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Emily Guy Birken is a former educator, lifelong money nerd, and a Plutus Award-winning freelance writer who specializes in the scientific research behind irrational money behaviors. Her work has appeared on The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Kiplinger’s, MSN Money, and The Washington Post, and she’s been writing for Compare.com since 2023. Her background in education allows her to help people relate to and understand complex financial topics.
She’s the author of several books, including The 5 Years Before You Retire, End Financial Stress Now, and the brand-new book, Stacked: Your Super Serious Guide to Modern Money Management, written with Joe Saul-Sehy.
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Nick Versaw leads Compare.com's editorial department, where he and his team specialize in crafting helpful, easy-to-understand content about car insurance and other related topics. With nearly a decade of experience writing and editing insurance and personal finance articles, his work has helped readers discover substantial savings on necessary expenses, including insurance, transportation, health care, and more. As an award-winning writer, Nick has seen his work published in countless renowned publications, such as the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and U.S. News & World Report. He graduated with Latin honors from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in Digital Journalism.
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At Compare.com, it’s our mission to give you the tools to find the best (and most affordable) insurance for your unique needs and budget. We strive to provide information that’s helpful, clear, and unbiased, and we believe that comparing insurance companies should never put you at risk of spam. Our editorial team — which is made up of experienced writers, editors, insurance agents, and data analysts — has spent thousands of hours researching and creating the coverage overviews, side-by-side comparisons, and detailed reviews you see across our site.
While we make money through partnerships with some of the brands we discuss in our articles, our editorial team operates 100% independently, and these partners never influence or affect the topics, reviews, ratings, or recommendations we provide. We never guarantee favorable reviews or mentions in exchange for compensation from any brands or partners, and we uphold strict editorial standards to ensure our content is always independent, truthful, and unbiased.
| User Reviews | NR |
|---|---|
| Our Rating Compare.com's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The objective formula used in these reviews weighs several important factors to consider when choosing financial products and services, including customer satisfaction ratings, ease of use, and a number of other components. | 3.8 /5 |
| Liability Only Liability-only insurance, sometimes called minimum-coverage insurance, pays for bodily injury and property damage to others in an accident the policyholder causes. It does not pay for the insured’s own damages. | $56/mo |
| Full Coverage Full-coverage car insurance generally includes liability, collision, and comprehensive coverage, and may include other optional coverages such as uninsured motorist coverage. Collision covers a policyholder’s repair or replacement costs in case of an accident. Comprehensive covers damages caused by non-accident events. The average quote displayed here reflects policies with the following coverage limits: $50,000 bodily injury liability per person; $100,000 bodily injury liability per accident; $50,00 property damage liability per accident; $1,000 collision deductible; and a $1,000 comprehensive deductible. | $88/mo |
Low-mileage drivers may be able to save money with this pay-per-mile insurer, but limited availability and a potentially confusing claims process mean Mile Auto may not be the best choice for every driver.
Rates based on monthly mileage
No data tracking
Quick and easy quote process
Limited availability
Unclear claims process
High number of negative reviews
Mile Auto was founded in 2017 as a pay-per-mile car insurance alternative to traditional standard-rate policies. The insurer determines your rate based on the number of miles you drive each month. The fewer miles you drive, the less you pay, so you’re not paying for insurance you don’t use.
Mile Auto is currently only available in 11 states, and attempts to get quotes in five of those states — California, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — resulted in a message saying that Mile Auto isn’t currently offering policies in the area. So you may have trouble getting a policy with Mile Auto, even if the insurer operates in your area.
We’ll cover everything you need to know about Mile Auto in the sections below, including how it works, what you can expect to pay, and what real customers are saying about this new-age insurer.
As a pay-per-mile insurance company, the amount you pay for Mile Auto insurance coverage depends on how many miles you put on your car. Instead of paying the same rate each month no matter how much you drive, Mile Auto policyholders pay a monthly base rate plus an additional charge for each mile driven.
Unlike other pay-per-mile programs, Mile Auto doesn’t require telematics or other tracking devices to determine your mileage. Instead, you simply text a picture of your odometer to the insurance company every month.
This means you don’t have to worry that Mile Auto is tracking your driving behavior in addition to your mileage.
Mile Auto will send you text and email reminders when it’s time to send an image of your odometer. Each message will include a hyperlink that’ll automatically open your phone’s camera and send the image.
Some pay-per-mile insurers have policies for when customers take a road trip or otherwise rack up higher-than-usual mileage. For example, Mile Auto’s competitor, Metromile, has a cap of 250 daily miles, after which every additional mile driven that day is free.
