Exceeding Limited Mileage Policies

[Alex_225]

I have three of my cars on limited mileage policies of about 4k a year, that suites me fine as they don't even really do that many miles but obviously it keeps the price of the insurance down.

Now I understand that insurance companies could check MOT details if you crash to see if you have exceeded your limited mileage since it was last checked but do they actually do this?

If someone has a policy with a limit of 8k and then crash with 8,500 miles on the clock will the insurers not pay out? Would you be considered uninsured if you then ticked over that limit?

More intrigued than anything as I'm sure this is something that passes many motorists by if their policy is set to some average number of miles and they creep over every year.

[craigsup]

When I had a small bump earlier in the year my insurance company asked for my cars mileage via photographic evidence. At the start of the policy they asked me to tell them the current mileage.

I was within my limit so I can't comment on the outcome if you've exceeded...but they do check!

[Alex_225]

That's pretty interesting as I've never known of someone being asked let alone for photographic proof but clearly it does happen.

I had someone scrap the side of a VW Lupo I used to own, that was a limited mileage policy (6k I recall) and they never asked for the mileage at the start or when I made a claim against the other driver.

Not worth the risk either way but I wonder how a driver who was ignorant to it would fair? No pay out?

[Yex 450]

My TVR is on a limited mileage policy and I get asked for a photo of the mileage every year at renewal. I guess they will refer back to it if ever necessary.

[Retroman]

If you tell the insurance company you only driver 4k miles a year and you genuinely do, and someone else has cover to drive the car on a different policy and they do 10k a year on it, how would that play out in the event of a claim?

[ashleyman]

Insurers I've used always ask for an average milage. I've been honest with it so far. Last year I estimated I'd do 10k but ended up doing much more like 12k but didn't realise until I started checking my car out on the MOT checker thing - no idea if it's raising my premium or if I should have phoned to say I'd gone over my milage. I don't actually know if anyone would remember what milage they were on when they take out a premium. I'm sure insurers would raise the prices for higher milage cars just because.

I've only been asked for proof once and that was when I went through an insurance broker. Everything about that broker was difficult though so they were probably the exception to the rule.

[Durzel]

I had a limited mileage policy on my 458, but the insurer never actually asked me what the mileage was at inception. Never really understood why not, but didn't quibble it.

[Wollemi]

Retroman said:

If you tell the insurance company you only driver 4k miles a year and you genuinely do, and someone else has cover to drive the car on a different policy and they do 10k a year on it, how would that play out in the event of a claim?

I think it would be sensible to have the discussion with the insurance company BEFORE you need to make a claim.

[xjay1337]

The problem is, you say you only do 10k a year.
But the car may be driven by friends, family members, etc.
So the CAR may end up doing 25k a year but you may only drive it for 10.
Seems stupid if you ask me. It's just an indication of risk. I've never been asked to provide mileage of my cars and they are more than welcome to check MOT, but that just proves how far the car has gone rather than how far I've driven the car.
It's up to them to prove that I have driven more than the stated mileage in that case.

I understand some insurance policies for ultra-specialist vehicles may stipulate that THE CAR may not travel more than XXXX miles.
For most of us I don't believe it matters at all.

[anonymous-user]

On my limited mileage policy I have to provide a signed declaration of the current mileage at every renewal.

I've always assumed that in the event of a nasty accident they would easily be able to check via the MoT history.

That said, the penalties in my policy aren't exactly excessive if I were to go over, I just have to pay the first £400 of any claim.

[Alex_225]

xjay1337 said:

The problem is, you say you only do 10k a year.
But the car may be driven by friends, family members, etc.
So the CAR may end up doing 25k a year but you may only drive it for 10.
Seems stupid if you ask me. It's just an indication of risk. I've never been asked to provide mileage of my cars and they are more than welcome to check MOT, but that just proves how far the car has gone rather than how far I've driven the car.
It's up to them to prove that I have driven more than the stated mileage in that case.

I understand some insurance policies for ultra-specialist vehicles may stipulate that THE CAR may not travel more than XXXX miles.
For most of us I don't believe it matters at all.

See that's the thing that intrigues me. I have myself covered on my E Class for 9k a year but my other half has her own insurance so would be covered to drive it 3rd party.

I do my 8k over the year, she does 2k of her own whilst covered on here insurance. So even if they asked me the current mileage and then checked in the event of an accident it's impossible for them to know.

As said unless the policy is for that vehicle to not exceed X number of miles, the policy is to insure me for 9k a year.

[ashleyman]

Alex_225 said:

See that's the thing that intrigues me. I have myself covered on my E Class for 9k a year but my other half has her own insurance so would be covered to drive it 3rd party.

I do my 8k over the year, she does 2k of her own whilst covered on here insurance. So even if they asked me the current mileage and then checked in the event of an accident it's impossible for them to know.

As said unless the policy is for that vehicle to not exceed X number of miles, the policy is to insure me for 9k a year.

I've always wondered what about named drivers on the same insurance policy? You're always asked what your estimated yearly milage is but never what the other named drivers would be. Obviously it would be lower than yours or its considered fronting but by how much lower does it need to be?

[Devil2575]

xjay1337 said:

The problem is, you say you only do 10k a year.
But the car may be driven by friends, family members, etc.
So the CAR may end up doing 25k a year but you may only drive it for 10.
Seems stupid if you ask me. It's just an indication of risk. I've never been asked to provide mileage of my cars and they are more than welcome to check MOT, but that just proves how far the car has gone rather than how far I've driven the car.
It's up to them to prove that I have driven more than the stated mileage in that case.

