In the modern world, many of us have unique job titles… and they're not found when you type them into a car insurer's system. Therefore the aim is to find a best fit, yet ensure it’s the best fit for you, as well as the insurer.

Don’t try to cheat the insurer

If you’re an office administrator calling yourself a driving instructor because it’s cheaper, this is fraud. If your insurance company finds you’ve provided false information, your whole policy could be void, and you may be added to a fraud list, which other insurers will be able to see, so you’ll find it hard to get cover in the future.

What is legit?

Here’s Martin’s simple rule of thumb as to whether you can change your job title…

“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?”

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 to get a cheaper quote, which if you’ve not already spotted came up cheapest in our data, if you’ve never stepped in a classroom. If you say you’re a Chicken Chaser (yes, this is a real job!), your job needs to involve the chasing of chickens in some way.

For some, it’ll be more straight forward: if your standard title is not listed you’ll have no choice but to find an alternative.

What if I have more than one job?

If your have more than one job or are a part-time student you can check the price for both categories; although some insurers require you to list the place where you spend the most hours. If you own your own plumbing business you can check the price for plumber or company director.

Whatever the circumstances…
if in doubt, check it with your insurance company

The cost of your car insurance is a result of many factors including age, sex, where you live and occupation. Insurers use what’s called ‘actuarial risk tables’ which show the different related risks built up after mining 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 mooted to be very 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 law suit.

All insurers also keep a record of past claims made by each occupation, so they can see which are the most risky and more likely to claim. So if you’re in a high risk role, it’s likely your predecessors 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 better quote, you can now change your job title and save cash, but without having to get a new job!

The picker works by selecting sample profiles and averaging the discrepancies between them. It compares the prices for 1027 jobs taken from MoneySupermarket’s* car insurance comparison site (kind thanks to it for permission).

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 our sampling includes prices from 19 different industries per job title, ranging from accountancy to acupuncture. We have then averaged out the cheapest nine quotes for each job to get the final price, checking over 175,000 prices in total.

Do remember this is a fun tool, and prices will vary. Also, as the quotes are based on an average driver and average prices, they are only an indication of how much you could save. You should not rely on the tool to give a 100% accurate price and should always double check quotes for yourself.