'Bad Idea': Family Only Insuring One Twin on Shared Car Sparks Fury

A family has been widely condemned for trying to cut corners when it comes to insuring their 18-year-old twin daughters.

Research has shown that young novice drivers are at more risk of being involved in automobile accidents than older motorists.

A 2002 study by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation concluded that teen drivers were more prone to either underestimating risk or failing to recognize dangerous situations on the road.

Accidents on the road can and will happen, particularly with younger motorists, so it's essential that they are fully covered against any and all eventualities.

That is especially true when it comes to insurance. Not only is driving without insurance illegal, it can prove costly in every sense of the word.

So people were understandably indignant on social media when one family's unusual scheme came to light on Mumsnet.

A user by the name of Partyrocks explained his friend's two daughters "both passed the driving test within a week of each other" and have been bought a car to share by their grandparents.

So far, so good. However, when it came to insuring the pair to drive, their dad, along with his wife and the grandparents who bought the car, hit upon a unique idea.

Writing in the post, the friend explained that because "insurance is so expensive" they "made a decision to just insure one daughter." The thinking was: "If anything happened to the uninsured one it'll all be fine as they'll be able to pretend that they're the insured one."

According to the post, the twins are going to the same university and will take the car with them. They are "fully aware" of the deal and have even tossed a coin to decide whose name will be on the insurance.

But while that might all sound straightforward enough to the twins and their family, for many on social media it was a source of some consternation. One Mumsnet user, posting as RandomMess, was furious, branding the scheme "totally illegal" and adding it "invalidates the insurance for both of them."

Member984815 offered a more blunt assessment, writing: "It's fraud."
EverydayImhuffing thought it was "deeply stupid" asking: "What if the wrong one ends up in hospital after a crash? Is she going to lie and mess up the medical notes too?"

Jadecarrot went even further, writing: "What if the uninsured one died in a crash? They would have to swap identities. It doesn't bear thinking about."

NellNorth, meanwhile, presented another potentially tricky scenario. "If they have a serious accident which leads to criminal charges, the named driver just has to suck it up?" they asked. "This could lead to a catastrophic family fall out."

Elsewhere, SausagePourHomme urged the family to reconsider their approach. "The consequences could be bad - criminal record bad," they warned. "not worth the risk of affecting the rest of these girls' lives."

Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment.