Cheaper insurance with PhD: truth or myth?

Cricri

As per the title, I've heard that being a Dr results in cheaper car insurance. Can anyone confirm if this is true or not? and what about other kind of insurance (e.g. house insurance)?
Thanks for any info, I'm not very educated about all the insurance mess!

lisyloo

I don't know, but you could find out by using a comparison site and running quotes both with and without the title.
I suspect it's the occupation and not the title that makes the difference.
There is certainly a different risk attributed to different occupations for motor insurance.

Cricri

Yeah, I guess I could try it on confused.com, albeit their quotes are not always 100% accurate.
So you're saying that if I was a rally driver, my premium would go up?

ILW

Comparison sites don't ask for your qualifications, just your employment.

Cricri

I just went to confused.com, and it does ask for your title, and in the case of a Dr, if male or female.
I checked quotes with Swiftcover, AA and endsleigh, and the difference IS....
#drum rolls#
... eff all, not a penny. So I don't know if it's because confused.com asks the title but doesn't use it, but if it does, it makes no difference whatsoever.
Oh well, I'll change my details when I have to renew and ask them (I'm currently with Endsleigh) if it does any difference. I can't be bothered doing it now, besides they'd probably charge me the usual £25 for changing my details.

vaio

Is this a roundabout way of telling us you’ve finished a PhD?

If so congratulations!!

Grade inflation has devalued first degrees and to a lesser extent masters but having the ability and tenacity to get a doctorate is a major achievement.

Cricri

I finished a while ago, it was a way to check if what Jeremy Clarkson was true (I recall an episode where they went driving around and Jeremy stated that he told the insurance that he was a Dr to pay less). And if yes, I might as well get the cash (you know, that's what the site is about).

Grade inflation has devalued first degrees and to a lesser extent masters but having the ability and tenacity to get a doctorate is a major achievement.

It is, isn't it, I totally agree with you. Oh wait, you were being sarcastic. No, it's not.
But thanks for your input, I think I've got a much clearer view of what the answer is now. Eheh, being sarcastic as well, geddit?

Anyone else that can actually clarify the question? If like vaio you want to congratulate me, please send me a PM and I'll tell you where to send the monetary rewards as that's the only ones that I'm really interested in. Vaio, a tenner please? Come on, a fiver then.

*EDIT* I was wondering about house insurance too, I don't see how it could affect the premium, but then I don't see how it should have affected the car premium to start with either.

Quentin

Cricri wrote: »

I finished a while ago, it was a way to check if what Jeremy Clarkson was true (I recall an episode where they went driving around and Jeremy stated that he told the insurance that he was a Dr to pay less).

At least one myth has been exposed though..........

People with phds are not brighter than the rest of us.

(The rest of us know JC talks balls without having to ask!)

ILW

I think were they ask for title (Dr, Mr, Mrs etc) it is just so they know how to address the letters. Nothing to do with risk assesment.

Cricri

Quentin wrote: »

People with phds are not brighter than the rest of us.

Oh boy, how right you are, and I know what I'm talking about.

More playing with confused.com, more results:

House insurance:
PhD=no difference, except Elephant which charges you 31p less
Rally Driver(I'm not one)=no difference, except Endsleigh that charges you £100 more!
Married/single=no difference whatsoever
The house number has no impact.

Car insurance:
Researcher instead of engineer=consistently cost you about 30% more (yikes!)
Rally driver instead of engineer=consistently cost almost 3 times as much!
Married/single=no difference whatsoever (wow, I was pretty sure married was cheaper)
Custom exhaust and alloy wheels=+25% at Endsleigh, others I was checking befre didn't return a quote at all.

Enough playing around for today, conclusions: being married is not cheaper, PhD is not cheaper, and job title can definitely make a massive difference on car insurance. Based on confused.com only, so take it with a handful of salt.

Joe_Bloggs

If you are a PHD, trying to insure a plutonium fuelled DMC-12 then forget it . We have seen it before three times.
J_B.