WILTSHIRE Police have urged drivers to ensure they are aware of the details of their car insurance policies after new research has revealed that motorists in the South West are being caught out.

The survey, conducted by high street broker Swinton, found that more than a third of drivers in the South West wrongly believe they are fully covered to drive someone else’s car if they have comprehensive car insurance.

It also found that one in three drivers in the South West spend half an hour or less researching policies.

A spokesman from Wiltshire Police said: “We would urge all motorists to ensure they read the small print. As the results of this survey show, many drivers wrongly believe that they are fully covered to drive someone else’s car.

“Please make sure you check your policy carefully as it is illegal to drive a vehicle without the correct insurance.

“If you are caught driving a vehicle when you are not insured, you could receive a fixed penalty of £300 and six penalty points. If the case goes to court, you could get an unlimited fine and could be disqualified from driving.”

Almost 29 per cent of drivers in the region also admitted the answers given to questions during the application process may not be accurate.

Richard Beaven, distribution director at Swinton Insurance, said : “We were surprised at just how little attention is being paid to policy documents by motorists, and concerned that so many guestimate answers.

“The problems this can cause usually only come to light when you need to claim, which can be a difficult time without the added headache of finding you’re not appropriately covered.

“As an industry, we need to be doing more to help educate motorists about key policy areas to empower drivers to make the right decisions about their individual insurance needs.

“This will go a long way to providing peace of mind for the nation’s motorists and ensure more affordable premiums.

“We’d encourage anyone wanting support during their insurance application process to speak to one of our friendly team over the phone or in a branch.”

The survey also found that 47 per cent of drivers believe that if they have an accident where the other driver is deemed responsible, they won’t need to pay any excess at all, and 16 per cent were unsure who is responsible.

Across all standard insurance policies, an excess is payable on any claim regardless of fault, though this may be recouped from the other party. Providing insurers with incorrect information could also render the policy invalid.