parent pays for my insurance. Is that fronting?

No. A parent can pay for your insurance.

What matters is whether you’ve accurately declared who the main driver is. If you’re the person who drives the car most and you’re correctly listed as the main driver, your parent paying the premium doesn’t make it fronting.

I’m a named driver on my parent’s policy but I use the car a lot. Is that fronting?

Not automatically. What matters is who actually uses the car most.

If your circumstances have changed and you now drive the car more than your parent, contact the insurer and explain the situation. They can tell you whether you need to change the policy.

What if we genuinely share the car equally?

If you really do share the car and there’s no obvious main driver, speak to the insurer before taking out the policy. Explain how you both use the vehicle and let them tell you how they want it recorded.

Can insurers find out about fronting?

They can investigate how a vehicle is normally used, particularly when you make a claim. Information such as where the car is kept, who commutes in it and who regularly drives it can help an insurer establish whether the policy accurately reflects the real situation.

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