NerdWallet: 1-in-5 Polled Say They Lied on Insurance Application

A new survey shows one-fifth of respondents admitted to intentionally providing incorrect information on an insurance application.

NerdWallet and The Harris Poll conducted an online survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults.

It shows 21% have admitted to intentionally providing incorrect information on an insurance application, 19% said it’s acceptable to lie about the number of miles driven each year to receive lower auto insurance rates and 14% said it’s acceptable to lie about health data to receive lower life insurance rates.

It also found that men are more likely than women to find certain insurance application lies acceptable, and younger Americans are more likely to say they’re acceptable than their older counterparts.

Saving money was the primary reason lying was viewed as being OK. Of those who said it’s acceptable to lie about certain personal information to get lower insurance rates, 45% said it was to save money and 38% say it was because rates have increased too much.

The top reasons for lying on insurance applications were:

• I want to save money (45%)
• I don’t believe they should take that factor into consideration when determining rates (40%)
• Rates have increased too much (38%)
• I want to be eligible for a specific type of policy (18%)
• I don’t think there’s a consequence for doing so (18%)
• If I don’t lie, I won’t get coverage (17%)
• Some other reason (9%)