Insurers don’t like Insurance Fraud. They do their utmost to try and stop it. One of the ways that they do this is to study who commits fraud. Learning the demographics of the people that commit fraud can help insurers to understand why they do it – and how to stop it.
Who Commits Insurance Fraud?
A recent study by the fraud prevention service CIFAS has discovered some new information on Insurance Fraud in the UK. They have studied the groups that commit the most fraud. They have also investigated why those groups consider it acceptable to do so.
The group that is most likely to think fraud is acceptable is young people (between the ages of 17-22). As many as 60% of people in this age group think that it is acceptable to be dishonest about their details when buying insurance. The most common tactic used by people of this age is ‘fronting’.
How do People Commit Fraud?
This is where the real driver of the car claims to be only a named driver on an older person’s policy, or claims that the car is located in a different area over-night than is true. Many people, according to the study, believe that ‘fronting’ is not wrong – nor does it have a victim.
To Insurers, fronting represents a potentially significant loss. The average cost of a car insurance policy in the UK is £478 a year. For people aged 18-21, however, the figure rises to £973. It would represent a significant loss for insurers if even a fraction of the younger people who would usually buy the more expensive policy get the cheaper rate through deception.
Is Insurance Fraud Victimless?
Women are more likely than men to consider fronting to be an acceptable form of insurance fraud – or not even fraud at all (53% compared to 46%). Both of these figures represent why insurance fraud happens – it is viewed as a victimless crime. People do not see fronting in particular as being anything other than a way of lowering their insurance premiums.
As brokers, we are able to search the market in a way that other insurance providers cannot. We contact a wide variety of insurers for prices, so that we can offer you the lowest price that we can find. That means that whatever kind of motor insurance you are looking for, we should be able to find you a price that suits.