Got a promotion with a new title? Started a new job in a different career? Congratulations!
In addition to your new salary, human resources is filling you in on health insurance, disability insurance, life insurance, paid time off/paid holidays, retirement planning, family leave, and, more often than not this year, remote work or flexible schedules.
If you’re lucky, they may also be filling you in on additional sweet job perks such as performance bonuses, student loan repayment, child care, sabbaticals, free food, free gym membership, and even pet insurance.
But don’t forget to fill in your car insurance agent: You may be due a discount, or special car insurance altogether, based on your new gig.
Yes, what you do for a living affects what you pay for car insurance. Find out about the car insurance occupation factor, which jobs are considered high risk and low risk, and how you can use occupation discounts to your advantage.
Occupation and Car Insurance
It’s understandable that factors determining your car insurance premium include state vehicle insurance requirements, your car’s make and model, your driving record, and your ZIP code (for specifics including the amount of traffic and the accident rates in your area).
But how does what you do for a living come into play? Insurers see it as a risk factor as well. When they’re underwriting a policy, they look at studies showing that people in certain professions have lower accident rates than people in other professions.
The difference in car insurance rates between high-risk and low-risk occupations can be substantial — an average of $105 a month, or $1,260 annually. On average, car insurance rates for high-risk occupations are $173 a month; for low-risk occupations, about $68 a month.
Let’s take a peek at their determinations. If you don’t see your occupation, know that overall, drivers in public sector and hospitality occupations pay the most for car insurance, while those with desk-bound professions pay the least.
High-Risk Occupations for Car Insurance
Some of the highest-risk occupations for car insurance are doctors, lawyers, and chefs. Chefs? Yes, because of their long, irregular hours and high stress levels, insurers see them as high risk.
Insurers not only take stress levels into consideration, but also the potential for distractions and whether the occupation involves the safety of others.
So occupations they also consider high risk include drivers, obviously, but also waiters, bartenders, hosts, DJs, athletes, actors, hairdressers, fitness instructors, social workers, travel agents, pharmacists, and business executives.
Of the latter, executives tend to use their cell phones in their vehicles more frequently than other people, which has been proven to be one of the leading causes of accidents in the United States. Also, executives tend to drive more expensive vehicles, which make for pricier car insurance claims.
Low-Risk Occupations for Car Insurance
On the other hand, government employees are considered low risk because they get into fewer accidents and file fewer claims than people in other professions.
Another example is scientists: Most of their research is done at home or at a company that pays them to be a careful and detailed person. Such people tend to be more careful in their thoughts and actions, so they tend to get into fewer accidents. Result: They’re classified as being better drivers.
Other occupations associated with safer driving habits include engineers, teachers and professors, mechanics, nurses, firefighters, police officers, doctors, psychiatrists, financial analysts, designers, homemakers, and military personnel.
Car Insurance Occupation Discounts
Your specific occupation can also provide overall discounts from specific insurance companies or stand-alone discounts from a wider array of insurance companies.
Car Insurance for Military Personnel
USAA is a well-known military-oriented car insurance company. If you or an immediate family member is a member of the military or a veteran, then you should qualify for USAA membership. This lifetime membership provides you with some of the best insurance coverage in the country.
In addition to low-cost premiums that are up to 30 percent lower than other major nationwide insurance providers, USAA also offers special policies catered specifically to the needs of military personnel.
For example, if you’re actively deployed, your premium can be reduced by as much as 50 percent when overseas. You can also get a discount of up to 15 percent when you park your car on a military base (or another safe location) while deployed.
Geico is a close competitor to USAA. Its premiums are similar. They offer a 15 percent discount to military personnel and veterans, and an additional 15 percent for those on active duty in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard. Their deployment savings are up to 25 percent, but they come with restrictions.
There’s also Armed Forces Insurance, which works in a similar way to USAA and has very competitive pricing with them.
Other carriers that offer military discounts include Allstate, Esurance (up to 25 percent), Farmers, The General, MetLife (up to 15 percent), Nationwide, and Safeco. There’s also a small insurance company serving four states in southern New England, Arbella, that offers a 10 percent discount for active-duty military deployed more than 100 miles away from their vehicle.
