What happens if i lie about my driving record to the insurance company?

[bmacd]

I've been calling around for quotes for my bike and obviously, your driving record is a huge consideration when calculating a quote. What if i tell them i have a clean driving record...no tickets, no accidents?

-=bmacd=-

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

After the quote, but before you acture get the insurance, they usually check your record out... especially for a new policy. Once you're "in", and get a ticket they don't always catch that, but even then they might run some sort of periodic check & catch it.

 

[SyahM]

Originally posted by: Yo_Ma-Ma
After the quote, but before you acture get the insurance, they usually check your record out... especially for a new policy. Once you're "in", and get a ticket they don't always catch that, but even then they might run some sort of periodic check & catch it.[/q

Exactly .. in short, dont lie. It will cost you more if they find out later.

 

[IGBT]

Can they lie about your coverage??

 

[nlieber]

If you lie they can refuse to pay for any costs you may later incur. Obtaining insurance under false pretext = dumb and very expensive later on.

Finally it's called insurance fraud

 

[RossMAN]

Chances are they will pull your driving record from the DMV, if you're caught lying there could be some serious consequences.

Let's say you lie to get coverage, they insure you, you get into a major accident and it's the OTHER person's fault who has no car insurance or it's your fault. I think they'd have grounds NOT to offer you coverage because you lied in the first place to obtain the policy.

Do not even think about lying to get any sort of insurance.

 

[vss1980]

It basically voids your insurance policy. Insurance fraud aside, it is the same as going uninsured and apart from having to pay for any damage (to your ride) you may also be held responsible to pay any damages/compensation to the other person.

 

[RU482]

Talk about insurance fraud, what if you DO lie and the DO insure you, and you get in an accident, say, 2 years after you lied but have been a loyal customer and paid your premiums on time. Wouldn't that be fraud for them to not pay, assuming the mutal liability would be on them for not checking your record?

either way, I wouldn't recommend lying to anyone with that much potential power over your future

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: redly1
Talk about insurance fraud, what if you DO lie and the DO insure you, and you get in an accident, say, 2 years after you lied but have been a loyal customer and paid your premiums on time. Wouldn't that be fraud for them to not pay, assuming the mutal liability would be on them for not checking your record?

Probably not because you probably signed something that says that by signing you are certifying that all the information your provided was truthful, and that if it is later discovered that you lied that they can cancel your policy immediately without refund of your premiums.

 

[kranky]

Actually, I think they don't mind refunding the premiums if they cancel for lying on an application. That way they didn't take your money, and they can walk away from paying a claim.

You'd have to be crazy to lie on an insurance application. If you have a claim, they get the chance to avoid paying just by checking your history. And you're in it deep, to say nothing about the legal implications of lying on an insurance form.

 

[Hammer]

i'd hit it.

 

[dman]

I wasn't sure how old a ticket was on my record, so, at one point when I was getting quotes I just told them I had a ticket or something a few years back but didn't know exactly when. That way they know they need to check my record. Most of the big companies can do it right at the time of the quote, they ask for you DL# and SS# and run a credit and driving check right then.

If they denied your coverage because they didn't check your record and claim you lied about it you could possibly fight them on it stating you believed what you told them to be true. It'd be a tough battle, but, you might have a chance. Depends on the circumstances. If you have 100pts on your license and a history of accidents then it's going to be pretty clear you know you didn't have a clean record, but 1 ticket a few years ago you could honestly forget about exactly when it was.

Lying can also be a problem on other things like:

How many miles do you drive in a year? If you say 5-15K and you really are driving 60K/yr then that would be a problem. It might be hard to tell on a 10yr old car how many miles / yr you are really driving but, on a new car it's not that tough.

If you have done modifications to your car (engine replacement / turbo / nitrous) and didn't tell them that, and get into an accident they could choose not to cover you for all or part of the costs.

Where you live: If you are claiming residence in a place where you don't live to get better rates (perhaps a student living fulltime on campus claiming they live at home on parents policy).

So, as said above, it's best to be very honest w/ them because you don't want to find out a few years later that they won't cover you when you need it. It's really not worth it.

 

[Maverick]

If your ticket is 3 or more years old you don't have to report it. They only look back 3-5 years. Depends on the company though. Progressive goes back 3....some go back 7! If they ask if you've had any tickets ask them how recent. By all means be honest! Most of the time if you lie they'll charge you more because they'll requote you or they'll just reject you outright.

 

[amdskip]

It's just not worth it to lie about your record IMHO.

 

[Jfur]

I've always had to submit a recent abstract when applying. If you lie and they catch you, they will either deny you service or jack your rate so high you die. And you'd better read your contract very carefully -- it would not surprise me if they stick something in there about deceit and their ability to deny claims based on fraud.

 

[Cyberian]

dman6666

Good post. Are you quite sure about this part?

If you have done modifications to your car (engine replacement / turbo / nitrous) and didn't tell them that, and get into an accident they could choose not to cover you for all or part of the costs.

 

[bmacd]

think of it like this: you drop $4000 on a supercharger in your car and *conveniently* forget to tell your insurance company. After you get into a high speed accident (or any for that matter) and you try to collect on the value of your vehicle, the insurance company *conveniently* decides not to cover you for the cost of your supercharger.

-=bmacd=-