Drive less - pay more!

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Articles in today's press about research which suggests that motorists who tell insurers that they drive up to 6,000 miles per year pay, on average, £233 more than those driving 12,000 per year. 

To some extent I can see a logic to this - a low mileage driver is not getting as much practice so may be "rustier" than those driving more - but on the other hand he/she is exposed to risk for less time. 

I have, in the past, informed my insurer when I find I am going to exceed the mileage estimated on my proposal and paid an adjustment if required. Are you also supposed to advise them if you cover less than you estimated?

 

[iantt]

I just checked my insurance and putting in 6000 instead of 11000 makes my insurance cheaper and not more expensive. 

Gone from£198 to £160. 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

I also seem to be paying less on a lower mileage - or maybe its just 'cos I'm old!😀

[pragmatix]

26 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I also seem to be paying less on a lower mileage - or maybe its just 'cos I'm old!😀

Me too 25k per year £185 £50 excess must be at the peak age wise, bet it get more expensive next year

[iantt]

56 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I also seem to be paying less on a lower mileage - or maybe its just 'cos I'm old!😀

Yep, me too. 

[Luke4efc]

I'm saying its down to young drivers having ridiculously high premiums that bump up the statistics.

Using the general theory that less miles = less premium, a young driver is going to try and get it as low as possible, but will still be 5x a "normal" insurance price. Many young drivers therefore will have 5-6000 miles down as they're only really going to be driving to college, uni, going out around the city with mates etc. This then means the average price for someone with low mileage will shoot up as there is an increased percentage of young drivers.

The same principle applies to old drivers who are retired, have no work to drive to every morning and use their car for trips to Aldi (Oldie as my nan says) and the bingo hall. They're also going to be doing around 5000 miles a year.

[iantt]

Just been looking at how many miles I actually do a year. I now work 5 miles more away than my previous job but my mileage each year has gone down .could be down to my daughter finished uni miles away. 

Just realised my renewal quote came this morning in the post. 

 

I've altered my annual milage and done a new quote with actual renewal date instead of today's date.

So my previous post was £198 last year with 11k mileage, then i did quote with 6k mileage with today's start date £168

But now done quote for my renewal date( 25th march) with my mileage I did last 12 months, 9k  comes up with £135. 

Insurance prices makes no sense to me! 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

14 hours ago, iantt said:

 

Insurance prices makes no sense to me! 

Me neither! I once had a good chat with a guy at one of the insurers I use (don't think he had much to do that day, we were on for ages). Anyway, he reckoned that for every combination of age, driver etc, there's a "sweet spot" on mileage - maybe higher, maybe lower - that brings up the best premium at that moment in time. But would be tell me what it was? - no!

My renewal this year had gone up a fair bit, so as usual I had a trawl round the interweb to see what others could do before calling my current insurer. When I rang I just said "I'm calling about my insurance renewal", without even mentioning price. The lady immediately said "I'll see what I can do" and came back with a big reduction (as I say, without me even asking), which made it less than last year and a lot lower than I'd been quoted elsewhere.

Needless to say I was happy to accept the reduction!😀