Car insurance claim and extra mileage

[DaveMcDavid]

This is my first post and frankly I'm a nervous wreck, so please excuse any mistakes.

 

I had a crash last week, I drove into the back of another car and am accepting liability. When I checked my insurance policy I discovered the annual estimated (not limited) mileage is 5000. This was my estimate when I began driving in May 10, and I mustn't have updated it at renewal in May 11.

 

Since May 11 I have done about 5500-6000 miles, and only realised this mistake after the crash. I'm third party fire theft, so am not claiming for my own car, but am scared about the potential liability for the other car.

 

I rang my insurers today to update my estimated mileage to 10,000, and they charged £55 extra on an £1100 policy.

 

What is the chance they will see that at the time of the crash I had done 6000 miles in 8 months on an estimated 5000 mile policy, void my cover, and recover the other party's claim from me?

 

All I can think of right now is the possibility of becoming bankrupt and losing my job if the other party (family of 4) put in a series of whiplash claims.

[Sidewinder]

I think you are probably worrying over nothing. A mileage estimate is after all only an estimate and is used to assess one particular risk factor - more mileage = a greater risk - and is not an absolute cap on what you can do for the premium paid. It isn't as if you have done 100,000 miles.

 

Chances are that it won't even be a factor but even if it is the most that you are likely to get is an increased premium.

[DaveMcDavid]

Thanks. They increased the premium by £55 this morning. I'm just worrying that they could void the policy over the excess mileage on the crash date.

[Mwynci]

It is very unlikely that they would void the policy, only in a case where the underwriter could prove they would accept a risk of cars which do 5000 miles, but not 6000 miles. The fact they took a premium for the 10,000 miles suggests they are fine with this.

[DaveMcDavid]

Might they have scope to claim I tried to mislead them and try to recover monies paid to third parties?

[Ganymede]

Its only an estimate. Besides, its not like you've gone over by 50000 miles!

[mathmagician]

Had a fair few claims in my time. The issue of mileage never arose. Besides how would they prove your exact mileage?