California auto insurance: How accurate does my annual mileage estimate need to be?
I’ve searched through older posts, but I’m seeing mixed answers.
I live in California and initially estimated that I would drive about 10,000 miles per year when I bought my auto policy. After two years, I’ve put about 30,000 miles on the car, which works out to roughly 15,000 miles per year.
I recently noticed while shopping for other insurers that annual mileage can affect premiums significantly in California.
My questions are:
- Is it a problem to keep reporting 10,000 miles per year when my actual average has been closer to 15,000?
- Could intentionally understating estimated annual mileage be considered misrepresentation or insurance fraud?
- Since annual mileage can vary year to year, how exact is an estimate expected to be?
- Do insurers typically verify mileage through renewals, claims, maintenance records, inspections, or vehicle-history data? i mean, at renewal, i do report current mileage.
I’m not trying to be misleading—I just want to understand whether I should update my policy now based on my actual driving history.