# UK car insurance for a house-person or unemployed



## manny.j (Dec 4, 2011)

I am looking to get a car insurance and am currently 'unemployed' as recently moved back to the UK after 9 years, hence have zero no claim bonus.

What I found out while searching for cheap car insurance is that if one specifies themselves as unemployed, then the car-insurance is significantly higher than when one states themselves as a 'house-person' (which also comes under the category of not-working). 

Not sure if someone may know this from experience, how can they tell if someone is a house-person or unemployed if one can consider themselves a house-person until they get a job? I find this option very confusing as I may as well consider myself a house-person until I find a job :confused2:

Also, if for example someone's status changes from being a house-person or unemployed to employed would the insurance company reimburse the difference after this change or they will keep the difference even though the difference in insurance quote is significantly large?


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## fergie (Oct 4, 2010)

Have you tried some firm like Direct line, they might be able to find the cheapest quotes, for someone in your situation.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

manny.j said:


> I am looking to get a car insurance and am currently 'unemployed' as recently moved back to the UK after 9 years, hence have zero no claim bonus.
> 
> What I found out while searching for cheap car insurance is that if one specifies themselves as unemployed, then the car-insurance is significantly higher than when one states themselves as a 'house-person' (which also comes under the category of not-working).
> 
> ...


To be unemployed, you should really be claiming benefit (jobseekers allowance). You can call yourself houseperson if you have a spouse in employment and supporting you. Otherwise you are just 'not in employment'. How they work out your premium depends on your age, claim record, car model and your address.

You may get a partial return of your premium if the change of status means lower premium, but they will recalculate your premium when notified about the change (and premiums generally may have risen in the meantime) and most companies also impose a fee for change of details. Both factors together may reduce or wipe out any refund due.


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## manny.j (Dec 4, 2011)

Joppa said:


> To be unemployed, you should really be claiming benefit (jobseekers allowance). You can call yourself houseperson if you have a spouse in employment and supporting you. Otherwise you are just 'not in employment'. How they work out your premium depends on your age, claim record, car model and your address.
> 
> You may get a partial return of your premium if the change of status means lower premium, but they will recalculate your premium when notified about the change (and premiums generally may have risen in the meantime) and most companies also impose a fee for change of details. Both factors together may reduce or wipe out any refund due.


Thanks Joppa (and Fergie) for you reply.

I am not claiming or intending to claim any jobseekers benefit but my spouse is also not employed and will not be seeking any job benefits either. She however does not have a driving license. 

From my analysis of car insurances in the UK, if one is unemployed then the compulsory contribution in case of a claim is £3000 where as if I change my status to house-person it drops significantly to only £200...its a strange method they calculate this. In addition, I get approx. 10-20% lower insurance rate in my situation (someone who just returned back to the UK and has zero no claim bonus).


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## Tachiras (Mar 4, 2013)

Hey manny.j... 

I hope you are still visiting this forum often because I would like to ask some information or advices from you, if it is okey with you. I found this post of yours posted 1 year ago which pretty much describes my current situation. I am interested if you could share the name of company you used for your car insurance. I have already tried several companies and all quotes I got were around £3000. Is there any possible way to talk with you in more details? Thanks


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## manny.j (Dec 4, 2011)

Tachiras said:


> Hey manny.j...
> 
> I hope you are still visiting this forum often because I would like to ask some information or advices from you, if it is okey with you. I found this post of yours posted 1 year ago which pretty much describes my current situation. I am interested if you could share the name of company you used for your car insurance. I have already tried several companies and all quotes I got were around £3000. Is there any possible way to talk with you in more details? Thanks


Hey Dude: 

Fortunately I checked my message I saw your post! 

FYI: I got a job within a month after returning back hence had no problems getting cheap car insurance. 

However, I do have some tips that can help you and anyone else in same situation like I was initially obtain significantly cheaper car insurance and not ridiculous £3000. When I had no job in the UK (just when I landed here), the cheapest insurance quote I obtained was £750 was by doing an intense search on ALL of the the following car insurance price comparison websites. This is because car insurance quotes on different websites can vary significantly and depending on your age, location where you live etc. you may strike lucky with one website than someone else. Hence, I suggest scan all the following search engines to get the best car insurance deal:


1. uswitch 
2. confused.com
3. gocompare.com
4. comparethemarket.com

Many may notice I excluded well known moneysupermarket from the list. That is because from my experience they are most expensive probably because they are very popular and possibly take a bigger slice of profits in affiliation program although there is no harm in checking them for your reference but they most likely will not be the cheapest.

Hope this helps and Good luck my friend!


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## Tachiras (Mar 4, 2013)

Thank you for your reply. Gonna check more now.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Generally, price comparison sites don't give competitive quotes for someone in your situation because you are non-standard risk. So I suggest you also speak to some insurance companies and intermediaries known to be sympathetic and competitive for recent arrivals with little UK driving experience. Phone up (don't use online quote engine) for Direct Line, Aviva, Admiral (plus their sister companies Diamond, Elephant and Bell) and Swinton.


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## manny.j (Dec 4, 2011)

Joppa said:


> Generally, price comparison sites don't give competitive quotes for someone in your situation because you are non-standard risk. So I suggest you also speak to some insurance companies and intermediaries known to be sympathetic and competitive for recent arrivals with little UK driving experience. Phone up (don't use online quote engine) for Direct Line, Aviva, Admiral (plus their sister companies Diamond, Elephant and Bell) and Swinton.


This is a very good suggestion. Mind you I did get nearly 75% cheaper recommendation when trying one of the search engines (when I did not have a job) but it could also be I had already lived here, had a UK driving license i.e. basically had some sort of a driving history in the UK.

BTW, Joppa, thanks a million for your suggestion as my wife got her ILR within a few weeks of us landing in the UK.


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