UK motorists ‘stretching the truth’ to lower car insurance premiums

More than a quarter (28%) of UK motorists have “stretched the truth” in order to reduce their car insurance premiums.

That was according to The Green Insurer, which said that the biggest fabrication, admitted by 21% of drivers, was to understate their annual mileage.

Other fibs include saying that a car was kept in a garage when not in use and falsely claiming to have an immobiliser for their car.

Drivers also admitted to claiming they had a lower risk occupation or stating that their car was not used for work when it was.

Paul Baxter, chief executive of The Green Insurer, said: “Lying to secure lower insurance premiums is never a sensible idea, because the more likely people are to provide false information, the more likely they are to have insurance claims rejected or at least scaled back.”

Age

The research was conducted by Viewsbank among 1,074 adults aged 18-plus, including 840 car owners.

Drivers aged 65 and over were the most honest when applying for cover, with 83% saying they would not provide false information, compared to 63% of 18-24 year old drivers

Younger drivers who had provided false information when applying for a policy were also more likely to have had a car insurance claim rejected or scaled back because they were found not to have told the complete truth.

While almost a third (31%) of 18-24 year old drivers surveyed said they had a claim rejected on this basis, no drivers aged 55-64 and 65+ age groups had been refused a payout because they had provided false information.

“Of course it can be challenging to pay for motor insurance premiums, especially for younger drivers who are offered higher prices because of their relative inexperience,” Baxter said.

”But a better idea is to avoid stretching the truth altogether and instead choose a policy that exchanges lower premiums for careful driving – and helps protect the environment at the same time.”