One in ten Brits are lying on their car insurance applications and one quarter have driven illegally at some point to keep costs down, according to RAC Financial Services.
Eleven per cent admitted to lying about where they keep their car; pretending
it is kept overnight in a locked garage is the most common lie. Other untruths
include deliberately under-estimating the value of a car (6%), power and performance
of a car (3%) and giving the wrong main address (2%) to attract a
lower premium.
At the same time, a quarter of British car owners are taking out minimal motor insurance cover to keep the cost of their premiums down.
RAC Financial Services spokesman, Philip Hale, said: "When you look at the bills they face, it's easy to understand why people feel pushed to reduce their car costs, but it's often a false economy - many insurance policies will be invalid if the details given don't match the vehicle and minimal cover just means you're more likely to have to pay for repairs, or damage you cause."
Further questioning about their bad habits revealed a more worrying trend - a quarter of motorists (24%) have driven without a valid MOT and 18 per cent have been on the road with an expired tax disc. Most concerning, nine per cent of British car owners admit to driving without insurance at some point in their motoring life.
"All these behaviours are illegal and driving uninsured is a particular concern. But, we should also recognise most are not people wilfully setting out to break the law. The pressure of the £100 a week it takes to run the average car is forcing many otherwise honest motorists to cut corners", concluded Hale.
Key regional findings:
- Scots were most likely to under-insure with 31 per cent admitting to
taking out the bare minimum cover for their vehicles. - Those in the North West were least likely to cut corners with only 18 per
cent
confessing to under-insuring. - One in ten Londoners admitted that they had not updated their motor policy
to
reflect changes to their vehicles.
