Car insurance premiums are calculated as insurers take into account your perceived risk on the road. Failing to declare a criminal record or any convictions could see your policy invalidated by insurance companies.
Spent criminal convictions cannot be used against you and motorists do not need to declare previous crimes if their time has been served.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) says motorists who fail to disclose or misrepresent information during the applications stage would be committing insurance fraud.
They say making a few tweaks could invalidate a policy and may lead to payouts being restricted or voided if you then made a claim.
Insurance fraud is also a serious criminal offence and lying on an application could result in further police action.
ABI data reveals there are over 200,000 attempted dishonest applications for car insurance a year.
Motorists are sending over 4,000 fraudulent applications each week in a desperate attempt to save money.
Forgetting to reveal criminal convictions was one of the most popular lies discovered among the fraudulent applications.
Providing a false address or postcode was also revealed as a popular feature of fraudulent car insurance applications as motorists desperately claimed to live in a safer neighbourhood.
Insurance companies look in detail at where someone lives to calculate a motorist’s perceived risk.
Lying about your address or failing to declare when you have moved is serious and can also invalidate a car insurance policy.