WillItSurvive
Insurance technology companies · subsidiary of Aviva plc (via Direct Line Group acquisition completed 1 July 2025; Direct Line acquired By Miles in April 2023) · United Kingdom

By Miles

bymiles.co.uk ↗

UK pay-per-mile car insurance startup, now being wound down by owner Aviva.

Little protection left
Assessed 23 July 2026 · Evidence as of 23 July 2026
Not much stands between this business and its pressures.
On the recordSince 23 July 2026 · Checkable from around January 2027 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Remaining By Miles annual policies lapse after wind-down
The call

By Miles isn't fighting a rival, it's being switched off by the insurer that bought it, with policies running down into 2027.

By Miles sold insurance based on how much and how safely you drove, using a phone app to track your habits and give you a personalized quote. It was bought by Direct Line in 2023, then Direct Line itself was bought by Aviva in 2025, and Aviva decided to close By Miles completely and fold its customers into Aviva's and Direct Line's main brands. The company stopped taking new customers in November 2025 and will finish winding down by January 2027, so there is no long-term business left to join. The only question that matters is whether your actual job is managing the shutdown for six months, or whether you would really be moving to work on telematics and AI products inside Aviva or Direct Line, which are different companies with their own prospects.

Why
01
AI pressure: None apparent. This isn't an AI story: the company is being closed by its own parent, not out-innovated by an AI product. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.
02
Bigger players: Aviva plc (via Direct Line Group). Aviva bought Direct Line, which owned By Miles, and decided to retire the By Miles brand into Aviva/Direct Line/Churchill. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. None left. There is no independent company to protect, only a run-off book expiring by January 2027.
What would change this call
By Miles app and website fully shut down after January 2027 renewal cutoff. Confirms brand is fully retired, not paused or revived.
Aviva reassigns By Miles's ~46 staff to group telematics/AI teams or lays them off by mid-2026. Shows whether any By Miles technology or team survives inside Aviva.
Aviva launches or rebrands a telematics product under Direct Line/Churchill/LittleBox-style naming in 2026. Confirms By Miles's mileage-based tech was absorbed rather than discarded.
Key numbers
  • New quotes stopped 26 Nov 2025 (2025-12-03)
  • Headcount fell from 73 to 46, down 37% YoY (2026-06-21)
  • Aviva paid £3.7bn for Direct Line Group (2025-08-01)
Named risks
  • By Miles brand and customer book fully expiring by roughly January 2027. Severity: high
  • No independent entity remains for employees, investors, or partners to engage with. Severity: high
  • Headcount fell 37% year-over-year to 46 by June 2026, signaling accelerating attrition. Severity: medium
  • Group-wide Aviva/Direct Line integration targets ~2,300 job cuts, adding further risk to remaining roles. Severity: medium
Rivals, as read in July 2026
RivalDirectionEvidence
Aviva plclosing toAviva, By Miles's owner, wound down the brand, stopping new quotes 26 Nov 2025
Admiral (LittleBox)losing toRanked #1 UK telematics insurer in March 2026 comparison while By Miles exited market
Zego (Sense)gaining onZego claims 750k unique drivers as of June 2026 (vendor-claimed) as By Miles winds down
Direct Line (DrivePlus)gaining onParent group folded telematics into mainstream DrivePlus rather than keep By Miles standalone
Hastings (SmartMiles)contestingListed alongside By Miles as UK telematics insurer options as of March 2026
Questions people ask
Is By Miles still selling car insurance in 2026?
No. By Miles stopped offering quotes to new customers on 26 November 2025 and stopped renewal quotes on 6 January 2026, per a Coverager report published 3 December 2025. It is in active wind-down under owner Aviva, with existing policies running off until they lapse.
Who owns By Miles?
Direct Line Group acquired By Miles in April 2023. Aviva plc then completed its £3.7bn cash-and-share acquisition of Direct Line Group on 1 July 2025, making Aviva the ultimate owner that decided in late 2025 to retire the By Miles brand.
Could AI replace By Miles?
Its core differentiator, mileage-based pricing, has already been absorbed into incumbents' telematics stacks (Admiral LittleBox, Zego, Direct Line DrivePlus). Aviva's March 2026 annual report describes group AI tools for claims summarisation and fraud detection now covering the function By Miles once performed.
Who is By Miles's biggest competitor?
Zego's Sense product and Admiral's LittleBox are the closest UK telematics rivals; a March 2026 comparison ranked Admiral LittleBox #1 for telematics insurance while By Miles was mid wind-down, having stopped new quotes on 26 November 2025.
Is By Miles profitable?
No independent profitability figures have been disclosed since Direct Line's April 2023 acquisition folded its financials into group accounts. At acquisition it wrote £26 million in gross written premium across ~50,000 customers; it is now being wound down, not scaled toward profit.
When will By Miles fully shut down?
By Miles stopped renewal quotes on 6 January 2026 per Coverager (3 December 2025 report); since policies are annual, the remaining customer book is expected to fully lapse and the brand effectively disappear by around January 2027.
Timeline
  • 2026-01-06By Miles stops accepting renewal quotes
  • 2025-11-26By Miles stops accepting new customer quotes
  • 2025-07-01Aviva completes £3.7bn acquisition of Direct Line Group
  • 2023-04Direct Line Group acquires By Miles
  • 2021By Miles launches B2B white-label platform By Bits
  • 2020-05By Miles raises £15M Series B led by CommerzVentures
  • 2019-02By Miles raises £5M Series A led by Octopus Ventures
  • 2016By Miles founded (public launch 2018)
Revision history
23 July 2026
First assessed. Little protection left. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
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Sources