State Farm "Save and Drive" issues

Wife insisted we needed to save another 20% on our car insurance, with 2 new Kias, and 2 other cars on the policy we were spending $110/month now (another raise in December). The only way to cut that down was to use their app and install their little monitoring devices. We put it on the 3 cars that don't see the track, her Seltos, my Forte GT and the Sierra. 

Now first off, I'm already angry because in 32 years of having a drivers license, I've never had a ticket (any, speeding, parking, moving violation) and the only 2 accidents I have been involved in were over 15 years ago and BOTH were me sitting in traffic getting hit by another motorist. One of which was never reported (trucking company wrote a check for the first estimate we brought them, they knew their driver was at fault). The wife's last speeding ticket was over 8 years ago now (her 2nd in 33 years of driving) and no accidents ever. We are late 40's, married, house etc with perfect driving records and (now that it apparently matters) excellent credit scores. IMO, we should ALREADY be getting this discount and I shouldn't have to "prove" to them I'm a safe and courteous driver.

Anyway.... my drive to work is all back roads. I have 7 90* turns, 3 round abouts, 2 turns over 90*, one uphill. Every drive I am nailed multiple times for "cornering speed". The first one I rec'd was in a round about that I was doing 18mph in. This is a round about that is sign posted 25, I normally enter at 30-35 and I know that the Forte can run that round about at the speed limit on cruise control (40mph) and never leave the lanes. Last night was a 90* turn that at turn in goes off camber, I was going 24mph on a curve that is safe at 40 in the rain, and it hits me again. 

Seriously, to get their good score I will have to become a literal traffic impediment and the cause of an accident. How is this "improving my driving"? 

If you don't know what it is, this is a little gps/g-meter that runs through your phone on an app (love to see what they'd do with someone with a flip phone lol) and monitors cornering speed, braking, acceleration, speed and "phone distraction". Basically if the screen on your phone lights up, it will trigger that you are using it. 

Anyone else have this issue? I bought the car BECAUSE it handles well, has good brakes and acceleration. 

I do not understand anyone who wants to let their insurance track they're every movement.  Absolutely no good can come from that.  I had usaa's version for 2 days and realized the negatives were far greater than a few bucks off insurance.  None of these are intended to be used to promote good driving.  Call me a conspiracy theorist but I truly believe they literally want to track your movements and then use that to make your rate HIGHER, not lower.  Or drop you completely if they think you're too big a liability.  

In reply to camopaint0707 :

I don't disagree with you in the least. Sadly, I do not make decisions monolithically and my other half only cares about the $20-35 per month we should save. $240-400 pays for a weekend or two. 

There has GOT to be a way to spoof the accelerometers on your phone into a nice easy 10% of actual value reading.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

I think that's an entirely different topic lol.  I don't really have issues with my insurance company, other than they spend too much money paying Gronk for commercials and not paying the dividends out more.

No way I'm putting a nanny in my vehicle.  I don't think its possible to drive around in a Miata without setting off the alarm bells in that app. 

What feels like a moderate speed in a turn to me has SUV's hitting the brakes mid turn.  

I assume it tracks though your phone.  Does turning off the phone kill the monitoring?

In reply to jharry3 :

Probably, but I'm sure you need to track more than X% of your driving in order to get the discount.

Depends on the company, but my gf just put one in her car.  The agent was adamant that it can't negatively affect your price if you're a poor driver.  At most you only get 10% off and no more

So... enjoy it getting upset?

In reply to Mr_Asa :

What company?  FYI, the agent might not increase your rates should the little gizmo say so.  But the company itself can, has, and will.  I've seen it happen.

I didn't realize these discount systems work through your phone. That's a particularly awful way to measure driving capability.

Smaller sportier cars are significantly more capable at cornering and braking.  The phone won't know the difference whether you are driving an F350 or a Miata.  The ability to corner nimbly in the smaller vehicle would trigger the set points earlier in the smaller vehicle.

Ive always hated these things. Now I know why. 

I think I would find another insurance company.

I wonder if it works like for cable/phone/Sirius etc where if you claim you're going to cancel they send you to their "retention" group and give you a discount to keep you paying them.......forever!

I think about how much I've spent in car insurance over the years and I've had one claim in about 60 years of driving.......one. It came to about $8K and it also wasn't my fault. The dealership left the sunroof open on my car while it was on their lot for service and we had a torrential T-storm - 3-4" of rain in the floorboards where the computers are ruined them and they totaled the car.