Car Insurance for Government Employees
Geico tends to be one of the best car insurance companies for federal and state government employees. You may not have known that GEICO stands for Government Employees Insurance Company, and the company originally only accepted government employees.
While policyholders can be from all walks of life now, Geico continues to offer discounts to state and local employees. These special discounts are called “eagle discounts.” Both active and retired federal employees may qualify for these.
Other insurance companies that offer similar discounts for federal employees include AAA, Farmers, Liberty Mutual (up to 10 percent), MetLife, Progressive, and State Farm.
Some major insurance carriers, including Farmers, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, and Travelers, also offer discounts to state government employees.
Car Insurance for Teachers
Teacher discounts can be up to 30 percent off on premiums, especially with insurance companies designed specifically with teachers in mind, such as Horace Mann Insurance, created by two high school teachers. Many of Horace Mann’s agents are former educators, and many are still active in their community school districts.
They offer an Educator Advantage package of value-added features and benefits at no additional cost.
There are also smaller insurance companies that offer discounted insurance plans exclusively to educators, including California Casualty, which offers car insurance in 45 states, but only for teachers, firefighters, police officers, and nurses. And for New Jersey educators, Plymouth Rock offers a special Teachers Insurance Plan with lower rates for educators and better coverage.
Other insurance companies offering discounts to teachers include Allstate, Esurance, Farmers (4 percent), Geico, Progressive, and State Farm.
Check Your Occupation
Allstate, Esurance, Farmers, Geico, The Hartford (up to 10 percent), MetLife, Nationwide (up to 15 percent), Safeco, and Travelers also list that they offer occupation discounts. Check with them for particulars.
Other Possible Discounts Related to Your Job
It never hurts to check into all of the possible discounts you can receive on your car insurance, especially if you’re in a high-risk occupation. Here are a few more to help you save.
Low-Mileage Discount
Your yearly mileage is also a factor that affects your car insurance rate: The more you’re on the road, the more likely you’ll be in an accident. So if your job has shortened your commute, you lower your risk to the insurance company and may be eligible for a low-mileage discount or occasional driver insurance.
The average person drives about 12,000 miles a year, so if you drive less than that, you could save on average 5 percent to 10 percent on your car insurance.
And even if your commute doesn’t have you driving below 12,000 miles a year, see if options such as public transportation, biking to work, asking your employer about working from home or a flex schedule, or even walking would save on commuting costs and car insurance.
Insurers that offer this discount include AAA, Allstate, Amica, Esurance (up to 15 percent), Farmers, Geico, The General, The Hartford, Liberty Mutual, MetLife, Nationwide, Progressive, State Farm (up to 30 percent), Safeco (up to 20 percent), Travelers, and USAA.
Membership/Group Discount
If you’ve joined business groups or professional groups as part of your occupation, check with your specific organization to determine if you qualify for any car insurance savings.
Insurance companies that offer membership and group discounts include AAA (up to 7 percent), Allstate, Esurance, Geico, The Hartford (up to 20 percent), Liberty Mutual (up to 10 percent), MetLife, Nationwide (up to 7 percent), Safeco, and Travelers.
Alumni Association Discount
Your occupation most likely involved getting a post-secondary education and often an advanced education, so why not take advantage of that too? You paid a lot for it, so it’s time for it to pay you back a little.
While State Farm is one of the few larger insurance providers that doesn’t use education as one of its determining risk factors, many auto insurance companies give lower rates to customers just for having attended college and for earning a degree than to their counterparts with no collegiate experience.
And if you belong to an alumni association, or if you have the opportunity to join one, ask either the association or your car insurance company whether discounts are available to alumni association members. Geico offers savings to members of alumni associations, as does Liberty Mutual which, for example, offers up to a 10 percent discount to members in the alumni association of Penn State University.
You’re already most likely awash in paperwork, but you shouldn’t mind doing a bit more with your car insurer, especially when you’re possibly looking at substantial savings.
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