A Different Way To Pay for Your Car Insurance: pay-per-mile

Pay per mile car insurance

No one likes paying for their car insurance. We’re forced to buy it. It’s a pain. However, some new types of insurance are making it a slightly less bitter pill to swallow.

We all know there are a few black box options for younger drivers to help them reduce their costs, but many of those options come with restrictions, like saying what time of day you can/can’t drive.

A Slightly Better Way (for Some!)

Pay-per-mile car insurance is a new option, and as the name suggests it’s based on how far you drive. That means there’s no driver scoring and you don’t have to worry about the price of your insurance changing if you take a corner a bit too fast. Also, rather than being aimed at the more youthful members of society, it’s aimed at those of us in the 25- to 78-year-old category.

According to By Miles, the company that has started to offer this new insurance, the key is that they have priced it so it’s competitive for those who drive less than 7,000 miles a year.

If you drive more than 7,000 miles a year you are probably better off elsewhere, but if you drive less then read on.

What’s Good About Pay-per-mile?

You pay a one-off annual fee to cover your car while it’s parked up. After that, you just pay for the miles you drive. Your mileage is automatically charged at the end of each month.

That helps to spread the cost, and unlike most insurers they don’t charge any interest on those monthly payments.

It’s all fully comp at By Miles and you can drive as much as you like – there’s no penalty for driving more or less than your estimated mileage. It’s simply pay-per-mile, so if you drive less, then you’ll pay less than your estimate. If you drive more, then you’ll pay more than your estimate.

There are cost caps so you don’t get charged for more than 150 miles a day or 10,000 miles per year. So if you have a nice long 300 mile drive in a day, you’re still covered, but only charged for 150 miles.

They Do Use a Miles Tracker

Many readers won’t like the idea of plugging in a Miles Tracker, which is how they measure your mileage. Although if you get a cheap quote, then you probably won’t mind that much. The technology has taken a big step forward over the last 10 years.

This is another area that’s become a lot less painful:
• You get sent a Miles Tracker in the post. It’s about the size of a small matchbox. They are normally quick and easy to plug in, so you won’t need an appointment to get an engineer to fit it.
• You get fully covered from your start date, and they don’t charge you for the miles you drive before the Miles Tracker arrives.
• Unless they get a court order, By Miles won’t report any (cough) speeding to the police!
• While you don’t have to use the app, it comes with theft tracking and can scan your car for faults.

What’s the Catch?

This new pay-per-mile malarkey won’t suit everyone. If you do more than 7,000 miles a year, you’re likely to find cheaper car insurance elsewhere.
Also, By Miles policies are made for 25 to 78 year olds so while they cover most people it can be difficult to get coverage outside that age range. There are also a few other restrictions, e.g. they don’t cover vintage cars or many of the performance cars we write about on carblog.

Will pay-per-mile work for you?

Car insurance is a funny thing and prices vary for all sorts of reasons.
But if you don’t spend your life on the road, it might be worth getting a quote at By Miles.