Insurance Mileage

[b2dan]

Hi,

This is my first post here, but i've been a bit of a "lurker" for a bit. Got a query about the mileage for insurance purposes. My policy says that i'm insured up to 5995miles and I'm approaching that. My question is that they've never taken a start mileage from me so should I phone them up and add some extra mileage or leave it? Other people have occasional access to my car as well and as it doesn't have a tacho, it's hard to prove how many miles I've done.

Any help/ideas would be gratefully recieved.

B2

[PeteG]

I've never understood that. *awaits reply from someone in the know*

[Silent1]

how can they prove you did all the mileage as well? surely the defense would be that?

[Stu R]

previous MOT's is the only thing I could think of ?

[b2dan]

Yes, that has to odometer reading on it but other people have driven the car other than me.

B2

[paulsm]

Just leave it and adjust it for next time you renew your policy. I can't imagine how they prove anything, but you never know.

[Sheepy]

I actually discussed this with my insurer (at length) because my Porker is on a 6000-mile limit. I wanted to know what the effect of either someone else driving the car OR the car being driven on a trackday (and thus covered under a different policy).

The underwriter I spoke with said that the terms of their limited-mileage policy are that the CAR does no more than 6000 miles in a year regardless of who or how the miles are run up. When I suggested that this was unfair, he told me that I was welcome to put the car on an unlimited policy which would cost about 2.5x

As for how they know, then mileage recorded at the MOT would be the obvious starting point.

[aw51 121565]

Yup - they lok at the mileage on the last MoT certificate and extrapolate from there...

Slightly unfair if one drives much more in the Summer than the Winter due to attending car shows etc., but that point could be argued successfully .

[voyds9]

unscrew odometer..............

[Mattt]

Sheepy said:

the terms of their limited-mileage policy are that the CAR does no more than 6000 miles in a year

I would love to see them justify that in court!

[Fat Richie]

Mattt said:

Sheepy said:

the terms of their limited-mileage policy are that the CAR does no more than 6000 miles in a year

I would love to see them justify that in court!

If those are their terms and you've effectively agreed to them by paying your premium then I'd say you're Douglas Bader - haven't got a leg to stand on.

[Jasandjules]

Mattt said:

Sheepy said:

the terms of their limited-mileage policy are that the CAR does no more than 6000 miles in a year

I would love to see them justify that in court!

Wouldn't be too hard to imagine a reasonable interpretation of a CAR Insurance is based on the car itself, and not who drives it.

[Mattt]

So if you had 3rd party only cover (no fire or theft), with a 3k mile limit on a shopping car - but then lent it to a friend, who insured it themselves for a while, and did say 4k miles, it would be deemed reasonable that you are no longer covered to drive it when it was returned?

[Vesuvius 996]

Tell them.

If you write the car off then they won't pay out until YOU prove on the balance of probabilities that you didn't exceed the mileage.

MOTs and service records are a good start.

[aw51 121565]

voyds9 said:

unscrew odometer..............

Or give the car a regular 'haircut' . On most of the cars that limited mileage policies might apply to, the odometers can be adjusted in less than a quarter of an hour uncluding removal and refitting of the clocks. Not that I would condone this . I will admit buying new instruments for my cars at autojumbles and scrapyards (usually to allow for an upgrade to a set of clocks with a rev counter or just to upgrade to later items), and setting the mileage on the new odometer to that on the old odometer before fitting the new instruments.

With regard to the later comment about another party insuring the car in their name for their own use, I would presume that argument would be OK as the original Insurer would be able to check for other policies on that particular car - but one would need to watch it if one is named on the second policy, as Insurance Companies do not appreciate there being more than one policy insuring the same driver in force on one particular car...

Care needed, but it's a viable argument if the other driver is prepared to validate what the Insured is saying, I would say.

[Jasandjules]

Mattt said:

So if you had 3rd party only cover (no fire or theft), with a 3k mile limit on a shopping car - but then lent it to a friend, who insured it themselves for a while, and did say 4k miles, it would be deemed reasonable that you are no longer covered to drive it when it was returned?

I assume you would need to inform the insurance company of what has happened, for starters the car will be doubly insured so neither company would pay out if it crashed...

