Parents taking car insurance risk

Parents are risking committing insurance fraud in large numbers as many send their children off to university in a car covered under their own name rather than that of their kids’.

New research from Zurich Insurance estimates the proportion of parents who have insured to themselves a vehicle driven by their offspring as 9 per cent.

Of these people, 68 per cent admitted running the risk primarily to reduce premiums and another 19 per cent were under the impression that as they legally own an automobile it should be insured by them personally.

"An insurer would be within their rights to decline a claim or recover any third party costs from the child or parent and grandparents themselves," highlighted Zurich Insurance’s fraud and investigations manager, Scott Clayton.

He added: "Although many don’t realise that what they’re doing is illegal, they also don’t realise that it’s a false economy with serious consequences, should the driver have an accident."