I just rang my insurers, named above,(and who i've been with for two years and two cars now) to get a quote on a change of vehicle.

Everything is going fine, until they confirm the my mileage as 11,500.

The figure I gave when obtaining the insurance was 23,000.

The figure on my certificate is 23,000.

 

I query this and I'm told that it's 11,500 for me and 11,500 for my named driver.

At no point in the application was I asked to provide a breakdown of who would be doing what mileage.  I was simply asked TOTAL VEHICLE MILEAGE, not MY mileage.

There ensued a long discussion with much backwards and forwards between myself, the unfortunate CS rep and the invisible Team Leader as they various attempted to say I'd given them that information, that they had no access to change it or see how it was set up and that I'd have to pay an additional £100 for the change of mileage.

 

I can understand why it might be required, what with fronting etc, but this should be something asked openly and up front, not sneakily done in the background and the customer never notified - it wasn't on the confirmation documents either.

I can't even see how they could police/check the division of mileage. But we all know how slippery Insurers can be in the event of a claim, so better to be up front.

 

Eventually, it has been adjusted to 20,000 for me and 3,000 for named driver, no change in premium.  I have pointed out repeatedly that this still does not reflect what was asked for, what was confirmed or reality, but they've confirmed my insurance is still valid (for now - bet that assurance is tissue paper thin in the event of a claim!)

Needless to say, when/if I do change the car, I will be looking for insurance elsewhere, even if it might mean taking a financial hit to change.  Hell, I might even go for a spanking earlier by cancelling it myself and get cover with a company who might be a bit more honest about what they do with the mileage figures given in good faith.

 

But maybe worth checking your insurance to see if they've got some weird nominal split in your mileage that you weren't aware of or ever asked about, and what correcting it will do to your premium.

 

You might find it doesn't work out economically to change mid-term so it may be better to wait until renewal.

 

If you'd like a quote for comparison when the time comes to renew please get in touch.

 

best,

Nick

 

PS. Looks like Octagon are based in Gibraltar which means they are only partially subject to UK regulation.

You might find it doesn't work out economically to change mid-term so it may be better to wait until renewal.

 

 

Not as uneconomical as them not paying out in the event of a claim because I've done bulk of the mileage compared to what they were holding on a 'secret' file.

 

Nick, could you comment on what ChrisKnotts policy is regarding mileage? Do you ask for total vehicle mileage or per driver?  Do you make an abitrary allocation of the mileage per policy driver?  Is this becoming insurance industry practice?

Edited 9 February, 201511 yr by Gwilo

We generally just ask for the total mileage and it's not a warranty, just an idea of expected mileage, with most of the insurers we use i.e there's no penalty for exceeding the mileage. We wouldn't allocate any mileage amount to individual drivers.

 

Insurers differ from each other in terms of what they're interested in knowing about for their own pricing matrix. Octagon's interest in individual mileages is just an example of how they differ from those we use. That in itself doesn't mean they're dodgy of course.

 

best,

Nick

No of course it doesn't mean they're dodgy, but it does concern me that they don't declare an interest in individual mileages when gathering information for a quote, or at the point details are confirmed when paying for the policy either, then use it later when discussing the policy to up the premium due to them.

 

I may have to swallow the additional premium in relation to a change of vehicle for the time being, but will definitely be very cautious when it comes to renewal...shame it's 8 months away.