Should You Install a Car Insurance Tracking Device to Save Money?

Thanks for SHARING!

I recently decided to try a car insurance tracking device, lured by State Farm’s promise of saving money on premiums.

Perhaps you’ve received a similar enticement from your insurance company and wondered if it’s creepy to be followed, or financially prudent. This is an honest recap of my experience, along with some questions for you to consider. This is not a sponsored post, and I have no financial connection to State Farm.

Money versus Privacy

pretty mountain drive

The letter I received from State Farm was tempting. Enable the company’s Drive Safe and Safe app, and I could potentially “save up to 50%” on my premium rates. I’m always trying to whittle down our monthly bills, so I was intrigued.

To make the system work, State Farm provides a little beacon that goes in your car, connects to your Bluetooth and tracks all of your driving movements. It also requires an app to be installed on your phone, which needs Location Services enabled while you’re driving. That’s the part that made me feel queasy.

The beacon package sat on my kitchen counter unopened for a month because I felt so weird about giving up my privacy. I finally called my agent’s assistant to discuss my hesitation. “I completely understand, and I resisted for two years before I finally decided to try it,” she said. “But if you have a smartphone it’s tracking you anyway, so you might as well get some financial benefit.” She had a point.

So I set aside my discomfort and enabled the app, telling myself I’d try a six-month experiment to see if it was worth it. Once I got past that hard first step, I found the data shared by the app kind of interesting. You can log in after any drive and see immediate feedback. The app keeps a two week running score, and I’m currently a low “B” driver at 84 percent.

Driving score

The State Farm app assigns a Trip Score for each drive, evaluating these attributes:

  • Acceleration
  • Braking
  • Cornering
  • Speeding
  • Phone Use

Here’s a screenshot of the data for one of my recent drives, where I was a little loose with acceleration, braking and speeding:

State Farm Trip Score

The app also shows a little map of exactly where you drove. I don’t love giving up my privacy, but then again, what dirt does State Farm really get on me?

I guess I’m at the stage of life where I don’t have too many secrets, but let’s make one thing perfectly clear: 

WILD STUFF COULD STILL HAPPEN.

Sometimes when I’m weary of sharing, I park in the center of the lot and leave my phone in the car. The app is then left to wonder, Is she buying ingredients to make Kamikaze Jello shots? Or Metamucil? Is she picking up a pair of orthotic insoles at Walgreen’s? Or a baggie of Colorado herbs at Karmaceuticals?

I think it’s good to maintain a little mystery in our relationship.

Tailgaters and Haters

Amish woman in buggy
How my driving speed felt to the car behind me

Are you willing to suffer humiliation and ridicule on the road?

The State Farm app currently marks down your score for driving 8 MPH or more over the posted speed limit. To avoid losing a star, you’ll sometimes have to drive slower than the traffic around you.

We live near a long road with just one lane in each direction and a 30 MPH speed limit that pretty much everyone ignores. Last week I had an SUV bearing down hard on my fanny as I drove the maximum allowable speed of 37 MPH. The young gentleman following me went certifiably bonkers. He actually leaned on his horn and followed me honking nonstop for a mile. I put my head down and persevered at a steady 37 until I could pull over, and he gave me a special salute as he raced by.

“It hasn’t always been like this!” I shouted at his dust. “I’ll have you know that when I was in my early 20s, I lost my drivers’ license for too many speeding tickets!”

I shook off the embarrassment, adjusted my bonnet, and motored on.

Gentle On My Mind

pretty drive

I’ve noticed a surprising benefit of having the app. Driving a little slower and less aggressively has actually made the experience more pleasant and less stressful (except when I’m being tailed by a honker).

When I first started using the app, I kept getting marked down for my turns. I finally figured out that the app likes wide, gentle turns instead of fast, sharp turns.

Now my turns are so smooth you could perform eye surgery on a cat while I’m driving, and your hand would only slip when we hit potholes.

Sudden acceleration is another no-no, although the maneuver often can’t be avoided in Denver traffic when some drivers would rather see you crash into a concrete barrier than let you squeeze into their lane.

“Don’t signal first,” my daughter suggested as I recently struggled to merge on I-25.

“But I’m trying to be civil,” I protested.

“That’s the problem.”

I rapidly accelerated and quickly pulled in the lane before the driver behind me had a chance to slam her foot to the gas pedal. Boom, done.

The downside is that the State Farm app took away a star for my fast merge maneuver. If you’re a Pleaser like me, this scenario creates a painful dilemma.

Do you practice good manners and keep the app happy? Or be bold, lose a star, but avoid a lifetime of waiting in the merge lane? These are not easy decisions to make.

Is It Worth the Trade-Off?

If my current driving pattern and discount holds, the app will save me $111.92 per year in premiums. Is it worth 110 bucks to be tracked? I’m still not sure.

Some say that it’s only a matter of time before these devices are required in every car, but for now most usage-based auto insurance programs are opt-in.

Insurers say trackers lead to safer driving, which will ultimately reduce the number of accidents and deaths on the roads. Location tracking can also be used to settle accident disputes and find stolen cars.

What Do You Think?

How do you feel about this trend in auto insurance? Does the idea of being tracked give you the willies? Are you currently using a tracking device? Has it saved you money on your premiums? I’d love to hear what you think in the Comments section of this post.