So how does that work?

You take out a policy for that car in your name and state 10k a year. Now the only other people driving that car will be people named on your policy, so included in the 10k or someone else who is driving it on their policy under the "Driving other cars" clause. However I suspect that if they were doing this to the extent that they were doing a significant number of miles then their own insurer may take issue with them. Also if you have a limited milage policy then you need to be careful about letting all and sundry drive your car if they are going to push it over the limit.

I suspect that you'll find that it isn't up to them to prove anything, it will be up to you to control the use of the car that you insure.

[Devil2575]

ashleyman said:

Alex_225 said:

See that's the thing that intrigues me. I have myself covered on my E Class for 9k a year but my other half has her own insurance so would be covered to drive it 3rd party.

I do my 8k over the year, she does 2k of her own whilst covered on here insurance. So even if they asked me the current mileage and then checked in the event of an accident it's impossible for them to know.

As said unless the policy is for that vehicle to not exceed X number of miles, the policy is to insure me for 9k a year.

I've always wondered what about named drivers on the same insurance policy? You're always asked what your estimated yearly milage is but never what the other named drivers would be. Obviously it would be lower than yours or its considered fronting but by how much lower does it need to be?

The milage is how many the car covers, not how many you cover.

[Alex_225]

Devil2575 said:

The milage is how many the car covers, not how many you cover.

Genuinely intrigued. Seems odd that the car can cover 10k and 8k of which is on my policy but 2k was covered by say my girlfriend on her own policy. In theory I should be covered for the 8k I covered but the car has done 10k in that year.

For example what happens if she insures the car on her own policy exclusively for the car? Assuming you can insure a car twice by two different people?

[Fatrat]

Alex_225 said:

Devil2575 said:

The milage is how many the car covers, not how many you cover.

Genuinely intrigued. Seems odd that the car can cover 10k and 8k of which is on my policy but 2k was covered by say my girlfriend on her own policy. In theory I should be covered for the 8k I covered but the car has done 10k in that year.

For example what happens if she insures the car on her own policy exclusively for the car? Assuming you can insure a car twice by two different people?

Apart from short term insurance you cannot insure the same car twice. If you have exceeded the mileage (assuming they check) they will ask you to pay the difference between the amount you paid at inception and the amount you have paid for the higher mileage.

Most insurers accept that mileage can vary and unless you are insuring for 6K miles knowing you are going to 20K miles then you won't be un-insured (but you may well have an additional premium to pay)

[Alex_225]

Fatrat said:

Apart from short term insurance you cannot insure the same car twice. If you have exceeded the mileage (assuming they check) they will ask you to pay the difference between the amount you paid at inception and the amount you have paid for the higher mileage.

Most insurers accept that mileage can vary and unless you are insuring for 6K miles knowing you are going to 20K miles then you won't be un-insured (but you may well have an additional premium to pay)

aah I see, thanks for the reply.

[xjay1337]

Devil2575 said:

xjay1337 said:

The problem is, you say you only do 10k a year.
But the car may be driven by friends, family members, etc.
So the CAR may end up doing 25k a year but you may only drive it for 10.
Seems stupid if you ask me. It's just an indication of risk. I've never been asked to provide mileage of my cars and they are more than welcome to check MOT, but that just proves how far the car has gone rather than how far I've driven the car.
It's up to them to prove that I have driven more than the stated mileage in that case.

So how does that work?

You take out a policy for that car in your name and state 10k a year. Now the only other people driving that car will be people named on your policy, so included in the 10k or someone else who is driving it on their policy under the "Driving other cars" clause. However I suspect that if they were doing this to the extent that they were doing a significant number of miles then their own insurer may take issue with them. Also if you have a limited milage policy then you need to be careful about letting all and sundry drive your car if they are going to push it over the limit.

I suspect that you'll find that it isn't up to them to prove anything, it will be up to you to control the use of the car that you insure.

I am insured to drive any car.
I am not required to tell my insurance company how many miles I drive in other peoples cars nor do I need to be a named member on their policy to drive their car.

Insurance provide the DoC cover for a reason - Often it's only third party. So it's preferable for you to smash up someone elses car because neither your insurance nor the person whos car it belongs to would have to pay out... :-)

If the CAR is on a limited mileage policy but I am only asked how many miles I do a year. Me. not my car.

[Devil2575]

Alex_225 said:

Genuinely intrigued. Seems odd that the car can cover 10k and 8k of which is on my policy but 2k was covered by say my girlfriend on her own policy. In theory I should be covered for the 8k I covered but the car has done 10k in that year.

For example what happens if she insures the car on her own policy exclusively for the car? Assuming you can insure a car twice by two different people?

Why would you do that? Surely you would just add her to your insurance.

I suspect that it is a very rare situation.

This is a coment taken from the link below:

Hi,

[/i]I am an insurance professional. You can insure the vehicle on two seperate policies, however, you would not benefit from this. If dual insurance exists (more than one policy) each insurer has to pay a contribution towards any claim. Therefore, both policies would then lose their No Claims Discount anyway.[/i]

[/i]You would still lose your No Claims Discount either way.[/i]

Sorry.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php...

This is what confused .com say:

http://support.confused.com/confusedcom/topics/can...

[donny1]

Playing devils advocate, What about track days. This adds to your mileage but you aren't covered for it.