There will always be a number of factors which will affect the price of your car insurance. This includes your age, profession and the vehicle that you will be driving. The majority of providers will also be interested in your annual mileage when determining your quote. This is the number of miles that you will – or think you will – be covering in the space of one year. The question is: why do the providers want to know this and why does it affect your ability to get your hands on third party car insurance? This is what you need to know.
Time on road
Your annual mileage will give insurance providers a rough idea of just how much you intend to use the car to determine the average cost of car insurance. This then helps them to determine the likelihood that you could be in an accident. Take, for instance, if you do a 40-minute commute to work each day. Due to the fact that you’ll probably be spending upwards of an hour on the road, it becomes more likely that you’ll be in an accident compared to someone who might only do a 10-mile commute and therefore only find themselves on the road for a shorter time every day.
Condition of car
You should know that your car becomes more worn with each mile it’s on the road. This happens in numerous ways, but generally, there’s an increased risk of damage to the engine and tyres when a car is readily used. Therefore, insurance providers tend to presume that someone who racks up a lot of miles in one year is more likely to be in an accident due to the fact that their vehicle will be less reliable. This won’t always be the correct assumption to make but it’s still how providers decide upon quotes.
What can you do?
You can still find cheap car insurance even if you’re planning on having an unusually high annual mileage. The trick is to make sure that you’ve weighed up all your different options by comparing insurance quotes. This will ensure that you don’t have to fork out more money than necessary to get your car insured.