Top Gear - Young Drivers and Fronting

Top Gears Sunday programme highlighted the issues younger drivers have in finding affordable insurance.  In doing so, they have upset a number of brokers and insurers in the insurance industry as their advice may lead people to believe that fronting is an acceptable practice.

Fronting is an illegal practice of masking who is the main user of a vehicle, often in order to achieve lower premiums.  Essentially the practice is fraudulent and so James Mays comments on the Top Gear show understandably unsettled some brokers.

James Mays quote (taken from the Guardian) : "It soon dawned on us that the only realistic way of getting covered when you are 17 is by going on your parents' insurance. So we got back on the phones pretending to be dad."

Richard Hammond did warn of the dangers of claims not being paid out if the company discovers the truth.  However, the risk is substantially more than just an unpaid bill, fronting can lead to the consequences of other fraudulent activity and would make it extremely difficult for a driver to reinsure in the future if a policy was cancelled and cover refused.

An insurer also has a right to invalidate a policy or make it void.  This essentially would mean the driver had not organised appropriate cover and could lead to an IN10 conviction for driving without insurance which carries a typical 6 point penalty and £180 fine.  This conviction would cause many new drivers to have their licence revoked.

Relevant Links:

Young Driver Car Insurance

Insurance for Banned Drivers