When the cost of car insurance for young drivers has escalated to levels that few of them can afford, the practice of ‘fronting’ is growing at a similarly alarming rate amongst the parents of many young motorists. Put simply, fronting is a way of potentially making huge savings on insurance premiums, but by naming yourself as the main policyholder when you know your son or daughter will be the principle driver is not only illegal, it could have disastrous consequences for both drivers in the event of making a claim.

Independant reports suggest that even though a significant number of parents are unaware that fronting is against the law, a similar number are willing to take the risk when to buy a car insurance policy in their own name for their child could save them hundreds – if not thousands – of pounds. The impact of this common practice could add around £30 extra to the premiums of other, more law abiding, policy holders, but being caught deliberately fronting could not only invalidate your own insurance cover but may involve your child facing court after being charged with driving without insurance.

In either case both the older and the younger driver could find it very difficult to obtain car cover again, the parent also facing losing any no-claims discount, so considering using such a fraudulent tactic to save money on car insurance could easily have the opposite effect in the long run. While some may be genuinely unaware of the consequences of fronting, others may be prepared to take a gamble when it appears that savings can be made, but there are, however, a number of legal ways to cut the cost of a buying a policy for young drivers, the most significant discounts being awarded to those in possession of a Pass Plus certificate.

While statistics suggest that almost 20% of UK drivers regularly miss their car MOT renewal date, the car repair industry is being deprived of millions of pounds each month just in overdue (therefore unpaid) certificates, which translates to billions of pounds lost every year, particularly since the cost of an MOT certificate has virtually doubled in the last 12 months. Independant surveys claim that well over half of all car owners in the UK admit to driving past their MOT expiry date, many of whom have been genuinely unaware of their actions, blaming the oversight on sheer absent-mindedness, while others have provided a variety of less plausible – or honest – excuses.

Conversely, this may be seen as a valuable saving from the motorist’s point of view, many of whom aren’t that quick to redeem themselves by immediately arranging an MOT test for their car, over a third of whom have admitted to taking up to a month to rectify their error. Such a practice may appear to some people to make the overall cost of maintaining a car less in the long run, but the potential risks of driving without an MOT certificate could have such serious implications for those caught breaking this law that making it a habit rather treating it as a mistake means failure to produce a valid MOT is definitely something to be avoided.

Prosecution for this offence in itself carries the chance of a financial penalty but of greater concern is the fact that an absence of a valid MOT certificate automatically negates the value of your car insurance, the results of which could have a catastrophic affect on both your driving licence and your pocket. The solution is relatively easy, and even though millions of UK car drivers have expressed a desire to be reminded in advance of their car MOT due date, there is currently no official national MOT reminder service. Some local garages and car dealerships do provide such a service although they are under no obligation to do so, but if you can’t rely on your memory and are keen to avoid compromising your safety and breaking the law, visit uswitch and any registered car owner in the UK can enter their details and MOT due date whereby they will receive a reminder a month before it is next due to expire.