Unemployed housewives

lifechooser

I had my car renewal quote through from Admiral multicar last week, so I phoned them up to haggle. They went through the details with me to ensure everything was correct.

It turns out I had forgotten to tell them that my wife was no longer employed, but on ESA (disability benefits). I asked them to halve the annual mileage, remove her business use, and update her occupation to 'unemployed'. The quote went from £260, to £320.

My wife suggested that as she was 8 months pregnant, 'housewife' might be a better description of her status. The lady at admiral put this in, and the quote changed to £210.

I can't believe that a simple change of description could have a 50% effect on the quote. Madness.

InsideInsurance

Unemployed = actively looking for work
Housewife = not looking for work

Ultimately insurance works on statistics rather than theory though underwriters/ pricing analysts will often try and rationalise what the statistics show. Underwriters I've spoken to in the past have theorised that the unemployed are generally more stressed, under financial pressure etc all of which result in increased rates of claims for incidents (whether the incident has happened or not)