Are you guesstimating your mileage when you renew your car insurance?
Over a quarter of UK, drivers could be overpaying or invalidating their insurance cover.
According to research carried out by USwitch:
- 27% of motorists guess how far they drive every year
- Only 22% actually checked their MOT certificates
- Drivers overestimate journey distances by 15%
When you’re going through the arduous annual slog of car insurance renewal, do you have a wild stab in the dark at your annual mileage or is every rotation of your milometer monitored with acute precision?
More than a quarter of the respondents surveyed said that they had simply guessed the figure which could lead to real issues as:
- they could end up paying too much for insurance, or
- if they exceed their stated mileage it could invalidate their insurance
According to the RAC, the UK average mileage is around 8000, and UK drivers overestimate driving distances by 15%.
The research suggests that many driver’s perceptions of distances were highly inaccurate, as detailed in the table below.
|
Journey |
Average estimated distance (miles) |
Actual distance |
Difference |
(%) |
|
Manchester – Sheffield |
110 |
39 |
71 |
182% |
|
Manchester – Liverpool |
94 |
35 |
59 |
169% |
|
Cardiff – Bristol |
116 |
45 |
71 |
158% |
|
Manchester – Leeds |
105 |
45 |
60 |
133% |
|
Manchester – Nottingham |
132 |
73 |
59 |
81% |
|
Manchester – Birmingham |
125 |
86 |
39 |
45% |
|
London – Leeds |
172 |
127 |
45 |
35% |
|
London – Manchester |
202 |
151 |
51 |
34% |
|
London – Liverpool |
157 |
118 |
39 |
33% |
|
London – Birmingham |
154 |
118 |
36 |
31% |
The most accurate way of calculating your annual mileage is to use your previous years’ MOT certificate as a reliable reference point.
If you want to keep accurate records of your fleet activity and supply your drivers with in-depth performance insights, we provide a Telematics Solution that gets the best of your drivers and your grey fleet. We also provide a range of fuel cards that enable your fleet to go further for less.
Find out more at www.cambriancards.com/telematics/ or call us free on 0800 612 6132