I just got my auto insurance renewal. The premium is higher than I expected. The agent's office says I can get a discount by signing up for their program in which I am sent a device that goes on my windshield that they can use to monitor my driving, and that the discount might be as much as 30%. I don't drive very much, and my wife thinks my driving is safe, so I'd probably score well. But I'm not thrilled by the idea of being watched like this. Have any of you been part of this kind of program? Am I being overly paranoid? (Remember the old saying: "Even paranoids have enemies!" )
OT: "Safe Driver" program by State Farm
- Thread starter retired711
- Start date
I have not heard of anything like this before. I guess my reservation would be that if you don’t drive too much, say some ahole cuts you off and you need to stop short or take evasive action, how much will that count against you within your small sample size of driving? Any actuaries on the board?
This sort of thing has been around for a while. To this point, the monitoring device has been a little box that plugs into your OBD-II connector.
I wouldn't do it, but that's just me. I certainly wouldn't score well on speed limits.
I wouldn't do it, but that's just me. I certainly wouldn't score well on speed limits.
A quick Google on the State Farm program shows that they score based on "Acceleration, speed, braking and cornering".
Pass.
I know my insurance has offered this, but I refuse to be monitored or tracked by anything. It's bad enough with a cell phone, I'm not going to voluntarily add to that.
Didn’t realize this was around for a while - probably because I have never been offered this. That said there is no way I would voluntarily do this. I would need to learn more about how you are evaluated. Given where I live and the “quality” of drivers in my area, I would need to know more about how that impacts my score.
Have everyone in family take a defensive driving class. They are typically $20 each. Send certifications to insurance. They last 3 years and pay for itself right away. In addition, if you have kids and they drive a particular car you can put exclusions on vehicles. This saves you decent money as well.
I agree with Diddy. I would not trust big brother.....
I agree with Diddy. I would not trust big brother.....
Last edited:
My daughter had similar insurance from Progressive. She drives like an old lady. I call her right lane Jane and she could never get her score low enough to really make a big difference in her premium. If you drive like a normal person you have no shot.
Hard pass, lol. I would like to be in the room, though, when the insurance team reviews @mildone's court ordered driving monitoring results...
Sooner or later, the insurance companies will all force this on everyone. At that point, the jig will be up.
Hopefully not for a while yet. I’m having way too much fun.
I always thought those safe driver classes were best to hold back and take after you got tickets and some points?
I took one when I was a ticket away from mandatory license revocation. Got rid of a few points to take me off the hot seat.
Some others in the class were doing it proactively for insurance drop – not how I'd spend a Saturday, but money's money.
My wife and I both have had State Farm for over 47 years. We got it through her uncle who owned a State Farm office across the street from The Armory in Jersey City. I would never put one of those devices in either of our cars. Not sure how they would like the fact that orange means "speedup" to me.
Many, if not all, insurance companies have some form of this. Many use an app on your phone and they keep track of acceleration, braking, speed, time of day you travel, and also where you go. They all talk about how great it is, and yes, in some cases it can save you quite a bit.
I'm an agent and we mention it to our clients, but don't really encourage them to take it. Here's the potential savings, BUT here is what its watching, here is how it works (are you a passenger or are you driving?).
I'm an agent and we mention it to our clients, but don't really encourage them to take it. Here's the potential savings, BUT here is what its watching, here is how it works (are you a passenger or are you driving?).
Anyone ever been asked to blow into an interlock device for someone else so they could get their car started ?
Kinda like giving a stranger a friendly jumpstart
Kinda like giving a stranger a friendly jumpstart
(general feedback for the group)
We have had this feature turned 'on" for years. Both at Progressive where they give you a discount based on 6 month driving record (in advance that's adjusted up or down" plugged into your car and now Geico which qualifies you for 10% just for having it turned on. For progressive after you hit the 6 month mark to confirm your score you send the device back. Since One of the cars was in the garage 90% of the time it was a no brainer.
At Geico it is a 100% feedback scoring system (phone based) and doesn't effect your discount unless you turn it off and then you lose the 10%. It runs thru their app. All the categories you mention. You can edit your trips if your a passenger. (hint hint)
I guess being older and out here in Hunterdon county it helps but she is scored 107 and I'm a 98 (both high solid green). I take the jug handles fast with my 330i lol. It tracks days you go without hard braking, phone use, etc. to set your "record" that resets whenever you have an "event". My record is 86 and I'm currently back to 54. Speed is not a category. Braking, smoothness, distracted driving, corning. Those 4.
Getting over "Big Brother" was the initial concern but honestly I feel like I'm being watched/monitored in life these days I'll take the $200 for this one.
I did that after getting three tickets in my first year of driving, all of which were 40/45 in a 25. All I remember was the instructor writing and drawing all over the dry erase board in the room we were in, and then at the end when he went to erase it, he realized he had been using a permanent marker the entire time. The class is online now, so you can do it on your own time.
