Just finished the trial for Progressive’s Snapshot discount program

[tjcomedy]

I didn’t find a ton of information online about it beforehand so I figured I’d share my experience. Don’t do it. Unless you fit a very specific demographic, it’s not worth the stress.
Basically, Progressive monitors your driving for up to 6 months and gives you a discount if you earn an A or B “grade.” I opted for the dashboard plugin rather than the phone app, which apparently is more lenient. The device beeps if you brake too hard and also monitors fast accelerations, time spent driving, and risky driving hours. Over the course of ~4 months, I averaged 0.05 hard brakes per week, had 1 fast acceleration, and 0 minutes of late night driving. I drove around 20-50 miles a week with one 8 hour road trip thrown in.
I saved $27 on my 6 month policy. That was with a B grade. I’m pretty sure earning an A would require perfect braking and driving

 

[gd4l]

@tjcomedy With a new teenage driver, I'm looking for every break I can get. My own State Farm agent advised me against using theirs. She said it's just not quite ready and people are having trouble getting dinged for using their GPS or even being a passenger.

 

[fruitfly]

@gd4l State Farm uses an accelerometer. It can only measure acceleration and braking and cornering. Although it does give you information on phone use and Roads taken. But the discount only uses the data from the accelerometer on the vehicle itself. It doesn't use your speedometer anymore.

 

[cindie]

@gd4l This gives me pause about my current SF agent - they were heavily pushing it and really surprised I said no.

 

[tjbenz]

@gd4l I saved ~$100 on my 6 month premium on my 2 vehicles last period using State Farm's drive safe and save. I literally set it and forget it. Sure the app will come up if I am traveling in another vehicle but once it doesn't see the sensor it doesn't register the trip.

I've had it for about 2 years now and lowest discount I saw was $20 for 6 months and for the 10 minutes it took me to setup, I like the return on investment even at $20.

It is over sensitive too, I get dinged for hard turns, braking, accelerating in a vehicle that is not capable of taking hard turns, braking quickly, and goes 0-60 at the speed of smell.

 

[jandi]

@tjbenz It is very sensitive. I brake smoothly when I get a yellow light, and I get dinged. Not happy about choosing the Snapshot as their system for tracking is very arbitrary.

 

[anonymous92]

@tjcomedy Agent here and I'm my own agent with Progressive. I switched to Progressive last Oct and I only sell the Snapshot if someone specifically requests it. I decided I'd try it. It's a fucking joke I'm at a B+ with .05 fast accelerations which is a joke in of itself since I drive a hybrid and fast acceleration isn't happening. .06 hard brakes per week - the hard break is so sensitive that I also agree that it's a danger. I'm just shy of 100 miles per week and 0 late night driving. I won't be recommending it anytime soon. My renewal should be posting any day now so I'm sure my $30 off is coming.

I had the Allstate phone app and aside from constantly running it worked well.

 

[johncanyon]

@anonymous92 I run red lights to avoid hard braking.

 

[anonymous92]

@johncanyon How and why did you find this from 3 years ago?

 

[rely_942]

@anonymous92 Same reason I'm here now. All my Google searches include the word reddit at the end so may see any relevant results. The search "5 star progressive snapshot reddit" brought me here

 

[britdanielle92]

@rely_942 Hello There!

Just joining the chain of "Hey my insurance has said FU your rates are increasing, safe driver with no claims". Came here trying to decide if I should even bother considering and NOPE

I'm not a stupid driver, but my vehicle has a turbo and a nice amount of low end torque. Going from a N/A means I have been caught offguard a few times

 

[holdonwithfaith]

@anonymous92 He found it because he wanted to know why his 3 star rating isn't improving after 1 straight month of zero flags. In October and November I had 2 fast accelerations and 2 hard brakes. Perfect December and still 3 stars. I think the fast accelerations hit you harder than a hard brake.

 

[atlascloud]

@anonymous92 I found this thread by just trying to research Progressive Snapshot. I’m guessing you still don’t recommend it?

 

[anonymous92]

@atlascloud Unless something has changed in the last 2 years I would say no. You have to wait 6 months to even get a discount.

 

[proverb_31]

@anonymous92 Im so confused on all of this cause i signed up for it on my first policy and i only had to drive so many miles and i didnt do all that great but still got a cheaper rate. I switched policies and signed up for it again and got a cheaper rate but its still going this time. Each time ive used my phone to record it. I have a 5 star rating and nothing i do changes it.

 

[techhero2]

@anonymous92 What was your discount?

 

[anonymous92]

@techhero2 It’s kind of moot since it was 3 years ago. But it was either the same as the sign up discount or slightly less since I’m not with progressive anymore.

 

[johnnyhudson]

@tjcomedy My husband has it and I have NO idea why the agent even recommended it to us. We live in a densely populated suburb, drive in stop and go traffic on questionable side roads, and my husband commutes home at 2am.

It also doesn't have a dash cam, which in my opinion defeats the purpose. What Progressive considers a "hard brake" is often necessary - especially in stop and go traffic! I had an 18 wheeler run a red light on a side street when I was in a 50 mph zone- lemme tell ya. I was standing on my brakes and I'm pretty sure my rear tires left the ground. But had I not been paying attention, we would have crashed. That snapshot didn't care, and screamed at us hard. Eff you, Snapshot. Next time I'll hit the bastard.

 

[mahhko]

@johnnyhudson The problem with the device is that it doesn't take context into account at all. There are situations in which hard braking is necessary, but it has no way of seeing those. There are also situations in which no other drivers are around, so breaking late is harmless. It doesn't see that, either. It's a primitive, very flawed device with oversensitive settings. It simply is incapable of measuring whether you are actually driving safely. And at the end of the day, isn't that supposed to be its purpose? I think Progressive uses it as a way to entice you to sign up with them for the initial discount, then they end up overpenalizing you and sending you a higher bill. It seems almost like a form of bait and switch.

 

[faith11238206]

@mahhko I know this is 2 years old but, well, it was at the top of my Google search about this topic so I'll chime in if anyone else reads this thread.

It doesn't care if you're a safe driver, it cares if you're a hazard to insure. If you have frequent instances of NECESSARY hard braking, it signals to Progressive that you live in a more dangerous area, which means they'll still potentially have to pay up whether you're at fault or someone else is. They pretend it's about safe driving but really they dgaf. That's why they don't care what the reason is behind it.

Discounting the low risk drivers ensures their continued business and free money. Raising the rates of high risk drivers deters them from using Progressive so the company doesn't pay out. It's a racket :/