On 21 October 2026, a research project financed by and carried out by the EMG institute made public a striking picture of the Italian auto-insurance market. The online questionnaire, run between 8 and 17 September 2026 with a representative sample of 1,000 people aged 18 to 74, revealed that roughly 1.4 million motorists have confessed to providing false information to their insurer after a road incident.
Scale of false statements among Italian motorists
The survey broke down the phenomenon into three main categories. The largest share, 770,000 respondents (53.5%) said they altered the description of a crash to avoid a higher bonus-malus class – the rating system that directly influences the renewal premium. A second group, accounting for 586,000 drivers (43%) admitted they concealed the fact that the vehicle was being driven by a person not covered under the policy, often because the contract limits age or experience. The smallest yet still notable segment involved 33,000 people (2.3%) who fabricated details in order to claim compensation for damages that the policy did not actually cover.
Why drivers tamper with accident narratives
Avoiding higher premiums
In Italy’s bonus-malus system each claim can push a driver into a worse risk class, translating into a steeper annual premium. The fear of an immediate financial burden prompts many policyholders to under-state their liability or to depict the accident as a joint fault, hoping the insurer will keep the class unchanged.
Undisclosed driver
Insurance contracts frequently contain clauses that exclude certain drivers – for example, young or inexperienced motorists – from coverage. When a prohibited driver takes the wheel, some owners opt to hide that fact, believing that a denial of coverage would be more costly than a modestly increased premium.
Unjustified compensation
Finally, a minority of respondents confessed to inventing damage or exaggerating its severity so that the insurer would pay out for repairs not actually insured. Although these cases represent a small percentage, they illustrate how the lure of a quick payout can override the perceived risk of being caught.
Legal repercussions and the wider fraud ecosystem
Providing false information to an insurer is not merely a breach of contract; it can rise to the level of a criminal offence. Italian law allows for imprisonment of up to five years when the deception is classified as insurance fraud. While not every inaccurate statement triggers criminal prosecution, authorities evaluate each case against statutory criteria before deciding on charges.
The EMG findings sit alongside another study commissioned by, this time to mUp Research, which exposed a parallel wave of scams targeting motorists themselves. That investigation identified roughly 890,000 drivers who fell victim to fraudulent schemes, causing an aggregate economic loss exceeding €390 million. The most common attack vector was phishing email (35% of cases), followed by door-to-door solicitations (23%), SMS messages (17%) and instant-messaging apps (12%).
In response to the dual threat – motorists deceiving insurers and insurers being deceived by third-party scams – partnered with Consumerismo No Profit to launch the portal Stop alle Truffe. The site hosts short, engaging videos that explain how typical fraud schemes operate, how to recognize warning signs, and what steps to take if a driver suspects they have been lured into a trap.
Breaking this loop requires both stricter enforcement of existing legislation and greater consumer awareness of the long-term consequences of falsifying accident reports.