But Mile Auto doesn’t offer any daily mileage caps or other concessions for policyholders who take a road trip. Expect a higher monthly insurance payment with Mile Auto if you need to drive long distances, even temporarily.
Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Cost | 5/5 |
| Customer satisfaction | 1/5 |
| Ease of use | 2.8/5 |
| Availability | 1.7/5 |
| Industry reputation | 1/5 |
| Overall Score* | 2.98/5 |
Infrequent drivers — such as college students, empty nesters, remote workers, or urban commuters — may be able to save money with this insurer. The fact that Mile Auto doesn’t require telematics or other tracking devices will also appeal to consumers who want a pay-per-mile structure but prefer not to let their insurer know about every late-night drive or abrupt stop at a traffic light.
The pay-per-mile auto insurance industry mainly relies on telematics or black-box technology to keep tabs on your mileage — and, sometimes, your driving behavior. By forgoing tracking devices, Mile Auto offers a unique structure that allows you to maintain your privacy while paying only for the miles you drive.
Mile Auto doesn’t provide any concessions or contingencies if you need to increase your mileage temporarily. This means Mile Auto coverage could be more expensive than traditional auto insurance if you need to take a road trip or drive more than usual.
As a relative newcomer to the insurance market, Mile Auto doesn’t yet have any reviews on ConsumerAffairs, and it isn’t rated by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), either. We found 10 complaints about Mile Auto on the BBB website, primarily about problems with the service. Some customers, like the one below, have complaints about making sure their bill accurately reflects their mileage.
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On Trustpilot, the reviews of Mile Auto are evenly split between positive and negative, resulting in a rating of 2.6 out of 5. These reviews are primarily about differing customer service interactions, with positive reviewers raving about a great experience and negative reviewers saying their experience was unpleasant. You can see some of the most common trends in the two reviews below.
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Mile Auto car insurance premiums consist of a monthly base rate plus an additional fee based on your actual mileage. Like other insurers, Mile Auto sets your base and per-mile rates on factors like your driving history, marital status, ZIP code, credit score, and coverage type.
Here are the average monthly costs for Mile Auto liability insurance and full coverage, which includes collision and comprehensive coverages, in addition to basic liability.
Liability Only | Full Coverage |
|---|---|
| $70 | $132 |
Mile Auto’s average monthly rates for a pay-per-mile insurance policy are significantly lower than the national average of $131 per month for liability insurance and $271 per month for full coverage. But since rates can vary greatly depending on location and driver, these broad averages may not be the best indicator of what you’ll actually pay.
Check out the sections below for more comprehensive breakdowns of Mile Auto’s average rates based on age, driving record, and more.
Comparing Mile Auto’s average rates to its direct competitors’ can help you better understand how it stacks up, especially since the pay-per-mile structure differs from traditional car insurance.
Company | Liability Only | Full Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Mile Auto | $70 | $132 |
| Metromile | $63 | $191 |
| Hugo | $191 | $237 |
| Clearcover | $86 | $167 |
Mile Auto has the lowest rates for full coverage compared to similar insurers, and it offers the second-lowest rates for liability-only policies.
While Metromile is the only other pay-per-mile company on this list, Hugo and Clearcover are similar industry disruptors that offer unique insurance experiences. Hugo offers flexible, short-term coverage, while Clearcover uses AI to generate quotes and reduce overhead.
These insurers are focused on helping drivers save money on car insurance. Mile Auto may be the best price for low-mileage drivers, but it won’t save every driver money.
Your age can have a major effect on premiums, and young drivers and senior drivers generally pay higher rates than other age groups. Insurers have found that teenagers and drivers older than 75 are most likely to file insurance claims, so those age groups pay the most for coverage.
The table below shows how much different age groups can expect to pay with Mile Auto.
Age Group | Average Monthly Rate |
|---|---|
| Teens | $195 |
| 20–25 | $140 |
| 25–30 | $114 |
| 30s | $100 |
| 40s | $87 |
| 50s | $73 |
| 60s | $67 |
| 70+ | $76 |
You’ll notice that rates consistently decrease until drivers reach their 70s. That’s because drivers tend to take fewer risks and drive more safely the older they are. But drivers older than 70 often experience slower reaction times and some physical and mental declines that can increase the likelihood of getting into a collision.
Let’s take a closer look at each of the two age groups.
Teens and young drivers pay the highest rates at Mile Auto, averaging $195 per month before age 20 and $140 per month between ages 20 and 25. But rates go down significantly after age 25, since many drivers have nearly a decade of experience behind the wheel at that point and are much less likely to engage in risky driving behaviors.
Rates continue to decrease as you get older and gain more experience, and they tend to remain low throughout adulthood — until retirement age.
