Insurance advice from Top Gear presenters should not be taken seriously, a financial expert has warned.
In this week’s episode of the popular motoring TV show, presenter James May advised young drivers that they could slash their insurance premiums by getting their mum or dad to insure their car for them.
“The only realistic way of getting covered when you are 17 is by going on your parents’ insurance,” May said.
However, as May’s co-presenter Richard Hammond pointed out, ‘fronting’ insurance in this way is illegal and can result in hefty fines, points on the driving licence, and even a jail sentence.
“If you do decide to put yourself on your parent’s insurance and you have a crash, and the insurance company find out that it wasn’t really your car, they won’t pay out,” Hammond said.
“Then they can prosecute you and you might have to go to jail.”
Hayley Parsons, chief executive of GoCompare.com, echoed Hammond’s advice.
“While few people would take Clarkson’s suggestion that a sex change could help 17 year old boys halve their premiums seriously, fronting is a common fraud and we would urge parents to avoid the practice as, if found out, the consequences could be severe,” Parsons said.
She added that drivers caught fronting will find it harder to get car insurance in the future “because the majority of insurers [will] refuse them cover.”
