Surgeons are the most likely to make an at-fault claim on their motor insurance, according to analysis of more than 11 million insurance quotes.
Other healthcare professionals also rank highly when it comes to at-fault motor insurance claims, with GPs, health visitors and hospital consultants in second, third and fourth place respectively, according to the research by MoneySuperMarket.
In fact, probation officers, who ranked seventh, are the only non-healthcare professionals to feature in the list of most at-fault claimants.
When it comes to the safest drivers in the UK, the list is more varied but those in clerical jobs feature highly.
Building society clerks came top for safe driving, followed by order clerks and audit clerks. More randomly, funfair employees, car wash attendants and abattoir workers also are among some of the safest drivers.
Kevin Pratt, car insurance expert at MoneySuperMarket, said: "It is really interesting to see how much one industry dominates the top 10 claims table – it seems those who have the responsibility of saving our lives and caring for our health are the most accident-prone drivers. There is no doubt that surgeons, GPs and health visitors are all stressful jobs, so lack of time or tiredness could mean that these drivers are more likely to make an 'at fault' claim."
He added: "Being involved in an accident, no matter how minor, whether you're at fault or not, can be a traumatic and costly experience. Our research shows the average claim value for an 'at fault' accident is nearly £3,000 and claiming for either 'not at fault' or 'at fault' accidents will drive up annual premiums, typically adding around £33 on average."
Top 10 professions registering the most at-fault claims:
1. Surgeon
2. General practitioner
3. Health visitor
4. Hospital consultant
5. Clinical psychologist
6. Psychotherapist
7. Probation officer
8. District nurse
9. Dental surgeon
10. Community nurse
This is a mutual organisation owned by its members and not by shareholders. These societies offer a range of financial services but have historically concentrated on taking deposits from savers and lending the money to borrowers as mortgages, hence the name. In the mid-1990s many societies “demutualised” and became banks. One academic study (Heffernan, 2003) found demutualised societies’ pricing on deposits and mortgages was more favourable to shareholders than to customers, with the remaining mutual building societies offering consistently better rates. In 1900, there were 2,286 building societies in the UK; in 2011, there are just 51.
