Published November 2026.
Adding a parent or partner to a young driver’s policy is a common way to try to bring the price down, and done honestly it’s perfectly legal. Done the wrong way round, with the experienced driver named as the main driver of a car they rarely use, it’s fronting, a form of insurance fraud. Here’s how named driver insurance works, where the line is, and what happens if you cross it.
Named drivers and fronting: the short answer
- The main driver must be the person who drives the car most.
- A named driver is someone else allowed to drive the car under the same policy, occasionally.
- Fronting is naming someone as the main driver when someone else, usually a young driver, uses the car most. It’s fraud, and it can leave the real driver uninsured.
What is a named driver?
A named driver is an extra person listed on a car insurance policy who can drive the car. The policyholder is usually the main driver: the person who uses the car most often. Named drivers use it less, such as a partner who drives it at weekends or a parent who borrows it now and then.
If a named driver has an accident, the claim goes on the policy, so it affects the policyholder’s no-claims bonus, not the named driver’s. Most insurers don’t let named drivers build their own no-claims bonus, though some offer a discount for named driving experience, such as the AA, usually only if you then insure with the same company.
Adding an older, experienced driver with a clean record to a young driver’s policy can sometimes reduce the price, because the insurer assumes the car will be driven more carefully some of the time. It doesn’t always work: adding another young or inexperienced driver usually puts the price up. Get quotes both ways.
The young driver must still be the main driver if they use the car most. That’s the legal way to do it.
What is fronting?
Fronting is when a more experienced driver, often a parent, is named as the main driver on a policy for a car that a less experienced driver uses most of the time. The Motor Insurers’ Bureau calls it misrepresentation that breaks the policy’s terms. It’s tempting because young drivers pay the most: the ABI explains that insurers price by the risk each age group brings.
Typical signs of fronting:
- A parent is the main driver of a car their child takes to college or work every day.
- The car is kept at the young driver’s address, such as a university town.
- The parent has their own car and rarely, if ever, drives this one.
Why fronting is fraud, and what can happen
Insurers price a policy on who will drive the car most. Giving a false main driver gets cover at the wrong price, and the MIB says both the named driver and the false main driver could be found to have committed insurance fraud. The consequences can include:
- A refused claim or a void policy. The insurer can treat the policy as if it never existed.
- Driving uninsured. If the policy is void, the real driver has been uninsured: police can give a £300 fixed penalty and 6 penalty points, a court can impose an unlimited fine and a driving ban, and the car can be seized. Six points within two years of passing the test means a new driver loses their licence.
- Paying for the accident. If the real driver causes a crash, they may have to pay all the costs, which can run to many thousands of pounds.
- The Insurance Fraud Register. Insurers can add people who front to the register, which the MIB says can make it very difficult to get any insurance in future, and can affect getting a mortgage.
- Prosecution for fraud in serious cases.
Fronting isn’t rare. In Aviva research in December 2024, 17% of more than 2,000 drivers aged 17 to 25 said they had been on a fronted policy, and the Insurance Fraud Bureau warned in 2024 that only about a third of adults had heard of it.
- Make the young driver the main driver and add an experienced named driver, if it lowers the price.
- Try black box insurance, which rewards careful driving.
- Choose a car from among the cheapest cars to insure: check its group with our free car specs check.
- Use the other tips in our guide to how to lower car insurance.
Insurance also matters before you buy: you need cover in your own name to test drive a car. See why you need to be insured to test drive, and our guide to checking whether a car is taxed, MOT’d and insured.
Frequently asked questions
What is fronting in car insurance?
Naming an experienced driver, often a parent, as the main driver of a car that someone else, usually a young driver, uses most. It’s a form of insurance fraud.
Is it illegal to be a named driver on your parents’ car?
No. It’s legal if you drive the car less than the main driver. If you’re actually the main user, that’s fronting.
Can a parent be the main driver on their child’s car?
Only if the parent genuinely drives it most. Otherwise the child must be the main driver.
Does a named driver get a no-claims bonus?
Usually not, though some insurers give a discount for named driving experience. A claim by a named driver affects the policyholder’s no-claims bonus.
What happens if you get caught fronting?
The insurer can refuse claims and void the policy, leaving the driver uninsured. You can be added to the Insurance Fraud Register, and face penalties for driving without insurance.
- Motor Insurers’ Bureau: fronting
- Insurance Edge: Insurance Fraud Bureau warns on the dangers of fronting (14 August 2024)
- Insurance Journal: Aviva research on fronting among young drivers (27 December 2024)
- ABI: age and motor insurance
- GOV.UK: driving without insurance
- The AA: named driver no-claims discount
Insuring a young driver? Check a car’s insurance group before you buy with our free car specs check.
