How would you feel about inviting your car insurance company to ride along in the backseat with you every time you went for a drive?
Hundreds of thousands of drivers have already invited some auto insurance companies to ride along. Lured by the prospect of substantial discounts on their car insurance, these drivers are allowing the company to track their driving behavior through usage-based programs.
How can you be sure that these types of tools are actually saving you money by rewarding you for good driving? The usage-based tracking programs and tools that insurance companies use can result in major discounts for good drivers. However, the measure of what makes a good driver is subjective, and taking a look at their data shows that it might not always save you money.
When usage-based driving trackers are installed in your car, they gather data about three things; miles driven, the time of day one drives, and braking patterns. This information can show insurance companies a lot about how customers drive, but it does not necessarily measure whether or not customers are a good driver.
The first thing these tools measure is miles driven. Most insurance companies recommend that drivers drive no more than 30 miles per day. Driving more than that makes someone a greater insurance risk. After all, the more you drive, the more likely you are to get into an accident.
The second thing these tools measure are driving times - or specifically, the times of day that you are driving. Drivers who are only on the road during rush hour are considering a higher insurance risk, while drivers who do their commuting during the middle of the day in non-peak traffic hours are lower risk and likely to be rewarded for good driving.
Last, driver tracking tools measure braking patterns in order to reward drivers who have few "hard brakes." Hard brakes are when your speed decreases more than 7pmh in a second. The problem with measuring brake patterns is that most braking is determined by road conditions, not by how safe of a driver you are.
So it's not quite accurate to say that these programs reward good drivers. Rather, it rewards lower-risk drivers. Good drivers who have long commutes, live in urban areas, or whose schedules require them to drive during high-risk times won't qualify for the discount. In fact, if that describes your driving patterns, you may end up paying more for your car insurance over time if you demonstrate higher risk behavior based on the measurements of this type of tool.
Hundreds of thousands of drivers have already invited some auto insurance companies to ride along. Lured by the prospect of substantial discounts on their car insurance, these drivers are allowing the company to track their driving behavior through usage-based programs.
How can you be sure that these types of tools are actually saving you money by rewarding you for good driving? The usage-based tracking programs and tools that insurance companies use can result in major discounts for good drivers. However, the measure of what makes a good driver is subjective, and taking a look at their data shows that it might not always save you money.
When usage-based driving trackers are installed in your car, they gather data about three things; miles driven, the time of day one drives, and braking patterns. This information can show insurance companies a lot about how customers drive, but it does not necessarily measure whether or not customers are a good driver.
The first thing these tools measure is miles driven. Most insurance companies recommend that drivers drive no more than 30 miles per day. Driving more than that makes someone a greater insurance risk. After all, the more you drive, the more likely you are to get into an accident.
The second thing these tools measure are driving times - or specifically, the times of day that you are driving. Drivers who are only on the road during rush hour are considering a higher insurance risk, while drivers who do their commuting during the middle of the day in non-peak traffic hours are lower risk and likely to be rewarded for good driving.
Last, driver tracking tools measure braking patterns in order to reward drivers who have few "hard brakes." Hard brakes are when your speed decreases more than 7pmh in a second. The problem with measuring brake patterns is that most braking is determined by road conditions, not by how safe of a driver you are.
So it's not quite accurate to say that these programs reward good drivers. Rather, it rewards lower-risk drivers. Good drivers who have long commutes, live in urban areas, or whose schedules require them to drive during high-risk times won't qualify for the discount. In fact, if that describes your driving patterns, you may end up paying more for your car insurance over time if you demonstrate higher risk behavior based on the measurements of this type of tool.
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Keep all these things in mind before you let your car door open and invite your insurance carrier to ride along in hopes of getting cheap Texas insurance. It's best to do research on what specifically these programs include and offer before you decide to give one a try, otherwise, rather than declining rates, you could see your Texas auto insurance premiums increase.
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