4000 Fraudulent Motor Insurance Applications Weekly

4000 Fraudulent Motor Insurance Applications Weekly.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) issued figures yesterday warning that people seeking motor insurance should avoid trying to cut corners by completing fraudulent motor insurance applications by not making a full disclosure of their circumstances.

In addition, the ABI also warned motorists to be wary of "Ghost Brokers" who are peddling cheap motor insurance policies which in fact, do not exist. These so-called ghost brokers appear to trade on hastily established websites, cold calling techniques or indeed talking to a "man in the pub".

The ABI is the representative body for insurance companies in the United Kingdom and their research revealed that their fraud line is receiving around 80 calls per day for motor insurance policies that do not exist meaning that many drivers are on the road illegally without motor insurance cover. The total number of calls received to the ABI cheat line was over 1500 calls in 2014 relating to this topic.

More worryingly, at over 212,000 fraudulent motor insurance applications per year (4000 per week), there are literally hundreds of thousands of motorists on the road today who risk their insurance cover being invalidated by not disclosing all material facts.

For example: parents naming themselves as the main driver of a vehicle yet it is their younger son or daughter that is the main driver. This invalidates your insurance as it is nondisclosure of a material fact.

Comment

Our guidance is plain and simple, do not make false disclosures on any insurance application you make. It does not matter whether this is motor insurance, household insurance or travel insurance. If you are found to have made a fraudulent application and then try to make a claim, even if it would have been a valid claim, you actually risk losing out financially.

As far as fake insurance brokers (ghost brokers) goes, our guidance again is very simple:

• Never buy from a man in a pub
• Never buy from a cold call
• Always check on the financial services industry regulator’s website (www.FCA.org.uk) that the insurance intermediary that you are dealing with and also the insurance company that your insurance is placed with is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) - you can even ask the broker/insurer for their FCA number and check it online.