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Insurer cracks down on dishonest car insurance customers

07 Sep 2010

One of the UK's leading car insurance providers is cracking down on drivers who lie about their previous claims in order to get cheaper motor insurance quotes, becoming the first British company to automatically check customers' history.

According to swiftcover.com, ten per cent of car insurance applicants do not disclose all of their previous claims – and the dishonest drivers who try to cover up their past are more likely to claim in the future.

The motor insurance provider has devised a new system to instantly compare the claims disclosed by a driver on their application with a database holding details of 22 million British motorists.

Steve Gaywood, counter fraud and compliance manager for the firm, warned that under the new system customers attempting to conceal their claims history would end up paying a higher premium.

"It is not fair that safe, law-abiding drivers should pay higher premiums to subsidise people who lie about their previous claims to get cheaper insurance," he added.

This follows research from driving organisation the AA, which found that UK motor insurance premiums had risen by 11.5 per cent over the past three months as the number of fraudulent claims increased.

Posted by Judith Stevenson