Device to track speed of the vehicle, braking behaviours and mileage

By
Published:

25A high-tech gadget that can track your driving can bring you a lot of discounts on your car insurance policy. Snapshot discount program has been unveiled by Progressive Insurance in Michigan. This program comprises of installation of a monitoring device on your vehicle to record how fast, how much you drive, and your general driving patterns. Drivers can avail up to 30% discount depending on how some of these factors shape up.

A lot of customers have already accepted this scheme, and seemed to have saved quite a bit. The device looks like a small garage door opener, which connects to a car’s computer diagnostic port. It calculates the mileage, and also the driving behavior depending on how much braking is being done by the driver. The device doesn’t show where a particular customer is driving to or the driving conditions, which could impact the amount of braking as well. Speed limits or weather cannot be detected from the global positioning device, and hence the device cannot really track that bit of information.

Another problem with the device is that, since there is no GPS one cannot find out how fast the person is driving with respect to the speed limit posted on the road. According to a statement from Progressive more than 100,000 customers have signed up for this new device to be installed in their vehicle. The device is sent to the car drivers by the company who connects it to the car and then gets an initial discount after 30 days of monitoring. The final discount is fixed after about 6 months, when the policy will come up for renewal.

This seems to be an extension of many such programs that insurers are offering to the customers, rewarding them on the basis of their driving skills as well as their habit. Many customers are being offered the pay as you drive program as well, which is an offshoot. Many similar programs are being offered by State Farm and GMAC, where insurance rates are computed based on the recorded mileage using OnStar GPS devices, which are installed on General Motors Co. vehicles. The benefits have proven attractive to those drivers, who are usually careful with their driving. Such low-risk drivers are usually associated with lower claims. This program is voluntary, and it depends on how drivers feel about installing the device.