Car insurance: anomaly in UK market or sensible?

[actuary21c]

Disclaimer: I am not a general insurance actuary (as may be obvious from this post, so forgive me if I am missing something that is well known to GI/CAS actuaries).

Instead, one of my hobbies is music, and I play double bass in a couple of local amateur orchestras. As my occupation is listed as actuary/company director, I have never had a problem with car insurance. However, I was very surprised to learn that this is far from the case for another double bass player in the orchestra (details below).

Although you'd be surprised that double basses can fit in relatively small cars (normally for a hatchback [UK term for a car where the back lifts up and the back seats go down, useful for transporting things; I don't know the US equivalent] with the neck [=top] of the bass fitting between the seats and getting close to the gear stick), most double bass players naturally prefer to drive estates. I personally drive a Volvo V70, which for me gives the best of both worlds (space for musical instruments such as double bass, keyboard, amplifier etc.) when I want it, but also a luxury feel with leather seats, nice steering wheel, very quiet when driving on motorways, comfortable ride, plenty of space etc.

However, I was chatting to one of the other double bass players in one of the orchestras and very surprised by what he told me. He is a young man who is 19, having a gap year before going to music college, who is earning some money playing jazz in various bands during evenings/lunchtimes during the week and weekends. He told me last week that he is having a real problem getting affordable car insurance, apparently because the UK car insurance industry doesn't seem (to this non GI actuary at least) to differentiate much between:

• the average 19 year old male, who might be felt to be a bit of a boy racer, and
• a musician, who drives a more sedate car (estate rather than sporty car), and doesn't/can't drink much because when he goes to pubs he is typically working.

The premiums he has been quoted for the following proposed vehicle (a 2002 130PD (=130 bhp engine) VW Passat SE Estate Turbo Diesel, value approx £2,000) are around £3,000 per annum for fully comprehensive, and only a few hundred pounds less for 3rd party insurance. (i.e. in each case, the insurance for 1 year costs more than the vehicle itself!)

I could understand this if it were a young man trying to drive fast to impress women/friends/bolster his ego, and thought to be a high risk because the insurer thinks that he is likely to drink too much. (Unfortunately in the UK there has been - and continues to be- a culture of "let's go down the pub and get the beers in", "the beers" meaning 3,4+ pints, when anything over 1 pint is likely to make the driver over the legal limit).

He says that he would be offered a lower premium if he put his occupation down as "unemployed" rather than "musician"!

Am I being naive, or is this a case where an insurer could usefully distinguish between different kinds of risks posed by different types of young men? Is there a gap in the market where an insurer could, after a bit of research/underwriting, and by attaching special conditions to the policy (e.g. no alcohol to be drunk whilst using the vehicle for transport to and from music performances) offer a lower premium to young male musicians?

What is the situation like in the US market?
Any enlightenment from US CAS members or UK general insurance actuaries gratefully received.

(Of course a factor here is that the vehicle is to be used for business purposes as well as personal/pleasure, but in reality, when a musician drives to and from gigs, is that really much different from someone else using their car to get to and from their place of work? The times of day are likely to be different, because the musician will be performing typically on evenings and occasionally Sunday lunchtimes, so perhaps collisions with other drivers who may be drunk are more likely. However, in practice, musicians typically leave the pub quite a bit later than the pub's customers, because it takes time to load the car with amplifiers, bass, help the drummers load up, etc.. Another factor might be the appearance of the word "Turbo" in the car model's name, but this is a diesel car, and turbo diesel does not make it a sporty/fast car.)