Money Expert > Car Insurance > Does my job affect my car insurance?
Compare car insurance quotes with us now and find the perfect deal that fits in with your life.
Last updated: 17/09/2021 | Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
When looking for car insurance deals, we're asked to provide a lot of personal information.
Questions about our age, address and years of driving experience we understand, but have you been left scratching your head as to why you're asked to provide information on your profession? Does it really matter?
Short answer, yes.
The nature of your work and the amount of driving you do relative to it all contributes to how insurers determine your premium.
We take a look at how your job affects car insurance in this guide.
Insurance providers quote you a car insurance price based on past claims data, statistics and predictions.
So, while you could be the most careful, sensible and responsible driver when it comes to taking your own wheels out on the road, if your profession is a Fast Car Test Drive Experience Instructor, you're going to flag up as a risk to insurers.
Providers will make assumptions on risk factors associated with the nature of jobs and the character that fits them – it's just how it is.
But more so than that, they'll be wanting to know how frequently you're driving on the roads, how long for and under what conditions; from weather to mental, stress of a job is a big factor with Public Health Sector workers making the most at-fault claims.
Someone who drives their own vehicle as part of their work, say in a city centre for 4 hours a day (including peak hours), is more likely to be in a situation where a claim may arise than a person who commutes rurally only on weekends.
According to Motoring Research, the best job title you can have if you want cheap cover is 'mechanic'. Which makes sense really.
For the job titles that will, on average, get the least expensive car insurance, see below:
| Ranking | Job title | Annual insurance cost |
| 1. | Mechanic | £298.61 |
| 2. | Administrator | £308.44 |
| 3. | Designer | £312.91 |
| 4. | Design engineer | £312.91 |
| 5. | Account executive | £313.37 |
| 6. | Commercial manager | £313.63 |
| 7. | Estimator | £313.75 |
| 8. | Engineer | £314.95 |
| 9. | Account manager | £315.29 |
| 10. | Financial analyst | £315.75 |
At the other end of the scale, these job titles tend to mean more expensive cover:
| Ranking | Job title | Annual insurance cost |
| 1. | Driver | £479.80 |
| 2. | Chef | £420.73 |
| 3. | Hairdresser | £383.62 |
| 4. | Bar staff | £381.69 |
| 5. | Fitness instructor | £381.15 |
| 6. | Physiotherapist | £380.88 |
| 7. | Social worker | £372.87 |
| 8. | Travel agent | £372.72 |
| 9. | Midwife | £366.19 |
| 10. | Pharmacist | £364.59 |
As you can see, there's not necessarily a huge amount of logic involved, although broadly people who work at desk-based jobs tend to pay a bit less than others, and those who work late shifts tend to pay more.
Moreover, if you do work in one of these jobs, it doesn't mean cheap car insurance is impossible to find.
Various other factors from the size of your car, to your postcode, to your years behind the wheel all contribute to the value of your quotes.
Those angels among us who work in hospitality will also face higher premiums. Bar staff, chefs and waitstaff work long shifts at unsociable hours so they're more likely to be driving in the dark, where reduced visibility poses a higher risk.
Insurers also infer that hospitality workers are more likely to have an alcoholic drink after work than those in other industries, which could lead to an increased likelihood of a claim being made.
Be explorative with your job title.
Several jobs can have more than one name; the difference is just semantics. Yet, it's in the semantics where pennies can be saved.
As an example, a painter could also be a decorator and vice versa, however one professional title may lower your premium.
As we said, it's all to do with statistics and data, and only the providers themselves hold the secrets to the reasons for differences in quotes.
We must stress that when you do compare car insurance quotes and select your profession, you must not lie. Don't say you're a teaching assistant when in fact you're a courier as it could invalidate your insurance.
However, we recommend having a play around to see if there's another title that accurately describes your job that results in a lower premium.
Just like changes to other personal information such as your name and address, you must always tell your insurer if you change jobs, irrespective of how long left you have left on your payment plan.
Recent statistics show that over half of the UK population fail to do this and risk, you guessed it, invalidating their insurance.
Sure, predictably it comes with the extortionate admin fee that attaches itself to any amendment but telling your insurance company is worth it over potentially facing a huge payout in the event of a claim, all due to inaccurate information on your policy.
Unemployed drivers tend to pay more for their car insurance than people in full-time employment.
There are ways to mitigate this however, and being unemployed doesn't necessarily mean your cover will be unaffordable. For more information, read our guide: car insurance for unemployed drivers.
