A bad job: the professions with highest and lowest car insurance costs revealed

Professional footballers have retained the trophy for paying the most for car insurance for a second year.

The elite sportsmen and women pay four times more than the average driver for their car insurance, with an average premium of £1,942 a year.

That might be expected given many footballers’ famous love for flashy and fast cars, but some other jobs including town clerk, bar staff and advertising assistant, are just as likely to carry hefty insurance premiums, according to new analysis.

The data, gathered from more than five million insurance quotes by MoneySupermarket, shows that the average driver pays £473 per year but that their jobs leave many people paying more than twice that.

Behind footballers, car wash attendants pay the next highest bills, with an average premium of £1,616 ahead of sportsmen (£1,559) and fast food delivery drivers (£1,537). Abattoir workers, scrap dealers and town clerks all also pay more than £1,300 a year.

At the other end of the scale, guest house owners (£258), typists (£271), and retirees (£275) have the cheapest car insurance rates. They are followed by registrars (£289) and examiners (£295), with potters, countryside rangers and acupuncturists also among those who pay well below the national average.

Dave Merrick, car insurance spokesperson at MoneySuperMarket, commented: “Our research shows that for the second year running, footballers have the highest car insurance premiums. This is most likely due to the cars they drive, which can often be very high-end.

“As with last year’s results, a range of ‘everyday’ professions – such as delivery drivers - feature in the most expensive category. Insurance companies retain vast repositories of information on previous claims, which informs the way they calculate a premium. As a result, some professions are seen as more of a risk and are charged more. But it’s also important to note that other considerations will also be taken into account by insurers such as a driver’s age, their location and their previous claims history.”

It can sometimes pay to think carefully about how you describe your job. You can’t lie to insurers about your profession but some roles can be described in different ways and there can sometimes be startling differences between different definitions.