By Miles

By Miles are a hyper-personalised auto insurance for low mileage drivers. It has insured around 39m miles.

By Mile’s Miles Tracker hardware keeps track of the miles driven, and charge each customer accordingly. The venture also offers other services via its hardware and mobile app, including reminders for road tax and vehicle inspection, tracking stolen vehicles and notifying emergency services following an accident.

By Miles was authorised by the FCA as an insurance intermediary in July 2017. Their investors include Hambro Perks and InMotion Ventures, which is backed by Jaguar Land Rover.

Co-founder and CEO James Blackham is the former MD at Goldman Sachs, whilst co-founder and CTO Callum Rimmer is an ex-developer for Deutsche Bank, Orange and Goldman Sachs.

In August 2018, it was announced that By Miles had become an associate member of the Association of British Insurers (ABI). With the membership, the company will have unfettered access industry insight, updates, thought leadership, networking opportunities and reduced rates for ABI events.

Taking a customer-centric approach, the startup has already attracted thousands of users who have collectively driven over a million miles since their July 2018 launch. In addition, the company has a 9.7/10 rating on Trustpilot and is the first insurance provider in 30 years to be awarded a Plain English award, an award it won for its jargon-free policy handbook.

In early January 2020 the company was authorised by the FCA as a Account Information and Payment Initiation Service Provider (Open Banking), claiming to be the first insurtech to have achieved such a feat. The company will begin to roll out its payment services in H1 2020.

By Miles launched a new product to address London's Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which charges drivers of all but the cleanest vehicles to drive in certain areas of the city, in February 2020. By Miles hopes to help their customers avoid unexpected charges by using their telematics device to deliver an in-app notification that a ULEZ payment will be due.

In April 2020 it was revealed By Miles was launching a pay-per-mile insurance for Teslas in the UK. The coverage is designed specifically for electric vehicles, covering charging cables and other electric car accessories.

In May 2020 By Miles raised £15m in Series B funding, in a round led by Commerz Ventures. The company stated it had seen an uptake in interest following global pandemic Covid-19 forcing people into lock-down, with By Miles seeing its best sales week since launch in April.

The surge in sales continued into the year, and by July By Miles reported a 75% surge in sales since January 2020, citing Covid-19 bringing in new interest.

In June 2021 it was revealed that American automaker Ford is set to team up with By Miles to launch a new product later this year. The new pay-as-you-drive proposition aims to save drivers money on their premium, and will leverage Ford's connected vehicle data - no additional device required.

In 2021 WNS Assistance partnered with By Miles to manage claims for a connected car insurance policy, leveraging real-time vehicle data. The new solution will not only accelerate the claims process, but also help reduce fraud and exaggerated claims.

In 2022 the company also revealed it has now insured over 250m miles in the UK, and has over 90 employees. It also plans to enter more EU territories by the end of 2023.

April 2023 saw the Direct Line Group acquiring the company.  By Miles has sold over 100k policies since launching and it currently has 50k customers, writing £26m of gross written premium.  With this latest acquisition, Direct Line is further advancing its strategy of "creating easy, digital-first journeys for customers to find the right motor insurance cover."