Annual Mileage
Hi we've just insured our 1st ever MH and during the quote they asked how many miles I would be doing. I said 5,000 but with it being our 1st ever MH I truly didn't know. We've now got our policy document and it states "Your policy cover is inoperative and of no effect if your vehicle is driven in excess of 5000 miles in any one annual policy period". I have just rang the Club insurance and told them that this wasn't explained to me but could I add an extra 1,000 miles on just to make sure. The cheeky beggars wanted an extra £74 so I declined. They did say I could add extra mileage during the year but there would be a admin fee for that.
I was wondering how many miles you Guys do each year and in your experience is 5,000 miles about right? I've added up the mileage of our pre booked trips and the total is 3,100
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Depends how long you are away for. We mainly tour using around 22 sites 5 nights at each as three tours. No short stays individual breaks.
We also have 2 weeks but that site is less than 50 miles away.
The tow car does about 6k miles a year. It was insured for 7,000 miles. It is not used much at other times as we use OH's old Yaris. Probably 1,000 at home and 5,000 on tour etc.
Strangely enough I increased it at renewal a couple ofyears ago to 10,000 and the price dropped.
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I have a 6000 mile limit on my MH and have never exceeded that nor been restricted by it. I have a 9000 mile limit on my car, which I tow on an A-frame but not every trip, and again have never exceeded that nor been restricted by it.
I camp all year and have about 100 nights away.0 -
It will depend where you go and how often, and if you wish to go abroad or not. I have a 4000 mile limit on ours which is just enough. We stay in this country, do lots of weekends, bank holidays and a couple of two week holidays a year. We sometimes use the motorhome for transport when on site. See how you get on with the 5000 miles. No point paying extra now if you don't need to. Add more miles later should the need arise.
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Your last sentence doesn't surprise me EasyT. I guess if you do more mileage you could be considered more experienced?? Although we are not motorhomers, our 'main' car is covered for 22,000 a year! I don't exceed it, but I sometimes get up to about 20,000. I always aim on the high side so as to avoid having to update the policy and get charged a fee.
David
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I have been keeping a record of our annual mileage since 1982. Only three times in all those years have I exceeded 5000 miles. Many of those years below 5000 miles have include two longish trips to Europe. It will very much depend on how many nights you intend to spend away. The more you do, perhaps 100 nights plus, the more likely you are likely to exceed the 5000 mile mark.
David
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It's a bit like asking "how long is a piece of string?". Only you know how much you will use it, FB.
Our MH is 5yrs old and has 18.5k on the clock but we haven't owned it from new.
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Initially I said 5,000 miles when we took our first policy out last June and we have just about used it all up however with our insurers there is no limit on the policy they just use it as a yardstick. If it were me I would cancel and get a policy that does not limit you as we found out we use the MH much more than the caravan we previously had.
A trip to Europe will add a couple of thousand miles, we did over 1,000 over Christmas and New year going to Bridlington and Scotland, going to Croatia in Summer which will no doubt add 2,500-3,000 so I would not want to be looking at the MH sitting there and not being able to use as I used all my miles up.
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We initially put 3000 miles on ours, as we knew we could only get away for long weekends. Within 3 months we upped it to 5000 miles, as we use ours as a proper tourer, doing area tours, hopping from site to site, and using if we have longer stays at a site. I think we did around 6-7000 last year, but we just phoned insurance and let them know. Not with CC I hasten to add, we were not impressed and went elsewhere. We will have to put some serious miles on it once we get overseas for longer trips!
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You can save quite a bit if you restrict your mileage. I do it and now that I am fully retired, its even cheaper. Work out your hols at the beginning of the year, assess the mile and add 500 and you're about there. One policy came through on renewal at £442 - quick search and I got almost the same cover (a little more on the excess) and restricted my mileage for £200 less. It pays to shop around.
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A lot depends on your destination. My tow car averages around 4000 pa. although one year when we did a three week tour to the top of Scotland from the south coast it was 5500. Whack on a couple of long hauls round southern Spain, northern Norway or Croatia and it would be fairly easy to go over 5000.
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Thank's AD. We are hoping we get the chance to head off for months to be honest, do a big tour of a country, lot of research for us to do before then though. Sadly we are no where near this point at the moment. But we used to do home to Cornwall sometimes half a dozen times per year, and each of those trips was a good thousand miles using tow car for mooching about in on arrival. Having a smallish MH, we use it all the time while away, although as you say, a lot don't. We get easily sidetracked into discovering new places as well, so the journey home might be via Wales Etc.... Hate motorways, boring. Heaven help us when we eventually get to France, we shall investigating every little castle and chateau!
