Question about daily commute RE: car insurance
June 25, 2018 12:58 AM Subscribe
Sooo, it's time for me to renew my car insurance and I have to fill out a policy request update. I'm actually confused about something simple. I don't *know* how many kms to put for my daily one-way commute! I feel like an idiot! I have different commutes depending on the time of year and my activities, so what should I put?
Okay, I know I'm over-thinking this but I just don't know what number to put!!
My daily commute depends on what I'm up to. I'm a grad student who works part-time from September-April, so during that time my commute is about 20km (one-way) for 3 days/week. When I work full time at my job from April-June my commute is 3km (one way), but from Sept-April I still work there for 2 full days and 3 half days. Typically I get July-August off, but I am working at another department at my current organization for the summer and now for those months my commute will be 13km.
Good grief, I don't know why I am so wound up about this, but I just don't know what commute to go with. I am thinking about using my most-used commute which is my 3KM commute to work, but is it dishonest to put that?
Okay, I know I'm over-thinking this but I just don't know what number to put!!
My daily commute depends on what I'm up to. I'm a grad student who works part-time from September-April, so during that time my commute is about 20km (one-way) for 3 days/week. When I work full time at my job from April-June my commute is 3km (one way), but from Sept-April I still work there for 2 full days and 3 half days. Typically I get July-August off, but I am working at another department at my current organization for the summer and now for those months my commute will be 13km.
Good grief, I don't know why I am so wound up about this, but I just don't know what commute to go with. I am thinking about using my most-used commute which is my 3KM commute to work, but is it dishonest to put that?
What they're getting at is the approximate distance driven per year. The more you drive, the more likely it is that something will happen on the road and they will need to pay a claim. Just help them understand whether they will be insuring you to drive 5000 km vs. 10,000 km vs 30,000 km over the next year.
posted by reeddavid at 2:06 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by reeddavid at 2:06 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
Check the car's service records. Find a couple of receipts about a year apart, and subtract their mileage readings to get the number of miles you drove that year. Add up the total number of days you commuted that year based on what you remember about the number of days per week you commuted in various months. Divide the total miles by the number of days, and that's a completely defensible estimate of your average daily commute.
posted by flabdablet at 4:31 AM on June 25, 2018
posted by flabdablet at 4:31 AM on June 25, 2018
As reeddavid said, the real number they're interested in is "how many kilometers will you be driving next year?"
Can you figure out what the mileage was on your car around this time last year? For example, do you have records of oil changes or other maintenance maintenance? If you can figure out how many miles you put on the car in the last year, then you can divide that number by 250 (the approximate number of work days in a full-time work year) to get your "average round-trip" commute distance.
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:31 AM on June 25, 2018
Can you figure out what the mileage was on your car around this time last year? For example, do you have records of oil changes or other maintenance maintenance? If you can figure out how many miles you put on the car in the last year, then you can divide that number by 250 (the approximate number of work days in a full-time work year) to get your "average round-trip" commute distance.
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:31 AM on June 25, 2018
At least with the 3 different insurers I've used in the USA, total miles driven per year vs. mileage commuting to and from work are two distinct categories. Higher premiums are charged for commuting, vs "pleasure" miles. (I'm guessing that's because people drive more aggressively when driving familiar routes and while trying to arrive to work on time, but that's just a WAG.) Insurers here want to know your work address (presumably to see if the commuter miles you're claiming are plausible.)
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 6:51 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 6:51 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you divide the total number of miles by the number of work days, you'll be overstating your commute since you'll be including "pleasure" miles. Just by going what you said above (since April is mentioned twice, I split it in half):
September - MidApril (7.5 months, assuming 4 weeks in each month)
3 days per week @ 20km one way : 1800 km
5 days per week @ 3km one way (two full days and 3 half days, assuming it is the same commute distance for the half-days) : 450 km
MidApril - June (2.5 months, assuming 4 weeks in each month
5 days per week @ 3 km one way : 150 km
July - August (2 months, assuming 4 weeks in each month)
5 days per week @ 13 km one way : 520km
So your total one-way commuting for the year is 2920km. This number is probably not exact, but the insurance companies aren't going to care about 500 km one way or another. Even their models aren't going to be that exact.
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:12 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
September - MidApril (7.5 months, assuming 4 weeks in each month)
3 days per week @ 20km one way : 1800 km
5 days per week @ 3km one way (two full days and 3 half days, assuming it is the same commute distance for the half-days) : 450 km
MidApril - June (2.5 months, assuming 4 weeks in each month
5 days per week @ 3 km one way : 150 km
July - August (2 months, assuming 4 weeks in each month)
5 days per week @ 13 km one way : 520km
So your total one-way commuting for the year is 2920km. This number is probably not exact, but the insurance companies aren't going to care about 500 km one way or another. Even their models aren't going to be that exact.
