Consumers urged to be accurate when taking out insurance

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Consumers urged to be accurate when taking out insurance

Sainsbury’s Finance has conducted research revealing that a large number of consumers are putting their insurance claims in jeopardy by not providing accurate information when taking out policies.

The results of the research reveals that a staggering 12.59m policyholders have admitted to making a best guess for information, and that 1.12m have confessed to deliberately giving inaccurate information.

The majority of insurers will forgive an accidental piece of inaccurate information, though some will make the policy invalid.

Home, car and travel insurance are the areas of most deceit, with a shocking 18% of homeowners giving inaccurate information.

There is something of an age divide, with the youngest group (16-24) least likely to deceive and the over 65s most likely to do so.

The research also shows that most of those who do give inaccurate information do not so so for financial gain, but because finding out the true answer is time-consuming or difficult.

Consumers are strongly advised to go to the trouble of providing the most accurate information possible when taking out insurance policies, as in the worst case scenarios false information can render the policy invalid.