Insurance apps can save drivers money

Ever get the feeling you’re being followed? No, it’s not the police. No, it’s not anyone you owe money to. It’s not your stalker either. It’s your car insurance company. They’re not following you in person. It’s more of, well, electronically. Many insurance companies now have an app you can download to monitor your driving ability. They’re giving you a chance to lower your annual premiums just by how you’re driving.

Many of the insurance companies who are doing this are using telematics to monitor just how well you’re driving. If the signs show you’re driving smoothly in low-risk situations, such as never texting and driving, obeying the speed limit, take corners smoothly, they can give you a sizable discount in your insurance rates. They can get all this information from the app you download onto your smartphone. But how do they really know it was you? Telematics are used to give the insurance company the information they need.

Telematics is a method of monitoring your vehicle’s movement by using GPS and onboard diagnostics to record movements on a computerized map. Telematics for vehicles at one time referred to plug-in or pre-installed devices. After the risk of not having the plug-in devices not returned to the insurance company, causing a financial loss, it’s now available through mobile applications.

These apps utilize a driver’s smartphone, and built-in features such as the time of day and GPS, to measure an assortment of driving tendencies. The insurance app will send the driver data to the insurance company and they use that data to assess the risk tendencies of a specific driver over time. If the driver shows less risks, the insurance company can reward the safer drivers with discounts on their insurance.

Many companies tend to use other apps similar, such GPS apps and devices to monitor the driver’s tendencies while driving a company vehicle, so why not have the insurance monitor the same things? I’ve used apps and devices that measure my average speed, how I accelerate, how smooth I make my turns and how smooth I brake. Some people decide they did not want their information to be accessible to an outside source, so I just let them know they wouldn’t want to add that app to their phone. The app is not for everyone. Ask your insurance company if they have an available app.

Deciding if you want something like this is an individual decision. Determine if the app can only monitor when you’re driving and not a passenger. If you’re a passenger and the driver drivers riskier than you, you wouldn’t want it to affect your rate, right? Ask questions and go from there. Ask if it’s available, how it determines if you’re the driver or passenger, how much it can save you, will it take any personal information stored in your phone, plus anything else you need to know. Most of these apps can determine if you’re in the driver seat. And the best part is you can leave your phone alone as it does it’s thing.

If it can show you the data of how your drive was, go for it. It may even be incentive to drive a little smoother as it can show your progress. Thus, a new habit being created. Checking the data week after week can help keep you motivated to keep driving smoothly. The goal of these apps is to lead drivers into being a more responsible, smooth driver and change the weaker driving habits they once may have had. All in the process of saving money at the same time.