Stay within the law to insure new drivers
If you’re the parent of a young driver, you probably had to sit down when you learned what their insurance premium would be.
While the average cheapest premium for all motorists in August was £696, for motorists aged under-25 it was an eye-watering £1,680.
While parents can’t be blamed for looking to cut costs, they need to be careful that they stay within the law.
Take “fronting”, which sees parents say they’re the main driver of the car, even though most or all of the driving is done by their child.
Sounds innocent enough, but it could land those concerned in trouble if they have to make a claim.
Research from Co-operative Insurance has revealed that one in 10 parents of young drivers, that’s around 100,000 people, are currently fronting motor insurance for their offspring.
Although nearly twothirds of them (62%) say they’re doing it to save money, it could make it difficult for drivers to get insurance later if they’re found to have fronted.
New drivers can have their licence revoked if they gain more than six points on their licence within two years of passing their test and, whilst well meaning, parents could be putting their children at risk of this.
In the worst case scenario they could be found to be driving without insurance, which has a maximum penalty of six points.
The findings revealed that, even though the majority of parents (81%) know it’s illegal, 94% of parents wrongly think they’d be covered if they had to claim on their policy.
Dads are more relaxed than mums when it comes to fronting with 10% willing to admit to it, compared with 8% of mothers.
Steve Kerrigan of The Co-operative Insurance, said: “These findings show fronting continues to be an issue for both consumers and the insurance industry.
“Whilst many parents think they’re doing their children a favour by fronting insurance for them, in reality the consequences of doing this could be serious and costly if, for example, they need to make a claim.
“When it comes to provisional drivers what seems to be a harmless act could even lead to a loss of licence.”