If you’re insuring a classic, chances are you’ve come across the term ‘limited mileage discount’. What isn’t always clear is how these work and how exactly they affect your car insurance premium.

What is a limited mileage discount?

With specialist vehicle insurance, limited mileage is one of the common features that helps to reduce the cost of insurance. It specifies that you have committed to keep your annual mileage at or under a certain level for the duration of your insurance policy. A limited mileage agreement is usually a requirement for insuring classic, vintage, and other specialist vehicles, and in turn, you get a reduced premium.

How many miles can I do on a limited mileage policy?

Typically, you may take out a limit of 1,500, 3,000 or 5,000 miles per annum, but on some policies you could even go as low as 1,000 miles if you really don’t drive your vehicle often. If you need more miles, some insurers will go as high as 7,500 miles on a specialist policy, but this won’t be possible with all insurers.

The lower your mileage limit, the less risk you are incurring through driving and the more discount you can receive as a result.

How do limited mileage discounts work?

Limited mileage discounts affect the base rate of your premium, i.e. the starting point that insurers use to calculate what your specialist vehicle insurance will cost. Other factors, such as the vehicle value, who you’ve got insured to drive it, and the year and make of your vehicle will also affect your premium, based on the insurer’s assessment of risk.

Simply speaking, if you have a lower mileage limit the starting point for your insurance premium will be lower, effectively giving you a limited mileage discount. If you want to get costs down a bit, and have a limit of 5,000 miles but usually only drive about 3,000, it may be worth reducing your mileage limit to get the cost down a bit further.

What other discounts can I get?

There are a fair few ways you can get additional discounts on your classic car insurance, modified 4×4 insurance and other specialist vehicle cover with Heritage.

If you’re a member of a recognised car club, you can get a car club member discount of up to 15% – just let us know your car club membership number when you get a quote.

We also offer a 15% discount to:

• members of the Green Lane Association
• members of the Military Vehicle Trust
• NHS staff

NEED AN INSURANCE QUOTE? WE’RE HERE TO HELP.

Let us know your requirements and one of our friendly team will be in touch to arrange a quote.