Owning and driving your vehicle can be quite expensive, especially once you consider running costs such as fuel, service, and insurance. Insurance premiums for a vehicle can run into thousands of dollars annually. However, there is a way in which you can potentially save some of the money that you would have paid in insurance premiums.
Enter pay per mile insurance. This is an alternative vehicle insurance type where a vehicle owner’s insurance charge is based on the number of miles driven every month. This is different from the traditional automotive insurance, where a vehicle owner pays a flat insurance premium every month depending on the type of vehicle or area of residence and other factors.
Pay per mile insurance also has a base rate on top of the premium charged based on miles traveled. The base rate is based on factors such as vehicle type, gender, age, and driving history. The overall monthly premium that the vehicle owner or driver will have to pay is heavily dependent on how much time they spend on the road. This type of insurance is ideal, especially for those that do not commute a lot. Especially individuals that only use their car for the mundane trips to the grocery store now and then.
Billing options
The pay per mile insurance type provides three billing options that insurance companies provide.
- Post-paid Ad-hoc where the policyholder is billed at irregular intervals depending on how much they drive their vehicles.
- Post-paid Recurring billing where the policyholder receives an invoice at a regular billing interval.
- Prepaid Mileage option where the policyholder pays for a specific number of miles for which they will be insured, and then they pay for more every time the previous set of miles expires.
Benefits that policyholders should expect from pay per mile
Part-time drivers are the biggest beneficiaries of the pay per mile vehicle insurance option. It is the ideal option for anyone that does not travel much or anyone that uses public transport a lot. This is because they are less exposed to the possibility of being involved in an accident. Pay per mile thus allows them to save a lot of cash on car insurance, which they would have otherwise lost if they go with the traditional vehicle insurance. Pay per mile is ideal for anyone that works from home, students that live on campus, and people who own an extra vehicle that is rarely driven. It is also ideal for those that drive less than 1,000 miles per month, as well as people who live close to their workplace.
There is also another advantage to the pay per mile type of insurance. It encourages people to spend less time on the road, thus reducing fuel emissions.
Insurance firms that offer pay per mile vehicle insurance
If you are looking for companies that offer pay per mile insurance, then you are in luck because several companies do so. Some even provide apps that allow you to keep track of the number of miles that you drive while also making it easier for customers to make claims. Here are some of those companies.
- Metromile- this company charges vehicle very affordable insurance premiums with the lowest going for around $29 per month. The average annual cost is around $741.
- Progressive Snapshot- This company allows drivers to customize their rates depending on driving habits and the number of miles driven while also monitoring their driving.
- Root- It allows drivers to save as much as 50 percent of their annual car insurance premiums compared to what they pay for the traditional vehicle insurance premiums.