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:12 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
What reeddavid says is correct: they are interested in your driving distance per year.
The reason is because that number will figure into what they charge you in premiums. For example, my insurance company considers 7,500 miles/year to be the difference between a casual/recreational driver and a heavy commuter. You might want to do some research on what your particular company has for thresholds and then decide if you are over, under, WAY over, or WAY under that number.
As a teen I spent a summer doing telemarketing for one large US company, and one project I worked on was calling up customers and asking this very question in a roundabout fashion to try and see if people were honest on their number, which triggered an automatic rate adjustment if they were not.
These days that job has been replaced by Carfax and other services that track the odometer on your car when it goes in for service and oil changes. A lot of shops have deals to upload this information. I actually got a note from my insurance company last year that my mileage was tracking to be over the 7,500 mi/yr threshold and they were raising my rates in anticipation. (I never broke the barrier, but of course my rates didn't fall after that year passed).
So you might gamble on being dishonest with the number to save money, but they might find out anyway.
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:51 AM on June 25, 2018
The reason is because that number will figure into what they charge you in premiums. For example, my insurance company considers 7,500 miles/year to be the difference between a casual/recreational driver and a heavy commuter. You might want to do some research on what your particular company has for thresholds and then decide if you are over, under, WAY over, or WAY under that number.
As a teen I spent a summer doing telemarketing for one large US company, and one project I worked on was calling up customers and asking this very question in a roundabout fashion to try and see if people were honest on their number, which triggered an automatic rate adjustment if they were not.
These days that job has been replaced by Carfax and other services that track the odometer on your car when it goes in for service and oil changes. A lot of shops have deals to upload this information. I actually got a note from my insurance company last year that my mileage was tracking to be over the 7,500 mi/yr threshold and they were raising my rates in anticipation. (I never broke the barrier, but of course my rates didn't fall after that year passed).
So you might gamble on being dishonest with the number to save money, but they might find out anyway.
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:51 AM on June 25, 2018
So you might gamble on being dishonest with the number to save money, but they might find out anyway.
I would recommend never being dishonest with an insurer, as I believe that if they discover the fraud later (e.g. after an accident), they may deny coverage.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 1:18 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
I would recommend never being dishonest with an insurer, as I believe that if they discover the fraud later (e.g. after an accident), they may deny coverage.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 1:18 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
My answer was more keyed toward a situation where you figure on the back of a napkin that you drive 7,000 miles a year and the cutoff is 7,500. In a case like that I'd err on the side of telling them I was going to be under for the year.
For the particular company that employed me, there was a different criteria if you told them you only drove the car on weekends (say, as a collectible car or as a toy-hauler) versus taking it to work.
Crashing a weekend-only toy hauler at 8am on a Wednesday morning would probably trigger a fraud investigation no question. Our little phone interviews caught a LOT of people that told the agent one thing but told me another.
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:43 PM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
For the particular company that employed me, there was a different criteria if you told them you only drove the car on weekends (say, as a collectible car or as a toy-hauler) versus taking it to work.
Crashing a weekend-only toy hauler at 8am on a Wednesday morning would probably trigger a fraud investigation no question. Our little phone interviews caught a LOT of people that told the agent one thing but told me another.
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:43 PM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
I would recommend never being dishonest with an insurer, as I believe that if they discover the fraud later (e.g. after an accident), they may deny coverage.
Every insurance policy I have ever seen has got, somewhere in the fine print, language that says explicitly that if you fail to disclose anything that could reasonably affect the insurer's assessment of the risk they're taking by insuring you, they have the right to deny any claim made under that policy.
What that language does not usually contain is any obligation on the insurer's part to notify you that they know you've failed to provide them with some relevant tidbit. Which means your policy contract entitles them to sit on that knowledge for years, sucking up premium after premium while remaining fully confident in their ability to avoid any claim you might subsequently make. So it is absolutely in your interest not only to disclose everything they ask you to, but to keep enough records to be able to demonstrate that you have made every reasonable effort to do so, in case you ever find yourself needing to sue your insurer to get what you paid for.
posted by flabdablet at 7:37 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Every insurance policy I have ever seen has got, somewhere in the fine print, language that says explicitly that if you fail to disclose anything that could reasonably affect the insurer's assessment of the risk they're taking by insuring you, they have the right to deny any claim made under that policy.
What that language does not usually contain is any obligation on the insurer's part to notify you that they know you've failed to provide them with some relevant tidbit. Which means your policy contract entitles them to sit on that knowledge for years, sucking up premium after premium while remaining fully confident in their ability to avoid any claim you might subsequently make. So it is absolutely in your interest not only to disclose everything they ask you to, but to keep enough records to be able to demonstrate that you have made every reasonable effort to do so, in case you ever find yourself needing to sue your insurer to get what you paid for.
posted by flabdablet at 7:37 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
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posted by charmedimsure at 1:37 AM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]