Car insurance for musician?

jacklia

My husband is a part-time musician (drummer in a function band) - as soon as we mention this to car insurance companies, they either refuse to insure us or give us an astronomical price.

The only firm that we have found to be reasonable over the past few years is Direct Line. However, their price has jumped by £100 in the last 2 years due to a couple of claims which were not our fault (car scratched by someone else in the supermarket car park and running over a dead fox in the middle of the night!). On checking this with them today, they advised that this was due to the claims being classed as "partial blame". We are allowed 2 claims in 3 years and have protected no-claims discount but it would appear that our premium can still jump up anyway.

Does anyone have any suggestions for other insurance companies that might give a fairer deal to musicians? Most firms that we tried in the past seem to class all musicians as rock n' roll maniacs who are drinking at their gigs then driving home. My husbands band play "posh" gigs at weddings and corporate dinner dances - it's more than their livelihood is worth to drink and drive.

Hope someone is able to give some advice.

Cheers

Jackie

aj3001

Only thing I can suggest is being more inventive about his job title, I suppose it could be classed under "Customer Services" couldn't it? Not all companies ask for the exact title, just the catogrey

jacklia

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, we do find that we have to be upfront about his job, just in case anything happens while he is out with a car load of drums. This is also his main job (he's a stay at home dad with our daughter) so we can't get round it.

cheerfulcat

jacklia, I would also suggest that he try with another profession. Musicians are badly penalised; it's not so much the danger of drinking and driving, it's that you might have an accident while giving a lift to some famous muso & him or her making a claim, or so I was told when I queried this. He can call himself a househusband on the application. Does he not have separate insurance for his drums? Allianz Cornhill has a specialist musical instrument insurance; I've found them very reasonable.

jacklia

I've just spoken to Norwich Union Direct to query the clause on their website that reads "No driver of the vehicle is a professional sports person, actor, actress, model, circus / fairground worker or anyone connected with the entertainment industry". I explained what my husband does and they have said that this clause wouldn't apply to him as he only does it part-time! Looks like we might now be leaving Direct Line and saving £140 a year in the process!!

Cheerfulcat - I like the response you got when you queried it! My husband is the drummer "P Collins" - that's Paul, not Phil - but it does get queried when we apply for insurance!!!

Thanks for your reply.

Crabman

Q: What do ya call a drummer without a girlfriend?
A: Homeless

(:o sorry I couldn't resist )

maclean2

Hi - assuming that your husband belongs to the Musicians Union he could get a quote via their scheme which is mentioned on their website.

HTH

Debt_Free_Chick

jacklia wrote:

My husband is a part-time musician (drummer in a function band)

Is this his only/main job - or a part-time "paid hobby" in addition to other paid employment?

I assume the problem happens because you are stating his occupation to be "musician". If he has another occupation, you should list that first and then try to get cover for his musician work as an add-on.

jobbingmusician

maclean2 wrote:

Hi - assuming that your husband belongs to the Musicians Union he could get a quote via their scheme which is mentioned on their website.

HTH

I was going to suggest the MU, as well (after all, they have to be useful for something...... :rolleyes: