Your MONEY: Avoid Perils of Teenage Car Insurance Scam ; CASHPOINT

By John Husband

DON'T be tempted to "front" your son or daughter's car insurance as it could land you in bother.

Insurers charge young drivers a hefty premium because they are so accident prone.

Many parents help them dodge this by insuring the car in their own name and putting their son or daughter down as an additional driver. However, there'll be some explaining to do if, say, your son had an accident while at college when the car might have been expected to be at home with you.

The temptations are obvious - you might save pounds 800 because a teenager would pay pounds 1,200 for a policy costing the average adult pounds 400.

But if you get caught, the penalties can be severe. Should your youngster have an accident, the insurer may reject the claim as invalid and could cancel any other insurance you have on your own car.

You lay yourself open to criminal prosecution for fraud and your child could get six points on their licence for driving without insurance.

You may think it's easy to get away with but insurers are on the look-out for young "additional" drivers at the wheel in an accident.

The Association of British Insurers told us: "There's a big discrepancy between the number of young drivers with cars and the number who have their own insurance.

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