Estimated mileage on insurance policy
Estimated mileage on insurance policy
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Discussion

WyrleyD

Original Poster:

2,327 posts

177 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
On my policy I have an "estimated" mileage of 9,000 miles but due to some exceptional family reasons I will exceed this mileage by about 1,500 miles, two trips to SW France and weekly trips back and forth from the South East to Doncaster for the last 6 weeks have contributed to this, all not planned or expected.

My renewal has just come through and the word "estimated" is not there in the renewal details just 9,000 miles, the renewal is due in 1 month. Not sure what to do about letting them know about the excess, would they refuse a claim if I've exceeded the mileage (the average over 2 years will likely exceed 18,000 miles)?

I did the internet quote thing on various insurance quote services with an increased mileage to 10,000 miles and they all come back with far more than I'm paying now even with my current insurer, which incidentally is £100 more than this year with no changed details.

Looks like it's going to go up a lot more than the £100 if I tell them the mileage will possibly be closer to 10,000 miles than 9,000 on average.

E-bmw

13,339 posts

181 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
9 to 10k I wouldn't expect to make much difference as 10k is about average anyway.

Most only reduce the amount if you sign up to something significantly under average like 5k/year, although as with everything there are exceptions.

Are you 100% sure you are comparing like for like?

Also, don't forget your car is now worth 1 years more depreciation less.

Either way, as with lots of things insurance related if you give them a detail that turns out to be untrue & they find out during a claim process they can always try to get out of it. Not worth the hassle, tell them.

davek_964

11,224 posts

204 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
It isn't that much difference, but I don't see why you wouldn't tell them if you know it will be more than the current value. It really does make sense to be honest with insurance.

It's not always as simple as you think anyway. At my renewal, I decreased the mileage on one of my cars because I rarely use it. The premium for that car increased! They told me that happens more than you'd think and they didn't understand it either.

OFORBES

535 posts

129 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
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Mileage on insurance always baffles me somewhat and I never really know how to answer it.

Because I have a number of cars, I have a few different policies. I have one policy for my cars that maybe cover a couple of hundred miles a year where the market value doesnt reflect the true value of the car and so I want them to have agreed valuations, I have another policy for my cars that for some unbeknown reason are difficult to insure with normal providers and then I have a multi-car policy with LV for my every day cars.

The first two are relatively easy to work out the mileage for as all those cars are used sparringly, but for my every day cars its a little more tricky.

I have a car that I leave in England to drive when I am down there and then I have a few up in Scotland that are all on the LV policy, but lets take the car I leave in England as an example. I put down that I might cover 8,000 a year, but then that car is also sometimes used by friends and covered fully comprehensively under their own policy held on other vehicles.

So lets say I do 8k miles a year in that, but my friend does a further 2k, what mileage do I need to insure the car for? Are they wanting the mileage that I would drive in it, or the total mileage that the car covers within that year?

Chamon_Lee

3,948 posts

176 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
your over thinking it. Its fine
Its an estimate, they won't care.

This is getting as bad as the porsche forums asking if they are putting the right tyres on by using different brands

OFORBES

535 posts

129 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
Chamon_Lee said:
your over thinking it. Its fine
Its an estimate, they won't care.

This is getting as bad as the porsche forums asking if they are putting the right tyres on by using different brands
laugh

That's the conclusion I have always come to, that they dont really care! So I try and be roughly accurate, but I guess my point does raise a question that I dont have an answer for;

Do they want the mileage that the vehicle will cover during the next year, or do they want to know how many miles that I will drive the vehicle?

P675

874 posts

61 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
There is no legal requirement for the odometer to be correct, working or working properly.
MOT testers can make mistakes entering mileage.
The most they might do in the event of an accident is pay for the policy if it had 1500 extra estimated miles, they aren't going to take you to court over it.

alscar

9,636 posts

242 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
The word estimate is just that - obviously if you did x2 then might be an issue but even then it would be on renewal and if asked.
Not to be confused with agreed maximum mileage which is somewhat different.
OP , I wouldn’t give it any more thought.

OutInTheShed

14,407 posts

55 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
WyrleyD said:
On my policy I have an "estimated" mileage of 9,000 miles but due to some exceptional family reasons I will exceed this mileage by about 1,500 miles, two trips to SW France and weekly trips back and forth from the South East to Doncaster for the last 6 weeks have contributed to this, all not planned or expected.

