insurance mileage

[moanthebairns]

say for example i tell insurers i do 10,000 miles a year but come the end of my policy ive done 12,000 ish. if i have a bump can they refuse to pay. would they check my milage from when i bought the car. also could i claim that i done these miles on the track?

[JustinP1]

It depends on the policy. In most instances it is how many miles you genuinely intend to cover when you take out the policy.

There are some policies - specifically limited milage policies for example second cars such as classic or sports cars which will have a specific milage limit.

I would say what you have done is well within what is reasonable. The only way I could see such a claim being rejected would be through their investigation they find you are actually a rep doing 40,000 miles a year, and you knew this when you took out the policy and specifically told them you would be up to 10,000...

[10 Pence Short]

Within a reasonable amount a small mileage over shouldn't be a problem.

On a more realistic note, if they don't have the mileage at the start of the policy, how can they judge whether you have or you have not gone over the mileage?

[Kevin 996C4]

I questioned this with my insurer and was told it was a guideline, they do not have the mileage data so cannot record it. Note that MOTs have mileage recorded though.

[Andyr86]

If you have a bump they will ask for the documents. They would see that your vehicle has done X many miles in so many months and work how many miles you would have done in a year.

However every time I have purchased a policy it makes absolutly no difference stating that I do 4000 miles or 40,000 miles.

[Hooli]

Andyr86 said:

However every time I have purchased a policy it makes absolutly no difference stating that I do 4000 miles or 40,000 miles.

im surprised i've been told by a few brokers that 7,500miles seems to have a sudden rise in accidents & hence cost. mind you that was for classic insurance.

[moanthebairns]

for past two years ive stated 6000 miles down bout 8ooo - 9ooo come end of policey. maybe its cause im a young driver but really does make a difference per 1000 miles in cases of 200 pound a time.
so i just stuck wi 6000 mile again
i know when i had a minor accident and gave details they asked for current mileage

[supermono]

I had to write stating the mileage and date as part of my application. However they can't know a)how many miles I did on the racetrack or b)how many miles were driven by other drivers on their own insurance.

Also if the speedo reads 5% over, you're showing 5% more miles than you've actually covered so I'd have thought they'd need to have the speedo/odometer calibrated to support a case.

SM

[Sheepy]

It really depends on the type of insurance you have. If it is a specific limited mileage policy, then it could be a problem. However if it is a general policy, then the mileage question was really to get an idea of the mileage you do.

My Porker is on a specific 6000 mile limit. It does not matter who does those miles, or where. Once the car completes 6000 miles from the policy inception, the cover expires! I tried arguing what if a friend drives it, what if I track-day it on a different policy etc, but was told that the terms of my policy is the car does no more than 6000 miles in a year, and I was welcome to change insurers if I felt agrieved (given they are about £150-200 less than other quotes I got, I can live with that restriction!).

[bigdods]

supermono said:

Also if the speedo reads 5% over, you're showing 5% more miles than you've actually covered so I'd have thought they'd need to have the speedo/odometer calibrated to support a case.

Not true I'm afraid. The speedo reads 5% over but the odometer is usually very close to actual (or even bang on). The correct speed is sent to your speedo from the gearbox which is recorded as distance on the odometer. The speed is then adjusted before it reaches the speedo needle to create an over read. This is to meet the legislation that says a speedo may over-read by up to 10%(IIRC) but may NOT under read. To be on the safe side all speedos have a built in error. Plod 'calibrated' speedos have this fudge factor removed and show actual speed.

Edited by bigdods on Wednesday 27th February 14:05

[supermono]

bigdods said:

The correct speed is sent to your speedo from the gearbox which is recorded as distance on the odometer.

And as the tyres wear down, the gearbox automagically compensates...

SM

[supermono]

bigdods said:

Not true I'm afraid.

On a non-sarcastic tack, can you give links to your information please? Google reveals much discussion in the USA about this -- including a honda warranty extension thing:

http://autos.aol.com/article/general/v2/_a/honda-odometer-problem/20070220091309990002 
http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/000099.html 

Are you saying that UK cars are different?

SM

Edited by supermono on Wednesday 27th February 15:25

[bigdods]

supermono said:

bigdods said:

Not true I'm afraid.

On a non-sarcastic tack, can you give links to your information please? Google reveals much discussion in the USA about this -- including a honda warranty extension thing:

http://autos.aol.com/article/general/v2/_a/honda-odometer-problem/20070220091309990002 
http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/000099.html 

Are you saying that UK cars are different?

SM

Edited by supermono on Wednesday 27th February 15:25

#

You've got me there - Its something I recall reading about in SP&L and other places but today neither search nor google are my friends on this.

Ok, the odometer is never going to be bang on due to tyre wear etc but I have read many times about the speed being fudged by a % to ensure it never under reads, never heard the same about an odometer - well apart from that link you just posted , but even thats only a small % not like the larger % I see on all my speedos.

I know that my Omega (for example) computer tells me the correct speed via the computer , exactly the same as GPS whereas my speedo over reads by about 6-7%. So I guess tonight I can check using the computer trip counter based on what I know is a correct speed reading, then compare it to the odometer. I will let you know the result.

[Deva Link]

moanthebairns said:

say for example i tell insurers i do 10,000 miles a year but come the end of my policy ive done 12,000 ish. if i have a bump can they refuse to pay. would they check my milage from when i bought the car. also could i claim that i done these miles on the track?

Try doing online quotes and see at what point changing the mileage changes the premium.

I found that there was no difference at 6000 miles and 15000 miles, but at 25K it jumped up and at "over 30K" it jumped up again.

[Hooli]

i guess for odometers they take an average rolling radius for the OE tyre over its life & base the calcs on that. i know with my old landy that over 1,000miles compared to GPS it was within a mile so they aint bad.

[bigdods]

Ok, so I have checked my odometer, here are my findings:

1. Speedo over reads by 3% when compared to GPS
2. Trip computer speedo precisely matches the GPS reported speed
3. Over a 54 mile journey the trip computer and speedo odometer exactly matched distance travelled

So for me thats QED, on my Omega at least the Odometer is honest , its just the speedo that over reads