Insurance? Just a case of word play (From Burnham & Highbridge Weekly News)

Insurance? Just a case of word play

10:48am Thursday 14th February 2008

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CONSUMERS could knock up to a third off the cost of car insurance simply by using different terms to describe their occupation, a study reveals.

Comparison website Confused.com said there were huge differences in car insurance quotes based on the word people used to describe the same or a similar jobs.

It said that someone who described themselves as a journalist could knock 33% off their quote compared with if they said their occupation was a news reporter, while premiums were 28% lower for a publican compared with the landlord of a licensed premises.

A TV announcer can expect to pay 18% less than a broadcaster and a bricklayer will find the same car 17% cheaper to insure than a builder.

The group, which looked at premiums for a 32-year-old man living in Glasgow and driving a Fiat Bravo, said people who described themselves as journalists would pay £282.45 for annual cover, compared with nearly £100 more at £376.22 for someone who said they were a newspaper reporter.

Someone with the same profile would pay more than £80 more because they said they were the landlord of a licensed premises rather than a publican.

Meanwhile, builders and broadcasters would pay over £50 more than bricklayers and television announcers.

Debra Williams, managing director of Confused.com, commented: "It is important not to confuse being savvy with being dishonest.

"Job titles do provide a grey area where the quotes can be 'massaged' or legitimately exploited by the consumer, but most other areas of quote criteria are a great deal more rigid and should not be manipulated in the same way."

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