Car Insurance Job Picker
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Can job picking save me money?
Just making small (legal) tweaks to your job title can cut your car insurance costs. Use this tool as a rough guide, then double check with your insurer.
Important
Martin's warning:
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?
It's important to read this before you change your job title so you know what's a legitimate change and what isn't (this can be fraud if it's not done right). If you're happy the tweak you're doing is legit, go straight to our Cheap Car Insurance guide for more MoneySaving tips (or contact your insurer if you're mid-policy).
What can't you do?
If you're an office administrator and you want to say you're a driving instructor as it's cheaper, this is simple fraud. And if your insurance company finds out, it could cancel your policy and add you to a central fraud database, which other insurers can see - making it hard to get cover in future.
What can you do (legally)?
As, Martin says above - imagine you're asking a reasonable person who knew what you did for a living. Would they say it was reasonable for you to describe yourself this way?
If they’d answer yes... then all's good.
If they'd say no... don’t do it.
If they’d say hmmm, I’m not sure... check with the insurer.
So don't just say you're a supply teacher if you've never set foot in a classroom. And, similarly, if you're saying you're a chicken chaser (yes, this is a real job!), your job needs to involve the chasing of chickens in some way.
However, if you couldn't find your job title in our list of occupations, then this is simple. You'll need to find an alternative that fits from the titles listed.
What if I have more than one job?
If you have more than one job, or you're a part-time student, it's worth checking both jobs, though be aware that some insurers will make you use the place where you spend the most time. But - be creative - if you own your own plumbing business, it's worth checking quotes for both plumber and for company director.
Finally, whatever you want to change your job title to...
...if you've any doubt, check it with your car insurer
The cost of your car insurance is a result of many factors including your age, the car you drive, where you live, and your occupation. Insurers use what’s called ‘actuarial risk tables’ which show the different risks each group of people tends to have (they've built this up based on years' worth of data).
Your job is important as it can affect how you drive, who you take as a passenger, and how many points you have. For example, journalists are thought to be expensive as they tend to drive a lot, be in a rush, and risk carrying high profile passengers, which would up the cost in a lawsuit.
Insurers keep a record of past claims made by each job title or occupation, so they can see which tend to be the most risky and thus more likely to claim. So if you’re in a role with high car insurance costs, it’s likely your colleagues across your industry are to blame.
Yet while you can’t do much about your age, and you'd have to actually move house or get a new car to get a cheaper quote, you may be able to legitimately change your job title and save cash, but without having to get a new job!
The picker works by selecting sample profiles with similar job titles and averaging the cost differences between them. We compared prices for more than 4.5 million quotes across around 2,000 different job titles to build the tool. Kind thanks to MoneySupermarket.com* for letting us analyse its data (anonymised, of course).
Some car insurers don't just ask for jobs, but for the industry you work in as well. There is small variance if you have the same job in a different sector, so we categorised job titles in to 18 different industries. We then averaged out all quotes for each job to get the final price.
Do remember this is a fun tool to help you save money, but as quotes are based on an average driver and average prices, they are only an indication of how much you could save. Always double check with your insurer or if you're at renewal, try a few different (legitimate) titles.
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Duplicate links of the * links above for the sake of transparency, but this version doesn't help MoneySavingExpert.com: MoneySuperMarket.com
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