I recently used the monitoring program for Plymouth Rock, it's a lot more driver-friendly than the others. You don't plug anything into your car, you just need to have location on your phone turned on, and you can choose when it is monitoring by pausing it or just having location turned off. It bases your score I believe on speed, swerving, how long each trip is in miles and time, using your phone while driving, and time of day that you're driving. I would just pause monitoring when I was running late and knew I'd have to drive faster, or if I was driving during rush hour or late at night. You just have to record I think 50 trips in a month or something like that, and then you can uninstall the app. You get a discount just for using it I believe, and then if your score is high enough you get a bigger discount when you renew. I scored 82% which the app describes as "good," but I haven't renewed yet so I don't know if it's good enough for a further discount, but it seems impossible to consistently score over 85 per trip.
I understand people's initial reaction to these programs is to oppose it for tracking purposes, but I really don't think they are as invasive as people think, and I bet most of the people against it probably walk around with their phone's location turned on all the time anyway.
Last edited:
Are there any stories about what happens when there's an accident or claim is processed? I'm far more worried about the risk they'd say "you were speeding at the time of the accident so you're not covered" than a couple hundred dollars savings. It's insurance after all.
I have not heard about any as yet, but really the police report/investigation would show that anyway.
I was thinking that too, but at least with the Plymouth Rock one, if I knew I would be speeding I would just turn the monitoring off before driving.
Agreed with everyone saying NO. TMI. Too much a loss of privacy and then add in... since when would a corporation find a way to charge you LESS? This is a device to justify charging you MORE.
You think tickets and accidents result in higher bills.. sometimes when it was not your fault? Just wait for the one time you hit the gas pedal too fast or hard that DID NOT result in a ticket or accident but your rates rise.
I also have no idea how long they keep the data they collect or who they might share it with. With tickets and accidents there's some kind of regulation about.. what is it.. 3-5 years before you can say "no tickets or accident in last ~whatever~".. who knows how long this data will follow you.
no thanks, big brother.
You think tickets and accidents result in higher bills.. sometimes when it was not your fault? Just wait for the one time you hit the gas pedal too fast or hard that DID NOT result in a ticket or accident but your rates rise.
I also have no idea how long they keep the data they collect or who they might share it with. With tickets and accidents there's some kind of regulation about.. what is it.. 3-5 years before you can say "no tickets or accident in last ~whatever~".. who knows how long this data will follow you.
no thanks, big brother.
Also tried this with my insurance company. One time down the GSP and party is over.
Not sure what police / accident reports you've read before. I'm not talking about doing 90 in a 55. I'm saying what if you rear-end someone who jams on the breaks when you're doing 28 in a 25.
I would never willingly give additional information to anyone. Spoke to a friend that is an actuary and asked his opinion. There is very little that can be gained by the policy holder by sharing this information and way too much to lose. Everything that can be gained is already programmed into your rate. The information is not meant to help the consumer in any way.
Yeah.. it just reaks to me of every name of every new bill in DC.. assume it does the opposite of what it says it does and you'll be more correct more often.
It turns out that it is an app on the phone and that it has to be activated each time. That in itself is a deal-killer. The agent herself said that she can never remember to do it.
Thanks to all of you for your comments. It sounds like there is no good reason to do this and lots of reasons not to. Thanks again!!
Thanks to all of you for your comments. It sounds like there is no good reason to do this and lots of reasons not to. Thanks again!!
Seeing no replies stating a savings when renew . phone app or little box in car, looks like you're right in feeling there's no reason to allow insurance companies to monitor how someone with a policy with them drives.
I'm not talking about 28 in a 25. If you rear end someone in that case, its not a speed issue, its a tailgating issue, and the apps will not show that.
28 in a 25 is not "speeding" and will never be used as a cause of an accident. "Unsafe speed for the road conditions" maybe, but not 28 in a 25.
I was gonna reply with the essentially the same thing. Only way to hit someone in front when going under 30 is to be driving way too close to them or not paying attention (or both). Pretty sure virtually all rear-end collisions are primarily blamed on the driver behind as they should be.
Never understood, especially on a one-lane road filled with cars ahead, why some drivers feel compelled to ride the ass of the car in front of them. There's nowhere to go, just back off and relax and save a lot of needless wear on your brake-pads. Not leaving plenty of space ahead is a big cause of entirely avoidable accidents. Probably generates a lot of physical stress on the impatient driver as well.
I drive faster than anybody I know. And yet I go through brake pads at less than half the rate reported by other drivers of the same model car. In large part because I almost always maintain big gaps to cars ahead of me.
Speed kills. But fast or slow, there are so many other even more dangerous bad habits (tailgating and distracted driving and failure to be alert to potentially dangerous situations) that are so very easy to correct that would make everybody much safer on the road. Adopt the right habits and a little extra speed is not nearly as dangerous, at least under the right circumstances.
And you save money on brake pads.
I'm pretty sure none of these programs can result in your rates being increased. You either get a discount, which seems to be rare, or your rates don't change based on the data. Some of them give you a discount just for using it. I'll find out in a month or two if my good score with the Plymouth Rock app saves me money.
Lol. Okay, my point / concern was the data being used to refute a claim. It's a legit concern even if my example wasn't.
Similar threads
