Does your auto insurance require yearly odometer readings from your vehicles to make sure they're charging you for the correct yearly mileage? USAA just sent a letter asking for that. They never asked for that before.

Are other insurance companies doing the same?

I have Progressive. If Flo asks for my odometer readings, I will divorce her.

It’s not mandatory but will ask. They show you what they are assuming. I bought a used truck and they were assuming mileage based on the odometer and years past from prior owner. I use much less. My insurance rate dropped noticeably when they saw my actual mileage.

They also note primary vs secondary usage (commuter vs leisure).

State Farm used to ask you to voluntarily report mileage.

Since I didn't drive as many miles as they based my rate on, I did it each month.

Less than a year later they stopped doing it, either with just me or everyone, I don't know.

I have AMICA, they haven't asked me.

My experience was like konata's. I bought a pre-owned vehicle; they made an assumption based on previous owner(s). I gave them the real odometer reading and my premium decreased.

The only time I was asked for odometer readings was when I asked for (and got) a low mileage discount from Safeco.

Been with State Farm for decades. Past several years they have asked for odometer readings annually and we comply, no problem.

My most recent vehicle was purchased after I retired and I thought I would be driving much less than I have actually done. Those annual fishing trips and weekend trips add up much more than I would have thought. My original estimate was about 7500 miles per year, but after 5 years I am averaging right at 10,000. Wife's 7-year old car has yet to hit 50,000 total.

Risk exposure (liability, medical, collision) are obviously related to total usage so it makes sense for the company to rate your premiums accordingly.

Farmers now asks me to state odometer reading annually. I’m happy to comply. I put very few miles on my car nowadays.

Do you have your insurance pegged to an annual number of miles driven? I have State Farm and I think your auto insurance is lower if you drive a lower number of miles annually like it says something on the policy “driven less than 7,000 miles a year”

They may be trying to check to see if that matches up.

State Farm asks for the odometer from one family member who has the low mileage discount, and not from any of the rest of us.

i haven't been asked to provide mileage to usaa.

Erie asks…

They have different categories and rates depending on mileage. Risk based…the more you drive, the higher the risk of accidents.

GEICO asked me this year for the first time in several. May have been triggered by a claim last year (paid to have my car repaired ASAP instead of waiting for the other company to finish stalling...).

If your policy is mileage based with some cap makes sense. I have a policy like that.

Also most major carriers now gather that data through arrangements with manufacturers and even some smaller shops. Bring in your car for an oil change, that mileage goes in the hopper.

First I became aware of this was when I had a low mileage policy changed to normal at renewal due to excessive mileage. Took me a bit to figure out this was due to above and yes, I’d gone over the 5K annual limit but honestly thought it was 7,500.

A little intrusive but they were right. Our data lives out there in all sorts of ways.

For as long as I remember, USAA would ask about how many miles per year I drove on each vehicle. A vehicle not used for commuting to work with low yearly mileage would get lower rates.

Twice this last year USAA 'automatically' adjusted our son's insurance for much more expensive rates. Each time it was their mistake but it took time on the phone to get them to fix their problem.

So, any recommendations on finding an insurance broker to find a company with better rates and less hassle? I see some listed for my area but am not sure what to ask them about other than rates. How do you determine if they're good and will help you out?

quote:

Originally posted by bryan11:

So, any recommendations on finding an insurance broker to find a company with better rates and less hassle?

Speak to ("interview") an INDEPENDENT agent. One who is not married to a specific company, but will shop the market for you. You might speak with a couple and find one that you're comfortable with.

I use one in my area; she has saved me well over a thousand bucks / year. In addition to the companies that she checks, she doesn't hesitate to suggest that I check with some specific companies that sell direct and don't use agents, such as Amiga, even though she would not get a commission if I used one of those companies.

State Farm has never asked me for odometer readings. However, for many folks, it wouldn't be hard for them to get odometer data on their own.

Any shop that reports to a system like CarFax tags the entry with the current odometer reading. So each time you get your tires rotated, oil changed, timing belt changed, body work done, etc. at one of those shops, it's keeping a running log of your ongoing mileage. That could be used to pull current mileage if there's a recent enough entry, or at least estimate the annual mileage via the mileage progression over several entries.

Obviously not an option in every case, since some folks do all their own maintenance or utilize small shadetree shops that don't report to systems like CarFax. But that could explain the difference between some folks being asked to provide odometer data, while others aren't (since they've already pulled it from something like CarFax).

Geico asks for your estimated yearly mileage to calculate your rate. They don't ask for any further proof.

Not a new policy. They've done this at least 20 years.