Many of us are committing car insurance fraud and we may not even know it. That is the warning being made by Insurance 4 My as new figures suggest a rise in ‘fronting’ – the name given to the practice of putting someone else on your car insurance policy as a named driver when, in reality, it is their car.

This situation is often found when parents insure a car in their name  but the main driver may be their son or daughter as they attempt to get round the high insurance premiums. It is now estimated that as many as a fifth of all UK drivers are committing car insurance fraud in a bid to cut costs.

Ashton West, chief executive of the Motor Insurance Bureau, said: “In the event that the driver of a fronted policy is involved in an accident, both the policyholder and the driver could be open to additional costs, penalties, fines and - potentially - prosecution. It simply isn’t worth the risk.”

The Bureau has also found that as many as a third of all car owners justify Fronting as a way of cutting ‘outrageously high insurance costs’.

Craig Astbury is a spokesman for Insurance 4 My. He said: ‘It is often for the very best reasons that people choose to ‘front’ on a car insurance policy but they must remember that this is a fraudulent act and would invalidate the policy if it was proved.’

‘We try to do everything we can to tailor the insurance policies of your drivers to keep costs down and ultimately help them earn no claims discount of their own so eventually they can enjoy cheap car insurance themselves.’