Anyone tried Progressive snapshot?

[Trying2bFrugal]

I am hunting auto insurance for quotes.

Currently Geico kills me with $200/mo on auto insurance. For the same coverage, Progressive quotes me $740.
I am still thinking if I should pay off the 3k on my credit union and get only the state minimal and go without collision and comprehensive. But I am still not sure about Michigan drivers.

Ok, on the Progressive, there is a snapshot program, where they would ask me to attach the gps/chip into car computer system to track my driving habits.
Depending upon state, the days that device should be attached to the car. For Mi, it is the complete term.
The pro they say is the discount they would give me (about 25%), con is that I had to plug the device for 6 months, and the crazy calculations it does who knows the Premium may go up during renewal. Though I may never stick for higher prices, or not afraid of bad driving with my Prius, I wanted to see if any of you guys actually tried (attached to your car) and share some ideas?


Edit: My initial search didnt fetch any posts related to snapshot, then I posted here.
But I reran the search and found below thread
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/saving-money-on-car-insurance-does-anyone-use-snapshot/msg670844/#msg670844

The thread cannot be closed, just keeping it open but not expecting anyone to reply.
I am not going to pursue the device for two reasons. 1) Its bad if i even do occasional mistakes during first period, as they take it as base for habits 2) We are planning lot of trips during summer, we will slam on brakes.

[Syonyk]

I'm not a fan of the "Log all my driving details and promise a few percent discount" services.

However, have you tried more traditional auto insurance companies?  I don't know how old you are or what your driving record looks like, but State Farm and Farmer's both reliably come in way cheaper than Geico/Progressive, at least for us.  I'm a married male in my late 30s, and we've got everything through State Farm because they beat the pants off everyone else.

[patchyfacialhair]

Not a fan of the plug in snapshot devices. Most people overestimate their driving ability and underestimate their total miles driven. That info, in general, gets turned against you at renewal.

Not to mention, in my opinion, it crosses my imaginary privacy line I don't like companies to cross. Insurance company already has name, address, social, marital status, vehicles, and credit information. They don't need to know that I slammed on the brakes that one time because the idiot high school kid in mom's minivan decided to cross over all lanes in front of me without signaling, that way they wouldn't miss their exit.

[dhc]

My discount is pretty darn close to 25% and it's carried through to a replacement car years later, too. Plus, the few months of driving like my car was made of eggshells resulted in my normal driving being both smoother and more efficient than it used to be.

I'm not sure they still have the "use it once and get the discount forever" option, though, and even 25% off of $740 is most definitely not cheaper than $200.

[Thegoblinchief]

I refuse to do business with Progressive after the way they treated me about a claim that was 100% the other person’s fault, and was being paid 100% by the other party’s insurance. It happened 16 years ago and I’m still pissed when I remember the utterly condescending way they talked to me on the phone.

[Paul der Krake]

I refuse to do business with Progressive after the way they treated me about a claim that was 100% the other person’s fault, and was being paid 100% by the other party’s insurance. It happened 16 years ago and I’m still pissed when I remember the utterly condescending way they talked to me on the phone.

Why did you include them at all?

[Thegoblinchief]

I refuse to do business with Progressive after the way they treated me about a claim that was 100% the other person’s fault, and was being paid 100% by the other party’s insurance. It happened 16 years ago and I’m still pissed when I remember the utterly condescending way they talked to me on the phone.

Why did you include them at all?

I didn’t. They contacted me. Probably from the police report? I certainly didn’t notify them myself.

[JLee]

I used to have Snapshot back when it couldn't raise your rates - it could only lower them. That is not the case anymore, so I don't use it.  I had a 19% policy discount for life, which was pretty awesome...until I moved out of state and needed a new policy, then lost my discount. :(

I refuse to do business with Progressive after the way they treated me about a claim that was 100% the other person’s fault, and was being paid 100% by the other party’s insurance. It happened 16 years ago and I’m still pissed when I remember the utterly condescending way they talked to me on the phone.

Why did you include them at all?

I didn’t. They contacted me. Probably from the police report? I certainly didn’t notify them myself.

By they do you mean one single person in your entire history with them? Or a pattern of behavior with multiple people over time?

I've had Progressive for over eleven years and they've been nothing but perfectly lovely to/with me.

[Nemesis.]

I have Progressive and did the snapshot. I found it really annoying but got through it. My rate was close to the initial rate I got when I signed up and I think my “grade” was about a B+.
A couple of things to note. They don’t track miles driven, instead it’s time driven. So even if you have a short commute but sit in traffic a lot, it wil come out to a longer time. They grade on both “sudden deceleration and excelleration”.
I’m a safe driver but there isn’t much you can do when someone uts you off but to brake suddenly.
Overall, I’m glad I did it but don’t know if I’d do it again.
I got the biggest discount just by paying the entire 6 months ahead of time. That saved me over $200 for that period.

Something to note, which company is going to be cheapest in your state will vary quite a bit depending of what that company figures into their costs and often times, how much they’ve had to pay out in that state recently.
I got a quote from Amica when moving to Florida and it was almost twice what I’d been paying.

[JLee]

I have Progressive and did the snapshot. I found it really annoying but got through it. My rate was close to the initial rate I got when I signed up and I think my “grade” was about a B+.
A couple of things to note. They don’t track miles driven, instead it’s time driven. So even if you have a short commute but sit in traffic a lot, it wil come out to a longer time. They grade on both “sudden deceleration and excelleration”.
I’m a safe driver but there isn’t much you can do when someone uts you off but to brake suddenly.
Overall, I’m glad I did it but don’t know if I’d do it again.
I got the biggest discount just by paying the entire 6 months ahead of time. That saved me over $200 for that period.

Something to note, which company is going to be cheapest in your state will vary quite a bit depending of what that company figures into their costs and often times, how much they’ve had to pay out in that state recently.
I got a quote from Amica when moving to Florida and it was almost twice what I’d been paying.

Oh that's new....back when I had it, all they cared about was hard braking.

[Trying2bFrugal]

I took quote from Progressive, Farm Bureau, essurance, State Farm, All State.
Out of all, Farm Bureau (Renters+auto) and Progressive (auto) came almost same price.

Even with snapshot (in Michigan, i had to stick that shit till end of tenure which is 6 mo or 1 year which is insane).
For the route and driving habits (never changed the brake pads over last 5 years), i would easily go through the snapshot but Farm Bureau quoted me the same price along with renters insurance. So getting FB. Hope they live upto mark if unlike claim situation occur.