Car Insurance - unemployed or retired?

MIDLANDER

Hi folks.

My car renewal was £649.

I was just looking at the MSE insurance jobs title guide. It suggested other ways to put unemployed.

I put in unemployed on a site - quote £680 :eek:

I then put not in employment - quote £500

I then tried retired - quote £349

I get a company pension, after being pensioned off at 45, with no hope of work due to illness. But i also get ESA support, Industrial injuries disablement and DLA.

I don't want to be wrongly insured - but after several hours looking up the definition of retired - i'm no wiser. Please help.

Thanks

p.s this has come up before. My bank says i'm retired. They put this in when i applied for a credit card, after it refused me as unemployed - i was then accepted when retired was put in instead. But was this correct, or just a bank employee after a sale?

Quentin

You look to be retired. (On the health grounds)

InsideInsurance

You have no intention to work again and are in receipt of a pension. Would count that as retired but for a belts and braces approach then confirm with the insurers in question BEFORE buying.

Banks are funny critters when it comes to employment status, I know many contractors who fight with their banks because they want to classify them as self employed where as legally they are employees (either of an umbrella company or of a limited company that they happen to be the majority shareholder of)

forgotmyname

My insurance word is as if your on benefits like jobseekers, ESA etc. then your unemployed. And they do not cover unemployed people at all.

DLA wouldnt be though.

But different insurers may have different terms.

MIDLANDER

Thanks all.

Just tried another site.

Unemployed - refused to quote.

Not in employment - £450

When i get to the bottom of retired/not retired - i will look at unemployed/not in employment

Greek

If you're receiving unemployment related benefits then you are definitely unemployed. Receiving a pension doesn't automatically men you're retired- Isn't ESA a benefit to get you back to work? Meaning you are unemployed- Call the company and ask them

MIDLANDER

Greek wrote: »

If you're receiving unemployment related benefits then you are definitely unemployed. Receiving a pension doesn't automatically men you're retired- Isn't ESA a benefit to get you back to work? Meaning you are unemployed- Call the company and ask them

ESA is not an unemployment benefit though - people who work also get it. And the support part is for people not expected to work or seek work.

Its just the governments way of saving money and sneaking means testing of sickness benefits in the back door.

Johno100

First apologies if this constitutes hijacking the thread.

I'm in a similar situation to the OP. Recently made redundant, living off savings and with no intention of working again. I consider myself retired but am not due to be begin receiving my occupational pension for some time yet.

My car insurance is due for renewal in October and I'm currently running my details through comparison sites. The two options available to me would appear to be Retired or Of Independent Means.

With all other details the same I am getting:-

Retired = £333

Of Independent Means = £445

The insurer in questions website is of no assistance. Has anybody else been in this situation?

C_Mababejive

The insurance market is bizarre. For instance,why the variance due to occupation? what matter does it make if you are a homeowner? What IS a homeowner for insurance purposes?. When it comes to maritial status there are surely only three answers..single,married,civil partner so why do some have cohabiting/partner blah blah blah ??

Aretnap

C_Mababejive wrote: »

The insurance market is bizarre. For instance,why the variance due to occupation? what matter does it make if you are a homeowner? What IS a homeowner for insurance purposes?. When it comes to maritial status there are surely only three answers..single,married,civil partner so why do some have cohabiting/partner blah blah blah ??

There doesn't have to be a discernible logic. Insurance companies tend to work on raw statistics, so if people who tick box A make more and larger claims than people who tick box B, then they'll be charged more. Why people who tick box A make more claims is of less importance than the simple fact that they do.

But if you want to think about why some occupations are higher risk than others, I'd start from the fact that there's strong correlation between accident rate and social class, and occupation is a good marker for social class. There are some occupations which have an intrinsically high risk of accident (motorcycle courier?) especially if you use your vehicle for your job, or you might use it without telling your insurer, but my money would be on social class being the biggest factor. That also fits with unemployed people having some if the highest premiums of all.

Home ownership is also a marker for social class, which is why that is relevant. Marital status is also probably a marker for something else... perhaps if you're cohabiting or (better still) married it's a sign that you're growing up, calming down and getting sensible, especially if you're a youngish man.

Lord_Baltimore

Johno100 wrote: »

First apologies if this constitutes hijacking the thread.

I'm in a similar situation to the OP. Recently made redundant, living off savings and with no intention of working again. I consider myself retired but am not due to be begin receiving my occupational pension for some time yet.

My car insurance is due for renewal in October and I'm currently running my details through comparison sites. The two options available to me would appear to be Retired or Of Independent Means.

With all other details the same I am getting:-

Retired = £333

Of Independent Means = £445

The insurer in questions website is of no assistance. Has anybody else been in this situation?

Redundancy has enforced a lifestyle choice upon you but you are not retired imho. When your savings run out, I suspect you will seek assistance to sustain you whereupon you will be regarded as unemployed until state pension age.

Whatever, be honest to your insurers or you risk not being covered properly.