Drivers in their 60s have the lowest average rates, with Mile Auto at $67 per month. Generally, 60-something drivers have 40 to 50 years of driving experience, and they’re at a lower risk of getting into accidents.
After turning 70, the average monthly rate with Mile Auto increases by more than 10%. Senior drivers older than 70 pose a bigger risk on the road than younger drivers — but they’re still much less likely to get into an accident than drivers younger than 25.
Your driving history is a significant factor in setting your auto insurance rates. Drivers with a clean record will receive the lowest rates compared to drivers who have a speeding ticket, an at-fault accident, or other traffic violations on their record.
We’ve broken down the average rates Mile Auto charges for different driving records in the table below.
Driving History | Average Monthly Rate |
|---|---|
| Clean record | $92 |
| 1 ticket | $117 |
| Multiple tickets | $128 |
| 1 at-fault accident | $143 |
| Multiple accidents | $194 |
Average rates are just $92 per month for Mile Auto policyholders with clean records, but they go up sharply after just one infraction.
Let’s take a closer look at how each incident affects your average rate with Mile Auto.
Insurance rates increase by an average of 37% after a speeding ticket, according to Compare.com data, which means a $100 monthly premium will go up to $137 per month.
Mile Auto’s rates after a speeding ticket increase by an average of 27% — quite a bit less than the national average. But getting more than one ticket increases Mile Auto’s average rates by 39%.
Increasing your deductible or adjusting your coverage are two quick ways to save money on your car insurance after receiving a speeding ticket.
Drivers with an at-fault accident on their record pay substantially more for auto insurance than drivers with clean records. The average increase is 44% nationally, according to Compare.com data.
Mile Auto’s average rates increase by 55% after a single at-fault accident and 111% after multiple accidents. Reducing the amount you drive can help you save money after an accident if you get insurance through a pay-per-mile structure like Mile Auto.
Discounts are one way to reduce the cost of your auto insurance. Many traditional insurance companies offer discounts for everything from bundling car insurance with homeowners or umbrella insurance to driving a car with certain safety features.
As a non-traditional insurer, Mile Auto doesn’t offer any discounts whatsoever. The company only provides car insurance, which makes it impossible for Mile Auto customers to bundle their other insurance products with their auto coverage, and it doesn’t offer affiliation, safety, payment, or other discounts.
Mile Auto offers the state minimum liability coverage required in each of the 11 states where it operates. Liability coverage may include the following:
Bodily injury liability: Pays for injuries you cause to other drivers and their passengers.
Property damage liability: Pays to repair or replace property damaged in an accident you caused.
Personal injury protection (PIP): Pays for your medical costs if you’re injured in an accident, regardless of fault (not required in all states).
Uninsured motorist coverage: Pays for damages if you’re hit by an uninsured driver (not required in all states).
Mile Auto gives you the option of purchasing the state-mandated minimum liability coverage, or you can increase their coverage levels. In addition, the following optional coverages are available:
Collision coverage: Pays for damage to your vehicle if you cause an accident.
Comprehensive coverage: Pays for damage to your car from anything other than a collision, such as theft, vandalism, weather, or animals.
Neither of these options is state-mandated, but financing or leasing agreements may require them.
Finally, Mile Auto offers the following add-on coverage options:
Rental vehicle reimbursement: Pays for your rental car if your daily driver needs repairs.
Roadside assistance: Can help with the service cost if your car won’t start or breaks down on the side of the road.
You can also customize your insurance by choosing your deductibles if you have comprehensive and collision coverage. With Mile Auto, you can choose between $100, $250, $500, $1,000, and $2,000 deductibles.
Mile Auto is solely an auto insurance company — it doesn’t currently offer any other insurance products.
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You can get a quote and purchase a policy from Mile Auto entirely online in just a few minutes. After kicking off the quote process on Mile Auto’s home page, you’ll need to start by providing some basic personal information.
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Unfortunately, you may struggle to get past this point, depending on where you live. It seems that even within the 11 states where Mile Auto operates, the company is restricting how many new policies it’s currently selling.
But it’s worth noting that this isn’t necessarily specific to Mile Auto. Companies across the industry are currently struggling to stay profitable amid rising repair, labor, and vehicle costs, which has led to many restricting how many new policies they sell.
After trying to get a quote with ZIP codes in Wisconsin (my home state), California, Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, each attempt resulted in the following message:
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Once I got past this hurdle (after using an Oregon ZIP code), the rest of the process was quite simple. At this point, Mile Auto asked for information about my vehicle.
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I then had to provide more personal information about each driver on my policy — including my gender, driving history, education level, marital status, and housing situation.
