I got my State Farm automobile renewal a few weeks ago with an 11% increase. Then State Farm sent me an e-mail offering a premium reduction of up to 30% if I sign up for their “Drive Safe & Save” program which combines a smartphone app with some kind of transponder you attach to your windshield that measures rapid acceleration and sudden stops. I got an immediate 10% reduction for signing up and I may get more savings depending on the data the app collects. State Farm said they won’t use the app to jack my premium. You’d need a chargeable accident for that.
Several years ago, I used Progressive’s “snapshot” thing, which plugs into the OBD socket and monitors for, iirc, 6 months. They did knock some bux off of my bill. At the end of the monitor period, they told me to mail the device back to them.
Do you know exactly what data it collects? I always assumed they are collecting speed as well. Are you doing 65 in a 55 kind of thing. One big problem with that, out of date data. My SUV has a heads up display that shows speed as well as the posted speed limit. Was accurate 90% of the time the first year but now is a 50/50 proposition despite getting updated maps/info. So they could be dinging you for chronic speeding when you are not speeding.
iirc, the Progressive device records G loads, from rapid acceleration and braking. The perverse incentive then, is that, rather than stopping a bit short, to obey a traffic signal, and tripping the monitor, the incentive is to cruise on through the intersection even as the light is turning red, so as to not generate a G load that would trip the device.
I don’t know. I got a 10% premium deduction just for signing up, I still haven’t taped the transponder to the windshield.
Since I make it a point to walk everywhere within a 3 mile radius of my home for the exercise, and I live in a high density suburb, I often go 2 weeks without taking the car out of the garage. State Farm may well assume that the vehicle has been abandoned. I did my 7,500 mi oil change last year, and the previous oil change was 5 years prior. I’m literally only driving 1,500 mi./year.
My reading is that the outboard devices are measuring only G load - both rapid starts and stops. They don’t have enough capacity to compare to maps, speed limits, etc. (*That could have changed.)
I have also seen that newer cars may have that capability and are selling that data to brokers who sell it to insurance companies. They can’t tell if you run a red light but can if you roll through a stop sign or jack-rabbit at the turn of a green light.
I haven’t read anywhere that the insurance company has confirmed any of this, but that’s to be expected, I guess.