Drivers across the country could save a significant amount on their car insurance through a simple job title change – if it is justified. Before going ahead, it’s important to note only legal and legitimate changes to your job changes will help potentially qualify you for cheaper car insurance.
For example, if you’re a primary school teacher but you change your job name to a chef, you are committing fraud and could find your insurance policy cancelled as well as land yourself on the central fraud database, effectively destroying your chances of getting good insurance in the future. Martin Lewis said on the MoneySavingExpert website he founded: “When considering whether you can use a different title, alway imagine you were asking a reasonable person who knew what you do for a living. Would they say it was reasonable for you to describe yourself this way?”
But if done legitimately, it can help. MSE user Chris tried it and told the site: “Saved £100 by working in ‘software’ not ‘computer games’!”
Sometimes it can be difficult to break down your role at work into a few small words – therefore, you may accidentally be telling your insurer that you have a job title that could increase your insurance. Many insurers also ask you what industry you work in, which can often have more than description.
The reason insurers do this is that your job can often affect how you drive and who your passengers are likely to be. Insurers also have records of claimants’ previous occupations, which means they can assess which jobs are more risky and likely to make an insurance claim.
Therefore, insurers like jobs which are less risky or sporadic, such as a civil servant. Meanwhile, they tend to steer away from high-risk jobs which often result in more claims, including Premier League Footballers.
According to Marsh Finance, the top five cheapest jobs for car insurance are:
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Mechanic
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Administrator or Civil Servant
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Designer
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Design Engineer
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Account Executive
When you’re choosing a quote, try tweaking your job title slightly, within reason, to see if it affects your insurance. For example, if you’re a journalist, you can instead say you’re a writer, a copywriter, an editor, or a content manager.
Once again though, it’s important that the description you choose to give your car insurer accurately reflects what you do on a regular work day.