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From there, I was asked to choose my coverage options, including how much liability, uninsured motorist, and PIP coverage I wanted (if more than the state minimum). I also chose my collision and comprehensive deductibles and was asked if I wanted rental car coverage. Based on this information, Mile Auto provided me with a quote for my monthly base rate and my per-mile charge.
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Finally, to purchase coverage, you'll need to verify your vehicle’s VIN and your driver’s license number.
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Other than hitting the brick wall of limited availability, the process was quick and easy and took less than 10 minutes from start to finish.
Unfortunately, reaching a customer service agent with Mile Auto can be a bit of a struggle. The website doesn’t offer online chat, which means you either have to call customer service or send an email through the website’s contact form. According to the site, emails will receive a response within 24 hours.
The customer service phone line is staffed from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, although the site doesn’t specify the time zone.
I called at 9:30 a.m. Central time on a Wednesday to ask when Mile Auto would start providing service in Wisconsin. After navigating the phone menu, I had to wait less than a minute before a customer service representative answered. The person I talked to was friendly and helpful in explaining why service is unavailable in my home state. She explained that Mile Auto is working on getting service in Wisconsin, but she wasn’t sure how long it would be before they could write new policies in the state.
My experience with the customer service representative seems to be the norm, based on the reviews on Trustpilot. Nearly all positive reviews mention great customer service from agents and reps. Several agents seem to go above and beyond to help their Mile Auto policyholders, including the one mentioned in the review below.
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Mile Auto’s website doesn’t mention anything about its claims process, other than directing customers to call the customer service number and choose option 2. But the phone menu on the customer service line says to press 3, not 2, for claims — which differs from the information on the website.
Unfortunately, the online reviews of Mile Auto’s claims process seem overwhelmingly negative. Policyholders who’ve been through the process with the company describe it as convoluted and frustrating. The below review on Trustpilot is a great example.
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If you’re a low-mileage driver with a clean driving record who lives in one of the areas currently served by Mile Auto, this pay-per-mile insurer may be able to save you money. But Mile Auto’s limited service areas, lack of concessions for higher-than-usual mileage, and unclear claims process mean this company won’t be a good fit for everyone.
If you’re considering getting insurance through Mile Auto, here are some of the most commonly asked questions about this pay-per-mile insurer.
Yes. Mile Auto offers legitimate auto insurance policies. The company partners with a national insurance company that has been rated “Excellent” by AM Best to underwrite its policies. Specific partners vary depending on your state.
Mile Auto is a relatively new insurance company founded in 2017.
Pay-per-mile insurance can potentially save you money if you’re a low-mileage driver. According to Mile Auto’s automated phone menu introduction, drivers who drive fewer than 8,000 miles per year are most likely to save money with this company.
Mile Auto is available in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. However, the company seems to be restricting new policies in some states, so you may have trouble getting a policy from Mile Auto even if you live in one of the 11 states mentioned above.
It depends. Mile Auto’s insurance rates can be cheaper than traditional auto insurance companies for many low-mileage drivers. Policyholders pay a monthly base rate plus a per-mile rate that’s usually around $0.06 to $0.08 per mile.
As long as you don’t put a lot of miles on your vehicle, you may find that Mile Auto’s insurance is a cheaper option than many traditional insurers.
Sources
CB Insights, “Mile Auto,” Accessed January 11, 2024.
The Business Journals, “Atlanta startup Mile Auto raises more money to grow despite potential recession, CEO says,” Accessed January 16, 2024.
Better Business Bureau, “Mile Auto,” Accessed January 16, 2024.
Trustpilot, “Mile Auto,” Accessed January 16, 2024.
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Emily Guy Birken is a former educator, lifelong money nerd, and a Plutus Award-winning freelance writer who specializes in the scientific research behind irrational money behaviors. Her work has appeared on The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Kiplinger’s, MSN Money, and The Washington Post, and she’s been writing for Compare.com since 2023. Her background in education allows her to help people relate to and understand complex financial topics.
She’s the author of several books, including The 5 Years Before You Retire, End Financial Stress Now, and the brand-new book, Stacked: Your Super Serious Guide to Modern Money Management, written with Joe Saul-Sehy.
Nick Versaw leads Compare.com's editorial department, where he and his team specialize in crafting helpful, easy-to-understand content about car insurance and other related topics. With nearly a decade of experience writing and editing insurance and personal finance articles, his work has helped readers discover substantial savings on necessary expenses, including insurance, transportation, health care, and more. As an award-winning writer, Nick has seen his work published in countless renowned publications, such as the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and U.S. News & World Report. He graduated with Latin honors from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in Digital Journalism.
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