If you use Pinterest to save and share ideas, here’s a handy pin: 

car insurance tracking

Happy trails,

Eliza Cross's signature

Grateful thanks to Nrico for the liquor store image, Don Graham for the mountain road photo, Nicolas Tonelli for the Amish buggy photo that was heavily PhotoShopped, and Maggie Jumps for the curving road photo.

12 thoughts on “Should You Install a Car Insurance Tracking Device to Save Money?”

  1. Too funny. I have the app as well and I have noticed I am trying to keep it happy as well. I only have a 67% score because I take off to fast after stoplights.

    Reply
  2. They may also check your driving conditions whether you drive in rainy days or at night. They may consider those scenarios risk factors but many drivers can’t avoid when they work on night shifts.

    Reply
  3. I was not informed of this and when they came I threw them out. I am 76 and widowed and my 48 year old son are on the policy. Started in March got a bill today for 63$ for both vehicles because we are not using it. I got a brand new car the week of Christmas and now have 1100 miles on it , so I won’t hit the high mileage mark. I feel I have done fine all these years and I am too old to have “a watcher”. Tomorrow I plan to find a new insurance company. I usually switch every 5 or 6 years, as I have never had a discount less then the previous years for staying loyal. Homeowners goes with auto.

    Reply
  4. My husband has had one of these trackers for years and generally liked it until this last year. Because of a chronic condition, he is in a wheel chair and now drives a modified truck with hand controls. The truck has both a city and a highway mode. These separate modes control your acceleration speed. He normally gets good scores, but recently been cited for fast take offs (highway mode of acceleration or when one switches modes). Based on his experience, I would never install one of these things. There are too many situations out there that these nanny trackers do not consider, and this is over and above the fact that the whole situation is creepy. I do not leave my phone on anymore and sometimes even leave it at home since I don’t like being tracked. Why should I want an insurance company to track me just to save a few hundred dollars a year?

    Reply
    • Elizabeth, thank you so much for sharing your experience! These trackers definitely have a lot of trade-offs, and the loss of privacy may not be worth the cost savings. I appreciate your perspective. ~Eliza

      Reply
  5. When I first started my policy with state farm my bill was $124 a mth which I had already made 2 payments. Today I get my bill and it’s for $181 all because I didn’t install the beacon that I received which I never asked for. If these agents would explain to their customers that “oh if you don’t install the beacon we will charge you an extra $57.” My agent is a joke! All my info was incorrect, he’s an hr from where I live so I can’t even go pay my bill locally that right there is ridiculous!!! Shouldn’t yall be one company no matter where you are located! I am canceling my policy all because not ONE AGENT told me about this beacon and charges and they saw my account and could of told me before charging me! I will make sure my friends and family know all about how I was taken advantage of!

    Reply
    • This whole situation must feel so frustrating. Thank you for sharing your story, and I hope you find a better insurance agent who provides the good service and transparency you deserve. ~Eliza

      Reply
  6. This year State Farm suddenly started pressuring me into this and because my wife had been told an over exaggerated version of the potential savings, she was urging me to do it as well. Because State Farm acts like it’s this special promotion they’re offering for a limited time, I was stressing about getting it set up. The first time I tried, my car wouldn’t show up in the system. Ever since, it’s been a back and forth with State Farm about how long my window of time is to do it, and the reason why I still haven’t done it lol. As I took off on a flight today knowing that tomorrow was the “last day” to activate it, it occurred to me that I had little idea what it was really going to be doing. After reading this, there’s a little weight off my shoulders as that beacon will be entering the trash can as soon as I get home. HELL no am I letting State Farm track my location!!! It is not the same as simply having a smart phone. The difference is, you have the ability to turn off location services for anything. Am I convinced that this stops the phone from tracking you? Of course not. But at least we’re not being tracked by our insurance companies who will search for any reason not to help us out or save a buck. If you only saved $100 in a year with those driving habits (it appears you don’t use your phone in the car at all, are super careful about your speed, and don’t get upset when someone behind you going over the speed limit flips you off as you let them pass… I’m actually offended for you that you only got a B for those habits! I guess the only person getting an A+ is Grandma who happens to be the slowest, yet most alert, careful driver on the road), this means that I will surely save $0 lol! I wonder if they track how many hands you have on the steering wheel too? Smh. After I’ve been treated by State Farm for being honest, I will be exercising my right to remain silent.

    Reply
    • Sam, thank you for sharing your experience and I can totally relate to the conundrum these tracking devices present. Sounds like you made a great decision to retain your privacy. ~ Eliza

      Reply
  7. “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
    Ben Franklin-

    “it’s creepy af”
    Me-

    That’s exactly how I feel about the whole situation.
    This is where we are in our society folks.
    Quickly hurdling into socialism/communism with little things like this EVERYDAY.

    How do you boil a frog for dinner without him knowing he’s being cooked?
    You turn up the temperature 1 degree at a time.

    Think I’m way off base? Take a look at society from a liberties standpoint at a 40 year spread…

    I won’t be doing this and will find a way to get my discount AND my privacy. All the while keeping my fat mouth shut, letting nobody know so I can reap the benefits without wilfully allowing the creepy & slimy Insurance agency in on how.

    *gives proverbial middle finger”

    Reply

Leave a Comment

Comment moderation is enabled. Your comment may take some time to appear.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.