Insurance cost - housekeeper vs cleaner

szyblaszczyk

Hello! I'm trying to give some good advice to my friend but I'm not sure if I'm telling him a right thing and need to be sure. He recently moved to UK and he is doing cleaning job (hoovering, cleaning kitchens, moping, refilling wipes, towels, removing old stuff from fridges, refilling soaps etc. in the huge office space) and he will buy car probably tomorrow. So he quoted himself on compare car insurance websites and he found out that there is significant difference (about 100 pounds for him) in final payable amount between "cleaner" and "housekeeper" positions. In the past I was also doing very similar job in a hotel and the positiion name was "housekeeper" but my duties were very, very similar. So: can he be a "housekeeper" (cheaper) on the insurance or must be a "cleaner" (significantly more expensive option)?
Thanks!

dacouch

You do not make clear what type of premises he is working in

spiro

dacouch wrote: »

You do not make clear what type of premises he is working in

"In the huge office space".

Tiexen

I would think housekeeper would only work in one place, a cleaner could work in multiple places - insurance doesn't like you driving to different places of work in a day.

neilmcl

Your mate is quite clearly a cleaner, not a housekeeper. However I'm sure it will not stop him from using that definition to get the cheapest quote.

As above, if he's going to use the car to get to work make sure it's only a single place he cleans at otherwise he'll probably need some form of business use on his insurance.

szyblaszczyk

Hi. It's just one building. I told him about driving to multiple places. It's not gonna happen. The thing is if "housekeeper" is fine or not. IMO not worth risking but I don't exactly know how this system with occupancy works. What insurance company might say if they ask him after accident "what do you do for a living", he will say that it's kind of housekeeping/cleaning job and who will decide if it's more housekeeping or cleaning? Can they void his policy? Job is very, very similar.

Ah, last thing: he is not going to travel to work by car on usual basis. Not even once a week probably during summer, maybe up to 2-3 times a week during colder period of year. It will be the car more for a pleasure, shopping use. He rides a bike to work. It's just about 2 miles way from his home to job site.

neilmcl

Even if he travels to work by car once a week he'll still need to declare ihe use as Social, domesting, pleasure AND commuting.

szyblaszczyk

Yes, he knows. The only question is if he can be a housekeeper on the policy or must be a cleaner.

Sandy75

It's not perfect but it might be a useful guide:
https://wikidiff.com/cleaner/housekeeper

I think your friend is a cleaner. Housekeeper denotes greater responsibility. Even if he works for a Housekeeping team he is a cleaner within the team. What job titles does his contract say? Cleaning Operative?