What title do you ascribe to your job?. Are you a dustman or an environmental hygiene technician?. A shop assistant (executive retail consultant)? Are you a van driver or a logistics solutions provider? One can only laugh at the recent reclassification of so many job titles. But describing your occupation could save or lose you money when it comes to car insurance.
People working in the licensed trade, members of the armed forces and journalists are considered risky but less so than actors, TV presenters and sports professionals. These people would find themselves receiving much higher quotes than the average. Highly paid footballers and entertainers will, naturally, drive expensive cars.
It's not generally known that car insurance premiums can vary according to the job done by the applicant. If you travel to work each day in your car, the insurers are likely to regard your occupation as a safe one. If a job entails having a safe place in which to park your car, this will lead the insurers to consider your job a safe one too.
Insurance companies will want to know everything they can about you; if you are a smoker or drinker, married or single. Often a health check-up may indicate that you are healthier than others in your age or occupation bracket, so you could save money that way.
Another important factor determining the cost of some insurance products is your postcode. It could be that a Bentley-driving person whose job, lifestyle and place of residence are totally different from yours pays less than you, a Fiesta driver.
Insurance companies also publish a list of high-risk, high-crime areas around the country. Your postcode not only affects insurance but the price you pay for a car warranty as well. Bizarrely, some towns in the UK have areas in the 'A', low-risk category as well as 'F', high-risk areas, but the majority are centred around the B, C or D mid-risk range.
Some occupations with high and low risks, as far as insurers are concerned, are surprising. Computer engineers and retail managers are near the top of the list, accompanied by doctors and chefs, working long hours in stressful jobs. Also among the top ten are, according to research by Churchill, estate agents, students and social workers. At the other end of the scale, the safest risks include farmers, green keepers and, reassuringly, pilots and ambulance drivers.
Whether or not you can park your car in a garage or off-street will also be taken into consideration. Young or new drivers will understandably pay more, not only for car insurance but warranties and gap insurance as well.
Car insurance is usually more expensive for men than for women. People will always argue about the contention that this suggests women are better drivers. It's true that men and women are responsible for an equal number of accidents, but women's accidents are generally less serious. Men pay higher premiums because they are responsible for 85% of serious accidents.
In the world of publishing, premiums vary for different job descriptions. Moneysavingexpert.com has a job description tweaking tool. In the world of publishing, when someone describing themselves as a journalist pays £400 per year, a reporter would pay £396 while a proof-reader would get away with only paying £356. A journalist could legitimately describe himself as a proof-reader as it's a necessary part of his job.
By calling yourself a shop manager instead of a shop assistant you would pay less than the £500 the shop assistant would be charged. Drivers of coaches, minibuses and buses are charged less than someone described as a van driver. It is worth thinking carefully about aspects of your job and which best describes you for insurance purposes. Don't risk invalidating your policy by being less than honest, but equally don't deny yourself the chance of reducing your premium.
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