Honesty on the rise among drivers despite car insurance cost rises

Almost one in seven of us (14%) are guilty of lying to get cheaper car insurance but despite rising insurance costs, this is down significantly on last year. A UK-wide survey of drivers carried out for comparison site Confused.com last year revealed that 32% of women and 46% of men admitted to lying to get cheaper cover. This year it is just 12% of women and 17% of men who say they have been lying to secure a cheaper quote.

Gareth Kloet, Head of Car Insurance at Confused.com comments on this sudden epidemic of honesty: "Whilst people may be tempted to mislead or even lie to their insurer when trying to combat rising insurance costs, it's certainly not advisable. In extreme cases, it could even invalidate any claims made and therefore honesty is the best policy."

Lying about mileage is top of the list of dodges, with almost 50% of women and 44% of men who have lied telling their insurer they drive a lot less miles than they really do. The next lie is about where the car ‘sleeps' at night - almost 28% of women and 31% of men who admitted lying tell their insurers the car is in the garage when it's really kept outdoors. Similarly, nearly 23% of women and almost 12% of men say their car is in the driveway but they admit to keeping it on the pavement.

Lying to insurers is rife in London with more than 19% being untruthful compared to just 3% in the East Midlands and only 2% in Northern Ireland. The majority of the UK has a rate of less than 10% of drivers telling lies to their insurers.

Confused.com is also advising drivers of cars which are off the road to familiarise themselves with new insurance rules. As of last week, Government officials will be allowed to clamp, tow away and destroy uninsured vehicles and this includes those parked on private driveways. For more information on the new car insurance laws, follow the link or visit Confused.com.