MileMeter, car insurance purchased by the mile, is based in Texas and promises to provide significant savings for their customers who drive less than average. As it says on the front page of their website:
If you have a vehicle that is driven less than 12,000 miles per year, then MileMeter insurance could help you lower your auto insurance expenses. If you live close to work, ride public transportation, or have an extra vehicle that sits in the garage, then you could be a MileMeter customer.
Sounds good, no? Being squarely in the target market for this insurance, I thought I would get a quote or two and see how it compared to what I have. Here’s a little background on our family driving situation.
Small, and blue
For eight years, my wife and I have shared one car, minus about two months where we experimented with having two cars and found the second one unnecessary. Right now, we have a 2005 Scion Xa Release Series 2.0 (fancy neon lights inside and all). It’s blue, pretty heavily scratched in places because it doubles as a delivery vehicle for park cleanup equipment, and has a Bouldin Creek Coffee House sticker on the back, if you’re wondering (Honk or ring your bike bell at us if you see it around town). We could probably get along just fine without owning a car at all, especially if we lived close in enough to have an Austin CarShare car or two near us. Unfortunately, though, we don’t, and I don’t see them coming to the South Manchaca area anytime soon.
Anyway, I digress. MileMeter quotes and purchasing are all done online, so it was pretty easy and fast to grab some numbers. I went through the site and selected some basic options, including personal injury protection and towing coverage, and checked the rates at a couple of different mileage levels.
Is it cheaper?
So how does MileMeter stack up? If I put in my more realistic estimate of 5,000 miles per six months, then my policy rate came out to $435.50 over six months, or $72.58 per month. That’s not bad, but wouldn’t work for us, as we currently pay about $58 a month for our insurance coverage.
However, if I put in a truly low-mileage estimate of 2,000 miles over six months (if you were driving well under 100 miles per week) then their rates looked much more appealing: $29.03 per month. Pretty good!
The advantages of paying as you go
Obviously, the main strength of this service is the rate flexibility, so you could start out by buying 1,000 miles, then add more if you end up using them all before six months are up. We are going to consider doing that exact thing in our family to see if we can cut our driving even more than we already have – and if we do, we’ll cover our experiences in future posts. In my opinion, the very best thing about MileMeter is that it creates another financial incentive to drive less, and that’s good for all of us.
on Feb 27th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Marni from MileMeter here.
Thanks for the publicity. We are saving tons of people a lot of money and definitely want to get the word out.
It’s true. We do primarily benefit those who drive less. Many ask us how we’re able to provide such low prices. The answer is simple – when your car is in park, it’s pretty hard to get in an accident. Lower-mileage drivers are less of a risk than higher-mileage drivers. Also, all of our business is conducted online. Making it less costly and also quick and easy for the consumer.
And you’re right. Insurance by the mile does provide an economic incentive to drive less – leading to fewer traffic injuries, fewer tailpipe emissions, less toxic road runoff, and less demand for road and parking lot construction. Think of it as a way to make roads safer, to reduce urban sprawl, improve our air and water quality, and fight climate change. MileMeter is auto insurance at it’s greenest!
Again, thanks for doing the research and getting the word out.
on Feb 28th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Of course, before you compare your current insurance for X miles to their rates, make sure your current insurance company knows how little you drive. The number of miles you drive is a factor with standard insurance companies too — but it’s not nearly as big a factor as it is with MileMeter.
It looks like like you drive about half the average amount, MilesMeter’s rate is roughly comparable to a standard insurance company. If you drive less, it’s better, and if you drive more it’s worse.
Considering that they’re probably right about driving less = fewer accidents, I imagine that their rates are significantly higher than they need to be for as few miles as their customers drive, and so I’d expect some competition soon, perhaps with established insurance companies offering plans similar to theirs (but at lower rates.) We shall see …
on May 18th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Doug: “…I imagine that their rates are significantly higher than they need to be for as few miles as their customers drive…”
I’m not so sure about this. Milemeter’s website gives a cents per mile quote. You really only pay for what you use. They quoted me 8.7 cents per mile for the options I chose. If I drive only 1000 miles in a six month period I only pay $87.00! For the whole six months! Even when I tell my old insurance company how little I drive, they can’t touch that. Even at twice the number of miles, I still only pay about $30 a month! I think they are really on to something. Let’s hope this way of paying for insurance becomes the industry standard.
on Dec 9th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
We have a 1940 Chevrolet Street Rod. Will you insure it with our other two cars? Please advise.
on Feb 14th, 2010 at 12:42 am
Sounds too good to be true but i love the concept,that said…does the company look at your credit score like most do?NO..it’s NOT right to look at that w/o written consent to open “YOUR” file but it happens.