Either way, the CAR is insured in the UK, not the driver?

[Sheepy]

Mattt said:

Sheepy said:

the terms of their limited-mileage policy are that the CAR does no more than 6000 miles in a year

I would love to see them justify that in court!

Why would they need to justify it? If you took out the policy containing that in the terms and conditions, then what grounds would you have to take them to court?

As to your example, in my opinion, you should note the mileage when you give the car to your friend, tell your insurer to suspend the cover whilst your friend has the car (and tell them the current mileage) and then reactivate the cover when you get it back (because why would you want to be paying for insurance on the car whilst your friend is doing the same?

[Vesuvius 996]

aw51 121565 said:

voyds9 said:

unscrew odometer..............

Or give the car a regular 'haircut' . On most of the cars that limited mileage policies might apply to, the odometers can be adjusted in less than a quarter of an hour uncluding removal and refitting of the clocks. Not that I would condone this . I will admit buying new instruments for my cars at autojumbles and scrapyards (usually to allow for an upgrade to a set of clocks with a rev counter or just to upgrade to later items), and setting the mileage on the new odometer to that on the old odometer before fitting the new instruments.

With regard to the later comment about another party insuring the car in their name for their own use, I would presume that argument would be OK as the original Insurer would be able to check for other policies on that particular car - but one would need to watch it if one is named on the second policy, as Insurance Companies do not appreciate there being more than one policy insuring the same driver in force on one particular car...

Care needed, but it's a viable argument if the other driver is prepared to validate what the Insured is saying, I would say.

I'm stunned by how lightly some people here take the commission of fraud!!!

Why risk it for a few quid, and lose your job etc...? Madness!!

[Mr_annie_vxr]

Vesuvius 996 said:

aw51 121565 said:

voyds9 said:

unscrew odometer..............

Or give the car a regular 'haircut' . On most of the cars that limited mileage policies might apply to, the odometers can be adjusted in less than a quarter of an hour uncluding removal and refitting of the clocks. Not that I would condone this . I will admit buying new instruments for my cars at autojumbles and scrapyards (usually to allow for an upgrade to a set of clocks with a rev counter or just to upgrade to later items), and setting the mileage on the new odometer to that on the old odometer before fitting the new instruments.

With regard to the later comment about another party insuring the car in their name for their own use, I would presume that argument would be OK as the original Insurer would be able to check for other policies on that particular car - but one would need to watch it if one is named on the second policy, as Insurance Companies do not appreciate there being more than one policy insuring the same driver in force on one particular car...

Care needed, but it's a viable argument if the other driver is prepared to validate what the Insured is saying, I would say.

I'm stunned by how lightly some people here take the commission of fraud!!!

Why risk it for a few quid, and lose your job etc...? Madness!!

Its not seen as that but getting one over on the insurance company. of course when your caught out your caught out hugely with this.

I'll wait for the thread about how someone did this and is serving 3 months and how unfair the whole thing is..

Wheras my view is for every person who cheats an insurance company is also cheating me. The money doesn't come from the profits but the increased premiums we all pay.

Insure your car with the correct policy. Of course I wonder if this would mean you could have your car siezed and be dealt with for no insurance if you pass yout miles as technically the policy no longer covers you..

[jambuster]

Insurance companies ask your mileage as statistically those who drive over 10,000 miles per year are far more at risk of having an accident and the less miles you drive the less at risk you 'statistically' are.

Lying about your mileage would be Fraud by falure to disclose information as you are being 'dishonest' about the mileage to 'gain' monetarily for yourself.

I cant see anyone getting prosecuted for getting their mileage wrong by a couple of thousand miles. If you were to have an accident and it was discovered you had lied about your annual mileage this would mean that you had no insurance at the time of the accident as it was invalid. So no payout after the accident, a trip to court, compensation to be paid to others involved out of your own pocket and no other insurance company will want to touch you.

I guess at this stage most people will wonder how you would ever get found out? You have a bad accident in your 3yr old car which you insured for 5,000 miles each year from when you bought it new and it actually has 25,000 on it when it gets towed away for scrap would be one way you'd get found out.