CompareNI.com, Northern Ireland’s leading insurance comparison platform, has analysed over 1 million car insurance quotes to calculate what impact a motorist’s occupation might have on their premium. That data reveals that unemployed drivers pay an average of 30% more for their car insurance than employed drivers.
A growing number of redundancies have already been proposed by businesses in Northern Ireland despite the fact the government’s furlough scheme hasn’t been wound down yet. Sensata Technologies in County Antrim has proposed 160 redundancies, while Bombardier is preparing to make 400 people redundant at its Belfast plant and Terex Materials Processing is preparing for an unconfirmed number of redundancies in Omagh.
However, economists and industry experts are forecasting a much sharper rise in the rate of redundancies as the furlough scheme comes to an end in October, resulting in a possible 100,000 people out of work in Northern Ireland by the end of the year.
CompareNI.com is warning that drivers have a contractual obligation to inform their car insurance providers if they have been made redundant, and their premiums could be adjusted upwards by as much as 30% to reflect their altered risk profile.
Greg Wilson, founder of CompareNI.com, comments: “The country has been through the mill this year, with the global pandemic and resulting lockdown stalling economic growth in Northern Ireland, undermining the retail, hospitality and travel industries, and ultimately putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk.
“Unfortunately, new economic projections indicate that there is still worse to come, with forecasts by EY suggesting the number of people out of work in the province could spike to 100,000 before this difficult year is out.
“Insurance claims data indicates that unemployed motorists are on average more likely to claim on their insurance than employed drivers. So while losing your job is going to be bad enough, our insurance premium data suggests many of these newly unemployed workers could be hit with a redundancy double whammy, with their car insurance premiums potentially rising by as much as 30% after their unemployed status is reflected in their risk profile.
“However we recommend that people be honest even if it does result in higher premiums, as failing to disclose a redundancy to an insurer, risks invalidating the policy entirely – meaning they are not covered when they need it the most. Our comparison site is designed to help people see a wide variety of quotes from over 200 car insurance providers, so they can make an informed choice about the policy that suits them, at a competitive price.”
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