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Under 5,000 miles in a year in Britain is doable with care. Don't go to Scotland because a tour up there could easily set you back 2,000 miles.
People in Cheshire, can visit the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, Peak District, Shropshire Hills, and Snowdonia with ease - less than 200 miles round trip. Those are the places to consider if the mileage needs trimming. The Wolds in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and the North York Moors are a bit further away.
Motorhomers tend to be keen walkers and will use public transport.
We've never done less than 5,000 miles even whist we were touring in Britain for only for four weeks a year. Current mileage is up to 8,000 miles pa, all in Britain and including 'day trips out'. We work on the basis that whatever the mileage to get there and back, we'll at least double it. However, we've always done high mileages in vehicles.
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We too have our first Motorhome and like the op we too was told if we go over our mileage it could invalid the insurance we also had to send copies of the mileage the Motorhome had on it copies of our driving licence and also our cc membership cards Never owning a Motorhome before we found this strange but it seems to be the norm .
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It certainly isn't the norm with anyone I've been insured with. Currently with NFU who have no qualms about insuring a MH and have a convenient local office staffed by real people who know what they're doing.
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We have a caravan, but on our car I have it as 5000 miles, and for the last few years we have done under that, so if we do that in our car you shoul be O.K. with your motorhome at that
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I am getting quotes this very afternoon for a new motorhome and need to think about annual mileage. A different insurer from the CC allows you to amend your policy for a premium and admin fee the increments being :-
Up to 8000
Up to 10000
Unlimited. There is a significant premium cost difference for unlimited.
We have no fixed pattern of use so it is difficult to work out what offering is best and to understand the implications of excess miles something which you can only understand by looking at the policy.
Furthermore the Clubs insurers are not geared up to issuing a policy document until after you insure which is like buying a car and only then being told what colour it is. With difficulty but with courtesy Devitt agreed to post yes post me a policy on Monday. Not exactly 21st century stuff since scanners have been used in business for 40 years.
If the insurance is very new you may be able to use cooling off rights and start again (look carefully at the paperwork you received).
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I am afraid the first year has to be guess. I would simply accept the 5,000 miles and see how it goes and then adjust it next year if it looks wrong.
Premiums are based on mileage as that is when the vehicle is most at risk so the more mileage you do the more the insurance premium increases. There is nothing unusual in the increase asked for but I do think the point that you must not exceed the stated mileage should be specifically drawn to your attention and if it was not then the Ombudsman would likely rule against the insurer but I would not risk it. Insurers have to be fair to their customers and this could easily be regarded as unfair.
What I did note is that the clubs details of the policy says no mileage limit which is contrary to what is being said here. That would certainly have the Ombudsman favouring the customer in a dispute if it was the clubs insurance being considered..
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David
Normally go abroad once or twice a year, last year was Ireland and Austria, previous year was Ireland and Germany, before that France.
We try and combine the foreign trips with the Club National as we are travelling down the UK anyway.
Plus lots of weekends, have actually rallied within 2 miles of the house.
Ian
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This is farcical, and purely a ploy by the Insurers to make an extra buck.
I passed my test in 1962, and since then have never actually driven less than 25,000 miles per annum. Firstly in the motor trade until 1968 when I joined the Police, and then from 1998 until 2011 in the aviation sales business doing over 30,000 miles a year. During that time I had no accidents and no convictions for any offence.
The insurance business is said to base its premiums on actuarial risk. I would argue strongly that the high mileage driver, with a historically totally clean licence, is less of a risk than the sub 8,000 mile a year, fine weather, weekends only driver, unused to motorway conditions. Yet today, the Insurers mutter that my 12,000 per year mileage as a retiree, is heavy mileage, and should be regarded with suspicion. Daft, stupid, penny grabbing or what? The higher the mileage, (provided the record is clean) should indicate that the driver is at the very least, reliable and fairly safe.
TF
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Whilst I don't disagree with your argument in respect of yourself TF, the fact is that most people are not ex police trained drivers, and most are not even professional drivers of any sort.
The way I view it, is that the insurance companies recognise that a vehicle parked on someones drive isn't at the same risk as one moving on a public road, and even with the best and most careful of drivers, some other numpty can hit you through no fault of your own. It happened to me, a head on collision with a drunk driver on the wrong side of the road and I had absolutely nowhere to go.
I view the insurance companies mileage bands from another direction, the full premium is for lets say 15k p.a. , but they will give you a discount if you only do e.g.10k, even more discount if you only do 5k etc..
It works for me ..
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I was surprised to learn that if I added my wife to the policy as a driver it lowered the premium!
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