Car insurance, like road works, caravans and other drivers, is one of the joys of modern driving.

If you are a young new driver, you practically need a second mortgage to pay for it - which is irony lost on no one.

Unlike highway robbers of old no one ever wrote stirring tales of daring do about a car insurance salesperson.

And to make it worse having paid your annual fee there's no guarantee you will actually get the money when something goes wrong.

Uswitch have revealed care-free drivers are risking up to £114 million in rejected car insurance claims every year.

In a list of the most common misdemeanors made by motorists, according to the Mirror , the comparison website revealed that wearing heels or flip flops as the easiest way to get your insurance written off.

One in four people admitted they had fallen foul of the rules.

They also found many motorists were unaware that items hanging from their windscreen or rear-view mirror that obstruct their view could invalidate their cover.

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The survey of 1,593 consumers found the most forgetful drivers are dotted around Birmingham, where one in three people on the road routinely forget to lock their cars.

In Wales, a quarter of drivers also frequently forget to renew their MOTs on time.

Simple errors, which also involve forgetting to strap in your pet, could mean that British drivers lose out on £114million each year in unpaid claims based on an average claim amount of £2,671, according to Association of British Insurers' research.

The typical cost of car insurance cover has leapt by more than £100 in the space of a year

A quarter of drivers admitted they did not realise these small errors could result in car insurance providers not paying out, with an additional third of drivers admitting they simply forget that such behaviours might impact on an insurance claim.

Rod Jones, insurance expert at Uswitch.com , said: "We know the British public are increasingly time poor, so it’s unsurprising that motorists can be forgetful when it comes to locking up their cars or renewing their car MOT and taxes on time.

"With claims now running into the thousands of pounds, people can’t afford to make a careless mistake that could invalidate their cover and leave them out of pocket.

"It is therefore really important that drivers note down their key renewal dates, and avoid making the easy to forget mistakes to ensure they are covered by should they ever need to make a claim."

10 slip-ups that can invalidate your insurance

  1. Wearing high heels or flip flops while driving - 25% of drivers
  2. Leaving car unlocked - 24%
  3. Putting off car maintenance when required - 21%
  4. Forgetting to renew their car MOT on time - 16%
  5. Letting pet(s) roam free in the car - 15%
  6. Lent car to a friend or family member - 14%
  7. Not updated details after changing jobs - 9%
  8. Attached fluffy dice, or another object, to rear-view mirror - 9%
  9. Forgetting to renew car tax - 9%
  10. Underestimated mileage travelled everyday - 8%