Increasing lie-ability: 19% of Aussies have lied on their car insurance application
Thousands of Aussies are at risk of having their car insurance claim denied, according to new research by Finder.
A Finder survey of 782 motorists revealed a concerning 1 in 5 (19%) have lied on their car insurance application.
A vehicle's overnight location is one of the most common insurance lies, with 1 in 10 (10%) insurance holders falsely claiming that they park their car in a garage overnight.
A further 6% have been less than truthful about how much they drive the car, while 5% have failed to list a driver on their policy.
Peta Taylor, car insurance expert at Finder, said lying on your car insurance application can come back to bite you.
"Purposely withholding information from your car insurance provider could be considered insurance fraud.
"This could result in having your claim denied, or even receiving a penalty notice."
Young drivers are the most likely to have told a fib, with a whopping 37% of gen Z admitting to telling tales. That's compared to 29% of millennials, 14% of gen X, and 5% of baby boomers.
Taylor advised those who have been dishonest to admit this to their insurer sooner rather than later.
"This could void your policy, increase your premium, or have no direct impact whatsoever.
"Regardless, owning up is always the best policy. Otherwise, you might not be able to use your policy when you need it the most."
Taylor said if you think you're overpaying on your car insurance, consider shopping around for a better deal.
"Loyalty doesn't pay when it comes to insurance – we recently compared two nearly identical comprehensive car insurance policies priced $245 apart.
"If your policy doesn't start with a Finder Score of '9' or above, you could probably be getting better bang for your buck," Taylor said.
When it comes to your car insurance policy, have you ever been less than truthful about the following?
| Where my car is kept (e.g. garage instead of street) | 10% |
| How much I drive the car | 6% |
| Additional drivers | 5% |
| My occupation | 3% |
| I put my car insurance under someone else's name | 3% |
| Being involved in a minor accident | 3% |
| Age of driver | 3% |
| Previous car accidents, claims or damage | 3% |
| How my car is used (e.g. saying business purposes when it's for personal use) | 2% |
| My address | 2% |
| Previous offences/conviction | 1% |
| I haven't lied on my application | 81% |
| Source: Finder survey of 782 Australians with a car insurance policy, September 2024 |  |
Methodology
- Finder's Consumer Sentiment Tracker is a monthly recurring nationally representative survey of more than 60,000 respondents.
- Figures in this release are based on 782 motorists from September 2024.
- The Consumer Sentiment Tracker is owned by Finder and operated by Qualtrics.
- The survey has been running monthly since May 2019.