We also have State Farm and I'm seriously looking for another company as the money they want now is getting out of hand - however I am concerned that my age might work against me......no effing way I'm putting one of those devices in my cars. It's bad enough the car's CPU can track all my speeds and such.......

In reply to MiniDave :

Already went that route. Actually both routes. No insurance for us is any cheaper, most are much more expensive (one quote was $310/month!). I already did the "look man, I'm not causing accidents, We are the ideal candidate etc" and the agent gave us half the discount. Now that we have two new Kias they won't keep that up unless we do this. 

Young lady who works at my State Farm's office suggested I look into this to track my driving and save money.  I kindly decline and she says her husband won't put it in his car either.  

Shoot - everyone does 80mph on I80 across the south Chicago area to keep up with traffic.  That would get daily recorded?

Join AARP if you haven't already and then get a quote from The Hartford. We put our 2 cars with them and saved the equivalent of our homeowners insurance premium and then put our house with them as well. HUGE savings!

Youcan join AARP at the young age of 50.

In reply to lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) :

Not quite old enough for AARP... still in our 40's

Well, some savings to look forward to.........

Datsun240ZGuy said:

Young lady who works at my State Farm's office suggested I look into this to track my driving and save money.  I kindly decline and she says her husband won't put it in his car either.  

Shoot - everyone does 80mph on I80 across the south Chicago area to keep up with traffic.  That would get daily recorded?

anything 9mph and over the speed limit is tracked. I need to set up something to check and see what actual g-loads we are creating for this to trigger, but my butt dyno from track tells me 0.2-0.3g at most. I am driving like my coffee cup is full with no lid. 

I love mine from State Farm.  Even if I drive like Mario Andretti, it still saves money.  They're not sitting in the office critiquing my driving, it's some computer operated by a third party which could be in Norway for all I know.

The law clearly prohibits them from dinging you for recorded driving habits.  The benefit to them is that X% of drivers with a nanny will adjust their driving to try and get that score which means they statistically have to pay out less in claims.  They don't care about your driving.

You fell for it.  You are exactly the person they want because you care about the score.  My score is something like 60%, mostly cornering and braking... not because I corner or brake hard, but because I'm in a van which has more body roll than the dead hooker in my trunk and there is a steep hill with a stop sign at the end of my street.

Just put it in your car, drive like normal, and enjoy the savings.  If you're worried about tracking devices, burn the computer you typed this post on, unplug your TV, and bury your phone in concrete.  You're being tracked EVERYWHERE.  The least of my worries is a bluetooth dot on my dash.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Problem is their limits actually are making these drivers more of a risk and impeding traffic. Seriously... 18mph. Semi's are going around this at 30. What happens when you're going around it at their "safe speed" of 17mph and someone enters behind you at 40 and doesn't realize theres a speed difference? They either run into you or jam on the brakes sliding off, or causing someone else to jam the brakes and cause another rear end collision. I guess if their point was to make more issues to raise rates this will work. 

What you want is a box in a steadycam mount to keep your phone in. berkeleyem, let them record you and see zero movement beyond the GPS.

Although I pay $1100/year for two vehicles, I certainly wouldn't bitch about doubling the number of vehicles for only slightly more. Especially newer vehicles, the excursion is old enough to drink and the civic is turning 12 this year.

No paid in full discount available? Supposedly that's good for a few bucks a cycle for me through AAA. I've heard enough horror stories about state farm, and their local agents in particular, that they'll never be on my radar for insurance coverage, so I don't know what all they offer. 

They are barred by law from using the data to increase rates.  They are also barred by law to generate road hazards.  Their app had to be approved by legal experts and governing bodies.  If their program caused accidents, it would hurt their pockets and they would stop the program.  I don't have their numbers, but it must be a financial benefit to them, therefore it must reduce accidents.

Put it this way... their research was likely pretty intense, and if it caused accidents they would be buried in lawsuits.

I too have been declining the SF app. Perhaps I should consider it, but I track my daily. Wonder how low I can get that score?

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

How does the body roll impact the readings on the phone?  I'm assuming the phone measures g-force using its own accelerometer.

In reply to SV reX :

Didn't these systems initially use an OBD2 dongle? Do they still?

I feel like progressive did when they started it, but I haven't seen ads or commercials in a long enough time to not know anymore.