My renewal has just come through and the word "estimated" is not there in the renewal details just 9,000 miles, the renewal is due in 1 month. Not sure what to do about letting them know about the excess, would they refuse a claim if I've exceeded the mileage (the average over 2 years will likely exceed 18,000 miles)?

I did the internet quote thing on various insurance quote services with an increased mileage to 10,000 miles and they all come back with far more than I'm paying now even with my current insurer, which incidentally is £100 more than this year with no changed details.

Looks like it's going to go up a lot more than the £100 if I tell them the mileage will possibly be closer to 10,000 miles than 9,000 on average.
Never noticed any difference for small changes of mileage, I've always thought you're either in the 3k, 5k, 10k or 20k+ bands.

If you have a 'limited mileage' policy like for classics, that's a different animal.

Are you likely to go to France or Doncaster next year?

littleredrooster

6,359 posts

225 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
Chamon_Lee said:
your over thinking it. Its fine
Its an estimate, they won't care.

This is getting as bad as the porsche forums asking if they are putting the right tyres on by using different brands
^ ^ This.

Does the insurance company require an accurate odometer reading at the start of the policy? If not, how do they know how many miles the car has done, or how many each driver has driven.

Griffith4ever

6,847 posts

64 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
Chamon_Lee said:
your over thinking it. Its fine
Its an estimate, they won't care.

This is getting as bad as the porsche forums asking if they are putting the right tyres on by using different brands
It's been like that here for ages mate.

p.s. I used to have a Porsche and you are right - what an odd pedantic bunch!

LordFlathead

9,646 posts

287 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
I'd just ring them and tell them. It shows you are a fair player and they have a record of this. After all it is an insurance non-compliance and they could use it against you for non-disclosure of material facts.

MustangGT

13,826 posts

309 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
LordFlathead said:
I'd just ring them and tell them. It shows you are a fair player and they have a record of this. After all it is an insurance non-compliance and they could use it against you for non-disclosure of material facts.
This. Mileage can affect premium payable.

carl_w

10,734 posts

287 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
littleredrooster said:
^ ^ This.

Does the insurance company require an accurate odometer reading at the start of the policy? If not, how do they know how many miles the car has done, or how many each driver has driven.
The MOT history (available online) is a big clue

Cat

3,134 posts

298 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
MustangGT said:
LordFlathead said:
I'd just ring them and tell them. It shows you are a fair player and they have a record of this. After all it is an insurance non-compliance and they could use it against you for non-disclosure of material facts.
This. Mileage can affect premium payable.
Would you also phone them up and let them know if you'd only driven 8000 miles if you'd estimated 10000?

Cat

saladdays

141 posts

94 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
What you need to do is remove the 1500 miles from the odometer. This can be achieved by jacking up the car and putting it in reverse. If your car has a top speed of 150mph then it could be done in ten hours. My suggestion is to use cruise control. I know it's been done with a Ferrari 250 GT California as I saw it on TV.

sixor8

8,503 posts

297 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
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Would that be in Ferris Bueller? It didn't work. smile

ro250

3,361 posts

86 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
carl_w said:
littleredrooster said:
^ ^ This.

Does the insurance company require an accurate odometer reading at the start of the policy? If not, how do they know how many miles the car has done, or how many each driver has driven.
The MOT history (available online) is a big clue
For a car over 3 years old. Unless they are going to investigate service records.

The question is, does anyone know anybody who has had a problem with this when it comes to a claim? For insurers to wriggle out of a claim based on mileage I'd suggest you'd have to (a) have been involved in a very expensive claim (b) been massively over your estimated mileage.

Draxindustries1

1,657 posts

52 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
No mention yet re black box's.
If you have one insurance companies know EXACTLY how many miles you've done.
In these cases they'll text/ email asking if you want to up the estimation if you're getting near the max and charge the extra.


Cyberprog

2,324 posts

212 months

Thursday 13th October 2022
quotequote all
They also don't ask how many miles each driver might drive. You'd have thought someone driving 20k+ miles a year would probably be a safer driver than someone driving just 2k per year.