An Insurance Q: Not heard of before !

[Will86]

Our son-in-law uses a car that I own but he drives and insures it as the only driver.

 

Asking around for renewal today he is quoted with a loading of £200 for being unemployed. (he's waiting for surgery).

 

As the car is used less and therefore has less risk, this appears odd.

 

Any thoughts please ?

[docted]

Will because he is unemplyed at present he is "able to use the vehicle more than if he was in employment"

 

Insurance companies not interested in reason for unemployment. I would try comparison websites to see if better deal available. One thing that could help here is if another qualified driver with a good record was added as a named driver.

 

Ed

[Guest JudgeMental]

not unusual to get a cheap introductory deal and a large price rise the following year...probably a lot just stick with that insurer and they play on this...... just get him to use a couple of comparison sites.

[StuartO]

Insurance companies, or some of them, don't seem to like unemployment or part time or voluntary employment, presumably because it's been observed to be a risk factor for a higher rate of accidents. More job-searching or commuting journeys perhaps, or maybe an association with a higher risk social grouping. My wife started selling Phoenix Cards as a pin money hobby after we retired and they didn't like that, even though she did in at home rather than touring shows etc.

 

And once they've latched on to something like that they can end up applying it as a factor in setting premiums without looking closely at the individual circumstances at all, so you can get seemingly illogical effects.

 

Not much you can do about it except shop around because even if they bother to listen to representations that they has missed the point, they will probably stick to their guns because anyone who makes an issue is by definition a potential troublemaker, so better without them anyway!

 

It helps to be as aware as posible of all these factors when you go shopping around too. I used a comparrison website to review MH insurance recently and the questionnaire you had to fill in was incredibly long and eleaborate. presumabkle it reflected all the various questions which all the various insurance comopanies would want to ask so in that it was useful because it told you what they were all looking for.

[gocro]

Get him to enter retired in the employed section, as he is not actively seeking work.