SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend
Driving Test | UK Driving Test Advice
Driving Newsletter - Tips and Advice on Passing your Driving Test
29 Aug 2011

Car insurance: to ‘Front’ or not to ‘Front’

With insurance premium costs skyrocketing, many young drivers are opting to be part of their parents’ existing insurance rather than taking out their own. Putting yourself as a named driver on a policy is fine, and for many young people it’s the best way to get insured without having to fork out a fortune.

However, there’s a fine line between being insured to get a good deal, and actually committing insurance fraud. One will save you money. One will cost you – and could lead to points on your licence as well as a potential criminal record.If your parents are the main drivers and you are a named driver – meaning you use it on occasion and are not the most regular user of the car – then you’re fine. If, however, you are a named driver but you drive it every day to get to work, that’s when it’s fraud.

The practice, known as ‘fronting’, has become popular with learners and newly qualified drivers, and part of the problem is that a large number of people (around 1 in 5) are unaware that it is illegal.

Sadly, though, given the cost of insurance for young people nowadays, the prospect of breaking the law seems to matter little when offset against the potential savings to be made.

In an effort to combat fronting, insurers are instead urging young drivers to get insurance in their own name and then add their parents as the named drivers. Their parents’ driving experience will help reduce their premium whilst still allowing them to legally be the main user of the car. It also gives young drivers the chance to earn their own no-claims bonus, which in turn will reduce their premiums in the future.

Additional information you may find interesting: Collingwoord & Provisional Marmalade are two clever companies who are able to offer fully comprehensive insurance for learner drivers on a short term basis. This is perfect for learning to drive without needing to go onto a parents insurance and gets around the ‘fronting’ problems discussed above because you actually have your own independent fully comprehensive insurance. This entitles you to drive as often as you wish but fully in accordance with legal requirements. More information can be found here regarding the ‘ins and outs’ of learner driver insurance from provisional drivers specialist insurance companies, Collingwood and Provisional Marmlade.