Pay Per Mile Insurance Is Coming
Friday, 3. August 2018
New insurer ‘By Miles’ is set to shake up the car insurance industry. The first pay-per-mile insurance policy is believed to save motorists hundreds of pounds each year. Drivers pay a flat rate annual fee to cover the car against damage and theft when the car is parked. Thereafter the driver is charged per mile whenever he uses his car.
The policy is aimed at those travelling less than 7,000 miles per annum which is around 50% of all UK drivers. The distances are recorded by a telematics device that the owners plug into their cars On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) port. Each journey can be tracked and recorded on a dedicated smartphone app then the driver billed monthly based on the distance travelled.
Motorists taking out a policy will be charged a minimum of £150 per annum and 3.0 pence per mile although the per mile charges stop after 150 miles in a single day or 10,000 miles per annum. James Blackham, co-founder of By Miles said car finance has ‘barely changed in 30 years. Every extra mile you drive adds to the risk of having an accident. We think it’s high time that is reflected in the price infrequent drivers pay’.
Matt Cullen of The Association of British Insurers approved of the new way to insure cars. Motoring habits are changing as are consumer needs so it makes sense to adapt things like insurance policies. The AA also admitted that it was investigating real-time insurance cover. I think that it’s a great idea and should take off. By Graham Hill