Car crashes can be expensive

The most common lies are about age, address and where the car is parked overnight.

In addition, 3% of insured drivers said they had not declared bans for speeding or drink-driving.

Lying about personal or driving record details can lead to an insurance policy being invalidated, said uSwitch.com, which sponsored the survey.

Aron Thompson, head of insurance at uSwitch, said many consumers saw car insurance as a "grudge purchase".

He said: "It's no great surprise to see people either withhold or knowingly provide inaccurate, crucial information in order to get cheaper cover."

They cost the industry hundreds of millions of pounds and ultimately this is passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums Malcolm Tarling, ABI

However, Mr Thompson did suggest that many consumers made genuine mistakes and were confused by some of the definitions used by insurance companies.

uSwitch interviewed nearly 2,500 drivers for the survey.

Menace

Meanwhile, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) warned that uninsured drivers added �30 a year on average to the premiums of honest motorists.

A fund set up by the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB) to compensate the victims of uninsured drivers paid out �500m last year.

The MIB fund is financed by a levy on all UK insurance companies.

"Uninsured drivers are a menace. They cost the industry hundreds of millions of pounds and ultimately this is passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums," said ABI spokesman Malcolm Tarling.

"In addition, victims can suffer terrible injuries and it is usually slower getting a claim settled involving an uninsured driver than an insured one," he added.

As for consumers failing to disclose key information because they are bewildered by insurance industry jargon, Mr Tarling believes that, if in doubt, honesty is the best policy.