Car insurance - Which Occupation ?

dacouch

nobbysn*ts wrote: »

I doubt an insurer would convince a judge someone who puts backing tracks to photos on a pc is a musician.

Judging by his OP he's a musican and edits photographs.

I can't imagine there's a massive market in paying for a photograph that comes with it's own tune unless it's musical greeting cards he's making

nobbysn*ts

dacouch wrote: »

Judging by his OP he's a musican and edits photographs.

I can't imagine there's a massive market in paying for a photograph that comes with it's own tune unless it's musical greeting cards he's making

So arts and craft then?

hubb

I compose, record at home and upload to websites who sell my music. Ditto photographs. Why would that be a risk to a driver's insurance ? what would that have to do with a claim ?

BillJones

hubb wrote: »

I compose, record at home and upload to websites who sell my music. Ditto photographs. Why would that be a risk to a driver's insurance ? what would that have to do with a claim ?

It's not got a "risk", per se, but your overall risk category includes information such as your employment.

A few years ago I took a break from work, and called up to let my insurance company know. They were going to put down "unemployed", which put the premiums through the roof, but we settled eventually on "independent means", as I told them that I was out that point looking for work.

There were several categories that looked "true", including me saying that I was retired (we discussed how likely I was to work again), and the company were fine with me going with a description that was true but which also gave me the lowest premium.

Aretnap

The problem with musicians (and other people in the creative industries) from an insurers viewpoint isn't that you're inherently more likely to have an accident while driving to a gig or whatever, it's that they tend to be friends with other musicians. If I give my accountant friend a lift somewhere and crash the car, breaking his hand, my insurance company is probably looking at paying him a few grand in compensation for pain, suffering and the fact that his already rubbish amateur guitar playing just got even worse. However if I do the same to a friend who's guitarist in an indie band who've just had their first top 40 hit, my insurer could be paying out hundreds of thousands of pounds for his ruined career. If my friend is Sting, we'd be talking many millions.

Of course, the risk that you're actually mates with Sting and driving him around carelessly is probably fairly low, but it's a complication that the big mainstream insurers can do without, so many of them just choose not to insure musicians. People working in fields like film, TV or professional sport often have the same problem.

hubb

I work alone, don't have anything to do with live performance or other musicians. I would say I am a composer (I have to play and record my instruments) and the work is clerical.

Bantex_2

IT tends to come out pretty cheap.

Buellguy

hubb wrote: »

I work alone, don't have anything to do with live performance or other musicians. I would say I am a composer (I have to play and record my instruments) and the work is clerical.

Fair one, the only sticking point is if composer isn't on the list of occupations (I can't remember). If I were you it's what I'd go for, especially as you can argue (not literally) that you don't do live performances, you actually sit there and compose

SuperHan

What did you say to HMRC was the nature of your business when you registered as self employed?

If you said photographs, put photography. If you said music, say musician. If you're not insuring for business miles, it's less important, and they are just trying to profile you.

Alternatively (and the best option) ring the insurance company and hash it out with them. Settle on an answer, and if anything goes wrong, the onus is on them as you were told them exactly what you do and they have given you the classification.

nobbysn*ts

Definitely insure for business. The op said they use the car to drive to take the pictures they sell.