San Leandro, CA Pleasanton, CA Dublin, CA Car Insurance Annual Mileage and WFH

April 7th update to this blog post – the insurance market is changing daily and we know of at least one insurance company that may be softening their position regarding mileage.  We encourage you to call us with any questions as we monitor the marketplace continually!  Stay Safe!

Insurance companies and annual mileage- How will this work for you during the work from home (WFH) era? 

So, you have been working from home for the past month or so, and you haven’t been driving much, if at all.  The car insurance companies based your premium on mileage, so they should charge less, right?  One would think so!

Unfortunately, car insurance premium mileage adjustments don’t move very quickly.  It’s kind of like gas prices adjusting when the price of oil drops – it seems to take forever before you see the adjustment at the pumps!  In the case of annual mileage, the data that most insurance companies rely on for their pricing models is from past driving history. So, it will take about a year or more for any mileage adjustments to affect your premium.  Depending on how long the WFH era lasts and your miles driven, the affect on premiums may not be as exciting as any of us would like to see.  Likely, once we get on the other side of the WFH situation, mileage levels are likely to return to levels that most of us were driving prior to the crisis.

While this may not be the news you want to hear, and quite frankly we don’t like it much either, it’s better to set expectations and work with options that are available to you.  We would hate to sell you a policy based on reduced mileage that isn’t going to fly, and then have your next renewal premiums spike up!  Our goal is to create value over the long haul, provide options, explain coverage, and do the best job that we can for you.  We will look to package policies, apply available discounts from insurers, quote different deductibles, and provide options to meet your needs on a longer term basis.  That’s what we do for you!