Acquiring car insurance from a provider requires trust from both sides. Car insurance is a necessity, as it provides financial cover if you have an accident that results in damage to you, a fellow driver or passenger, or a vehicle involved. It’s important that you provide the correct information when applying for insurance, so you can be properly covered when getting on the road.
If a provider is going to insure you, they need to trust you are who you say you are, and that begins with providing them with your details truthfully.
Why Do People Lie On Their Car Insurance Applications?
Sometimes, mistakes happen. Innocently putting in the wrong details or making a typo is understandable, but even so, it’s imperative that you check what you’ve submitted to your insurer to make sure it’s accurate.
In far more sinister cases, people have deliberately attempted to mislead their insurer to get a cheaper premium. A study by LexisNexis in 2022 found that one in five (21%) motorists in the UK feel it’s “completely acceptable” to manipulate the information they submit to insurers to get a less expensive quote. Worryingly, this figure grew from just 12% when the same study was carried out in 2018 – perhaps a symptom of the cost-of-living pressures that people are facing.
Whether it’s lying about their occupation (some jobs carry higher risk than others), how much experience they have as a motorist, or the regular location of their vehicle (some places are deemed to be higher risk than others), there are various ways in which drivers attempt to pull the wool over insurers’ eyes.
Read more about GoShorty’s acceptance criteria.
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What Happens if You Lie on Your Car Insurance Application?
If you’ve ever asked yourself or been asked, ‘can you lie on your car insurance’, the answer is a firm, resounding no!
Failing to provide correct information can cause drivers a number of problems that could leave them without an insurance policy to protect them. By providing false information, drivers could end up costing themselves a lot more money, something that everyone wants to avoid these days. Let’s take a look at the potential consequences of lying to your insurers.
Your Insurance Policy Can be Cancelled
Firstly, your car insurance policy can be cancelled if you provide false information. This will leave you looking for a new policy elsewhere, which could be more difficult now you’ve already provided false information to an insurer.
Driving without insurance is dangerous (not to mention illegal), as you won’t be covered for any accidents that might occur on the road. Risking invalidating your insurance due to lying about your circumstances is not worth the risk, and will cost you more than it’s worth.
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Future Insurance Premiums Can be Impacted
Providing false information may cause future car insurance premiums to increase. Failure to disclose accurate information about your driving history will cause insurers to view you as a high-risk driver. The less they trust you on the road, the higher your premiums will be.
In extreme cases, you may even be denied insurance outright. Insurers who deem you untrustworthy have every right to deny your insurance application, so you could be left with no insurance, or having to settle for an undesirable option.
If you’re looking to save money on car insurance, lying about your information is something you should avoid. The best way to keep your premiums down is to provide correct information and drive carefully.
Insurance Claims Can be Rejected
If your insurer decides you’ve provided untrustworthy information, they may well deny any claim you submit. For example, if you are involved in an accident and need to make repairs to your car, you will have to pay for this yourself. With proper insurance in place, this type of cost would be covered, but after lying to insurers, you may have your claims denied.
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You Could Face Fines and Penalties
In the case that your insurer pays for a claim of yours using your false information, this would be classed as a fraudulent claim. This can lead to you receiving a fine, and the insurance company could sue you due to the costs they’ve had to pay.
As well as fines, your driving licence can receive penalty points, impacting future premiums and your driving record. You may even face prosecution for insurance fraud, something that can lead to community service or prison time.
All in all, lying to your insurance provider is a bad idea. It can negatively impact your driving record, your insurance premiums and your trustworthiness to other insurance providers. It’s also a huge risk that could end up costing you a lot more money than paying for an insurance policy with the correct information would in the first place.
If money is a concern for getting insured, temporary insurance provides drivers with an alternate option to annual insurance. With GoShorty’s product, driving a car for a short period of time is made easy and affordable. This flexible mode of insurance is perfect for borrowing a car, car sharing, learning to drive, or just insuring your vehicle for the time you need it. Get a quote today to see how easy it can be to get on the road.