Ones good or bad credit should mean nothing on how to charge for insurance,it’s bad enough many employers look at “YOUR” credit before hiring to see if your a good person,what’s all that crap about??
Looking at ones credit score etc should be illegal and i for one write to every congress person i can to tell them to get it to stop and have recieved many a great positive reply in ending what most call…a scam.
on Mar 22nd, 2011 at 6:03 pm
In most cases, if something is to good to be true, it is. This concept, while it sounds good, I feel as though it will no doubt create grief. All insurance carriers collect premium (the amount of money you pay) based on several things. For instance your credit. While Lee Allen may not see how your credit can effect your insurance rates, or your employment-it does. Whether or not you pay your bills reflects what type of personality, or person you are. If you are the type that does not pay your bills, and is always looking for a way to “scam” the system, then your rate will be higher than the person who keeps his/her debt to income ratio down. This type of person is more apt at putting away money, not spending it. This type of person is also more apt at paying to fix his/her car if within their means. Insurance is meant for large claims, it is meant for when you really need it. I would seem that those who do not want a separation from people who drive up the premiums, are in fact the ones causing it.
Perhaps it is time we return to what insurance is meant to do instead of blaming everything on the big companies. Perhaps its time to grow up Lee Allen and see that what you do in life DOES reflect on what type of person you are. Once you realize this perhaps you can take advantage of the “perks”, instead of crying about the injustice of it. My education and credit put me in a higher rate class. I have worked hard for this, and will not apologize to you or the people who are crying about it.
on May 14th, 2011 at 10:55 am
Your character is reflected in the kind of driver you are, and that is what the insurance companies have a right to see. A credit check for insurance is just another Big Brother intrusion.
Insurance is no longer “shared risk”. If you have a claim, they will eventually get it back from you personally, while the premiums for those who do not have an accident go into the pockets of the insurance companies and their lackeys, our politicians.
Andrew, I’ll bet you are the guy that people run from at parties.
on Jun 16th, 2011 at 10:15 am
I have a diesel truck for material transfer, a TDI for around town and a van for moving more than just my own family around. I’m charged the same rate for the truck thats averages maybe 2000 road miles a year and the other two that average 5 or 7k a year. I also always try to pay I the longest term possible 6 months as a few percent adds up. Hopefully mile meter will start to look into penetrating the more vehicles than drivers market-btw my vehicles all book at under 5 k and you didn’t mention the type of insurance in the death trap of roads that is Austin…. I’m just trying to stay legal- i haven’t had a ticket in ten years and only tend to mess up my junk and inanimate objects;)
on Jul 6th, 2011 at 10:14 pm
it was too good to be true…
it was good for a while for me but now they change the policy: you have to buy minimum 4000 miles , even if you drive only 2500 miles in 6 month period…
that s not a deal anymore
i ll look somewhere else…
good luck
on Jul 7th, 2011 at 1:32 pm
Sorry to hear that.
on Jul 8th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
I didn’t see any comments about how this works for people without cars at all. I don’t have a car, but occasionally rent one. Since I don’t have auto insurance, I have to pay for some when I rent, and this usually costs more than the car itself.
Anybody have any ideas about this?
john
on Jul 8th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
The new policy requirements of 4k+ miles are no longer a savings. Why would anyone pay for limited miles when you can get the same rate or cheaper for an unlimited plan?
on Nov 16th, 2011 at 9:15 pm
MileMeter now , Nov 2011, requires buying 6000 miles per vehicle per 6 months. This negates any reason to insure with them if you drive less. I had two vehicles insured with them, both driven less than 2000 miles each per 6 months; it was worthwhile paying only for the 1000 mile minimum and adding 1000 mile blocks of additional miles if needed. These idiots have now shot themselves in the foot by requiring 6000 miles minimum per 6 months. I had just renewed my two vehicles on Milemeter and they phoned me with a canned message requesting I cancel my policies; then emailed me the same message. I’ve never had a ticket or an accident in 40+ years of driving. I cancelled, as requested, and went with State Farm for CHEAPER than buying the 6000 MileMeter miles, and SF doesn’t care how many miles I drive. MileMeter is now ‘Dumb & DUMBER’ !
on Nov 28th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
They also said I should cancel, which I did on the 15th of nov. They said 3 days for a refund and so far no refund. No one answers or returnes phone calls or emails. I guess I got scammed big time.