Comments on: Progressive Snapshot hardware details revealed

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 05:36:00 +0000

It’s not for everyone, but it is beneficial for some (which is part of the reason that they offer the 30 day trial, that way you can see exactly how much Progressive would cost you with the discount. It is just like those commercials that promise to same you 15% or more on your car insurance, you just have to get a quote and compare the various companies.

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 05:31:00 +0000

What do you mean, they never gave you reports?

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 05:26:00 +0000

Now there’s an idea….

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 05:25:00 +0000

IT IS OPTIONAL!!! No one has to do it

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 05:23:00 +0000

He didn’t call anyone a name, he just compared his intelligence to a post.

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 05:22:00 +0000

People of every age should think about their driving habits. Not all males under 25 “drive like morons” and this device is a great way for the ones who do drive well to be able to show that they are responsible drivers I know plenty of guys under 25 who drive well, but they get lumped in with everyone else. Luckily for me, State Farm gave me a pretty good discount with my Good Student, Driver’s Education, Safe Driver, and various other discounts.

The people that drive like morons aren’t going to be able to go 6 months without driving like a moron, at least not without it improving their driving to some degree (6 months is long enough to change habits). Will some people slip through the craps? Of course, but they are the exception, not the rule.

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 05:10:00 +0000

Their intent is to attract new customers, attractive safe drivers, and pay the lowest possible amount in claims. Saving you money attracts new customers. Saving good drivers money attracts a pool of safe drivers. Having current customers driver safer by learning safe driving habits because they know that the safe driving habits will save them money reduces the number of claims and the cost of claims.

Their primary concern is their bottom line and saving their customers money can improve their bottom line as described above.

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 05:05:00 +0000

EXACTLY!!! Well said.

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Yeah, attractive new customers, attracting safer drivers in their insurance pool, and encourage people to drive safer, which reduced claims.

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 04:49:00 +0000

If you’re paying attention, you shouldn’t have to hard break or swerve to avoid hitting a child or an animal.

Running over an animal to save some cash is wrong, but it is also wrong to swerve around animals (especially the small ones that you can drive right over without harm- when not in the wheel path) in the road and endangering yourself and everyone around you. Breaking is fine, but not swerving.

Does hard (emergency) breaking once or twice stop you from getting the discount? I would think that they’d allow the occasional hard breaking, as long as it isn’t habitual.

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 04:27:00 +0000

What is on this device that can’t be gleamed from a cell phone or the on-board computer? The location of your car doesn’t really prove your location, I drive my wife’s car, she drives mine, I drive her aunt’s SUV.

They can download the data from your on-board computer with a warrant and they can subpoena your cell phone records (even if you use a prepaid phone).

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 04:22:00 +0000

So, never plug it in to your car

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 04:17:00 +0000

You should contact a lawyer, one that does free consultations and works on contingency (they only get paid if you do). Also, threaten to take it to the news that their device is causing damage and they’re not taking responsibility. They’d rather pay for the damage than have you damage their reputation.

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 04:05:00 +0000

He said 6 months

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 04:02:00 +0000

My brother generally drives well, but was in two accidents (seizure from medication and black ice) and had a speeding ticket (running late for appointment with either his Oncologist or Neuro-oncologist) before he turned 21. State Farm still renewed him. I doubt that Snapshot would result in no renewal.

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 03:56:00 +0000

“Flo” has always been a bit creepy

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 03:55:00 +0000

Hard breaking once doesn’t stop you from getting a discount.

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 03:54:00 +0000

I have a circadian rhythm disorder and the most dangerous time for me to drive is between 6am and 10am. Even after years of getting up at 5am, my body never adjusted to “normal” sleeping patterns. Once I am done with medical school, I plan on working second shift. So, while drowning in medical school loans, I can’t get a break on my insurance because I drive after midnight? Safe breaking makes sense to me, but judging when I drive is wrong.

By: Falcon89

Falcon89 — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 03:46:00 +0000

I could be wrong, but I’m almost certain that he was being sarcastic and trying to show how ridiculous the paranoia sounds. Either that, our he’s writing from inside an insane asylum.

By: Hombresolo

Hombresolo — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 00:19:00 +0000

Well I have little knowledge about the module but I do have
a lot of knowledge about what is done with data collected on you. That
becomes a very marketable piece of information. The possibilities are
endless. Your information could be shared with just about
anyone. Your life insurance cost might mysterious go up.
People might see you as a risk and not lend you money unless you buy insurance
(yes that is illegal but so are a lot things), you could end up on some
risk database that employers could pay to gain access too. What I am
saying is you don’t know what happens to the information collect once it has
been collected and how it may be used to sold.

This is very scary information. Especially if you are involved in a
serious accident and a smart lawyer sees that you have Progressive Insurance
and asks if you have been involved in the snapshot program and requests to see
your driving record and maybe sees a history of your bad driving habits.

By: Brett Robles

Brett Robles — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 22:01:00 +0000

Progressive says this won’t be used to raise peoples’ rates, but I don’t trust that. It seems to me the best use for this is to acquire new data on driving habits to create totally new methodology for determining rate structures.

No company rolls out a new marketing idea that isn’t expected to add to the bottom line. Saving people money doesn’t gel with this – never has, never will.

By: Popcornme

Popcornme — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 22:54:00 +0000

This is going to be awesome when I install it to track where my cheating wife is off in the middle of the night.

By: WildCard 6

WildCard 6 — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 18:35:00 +0000

As far as the monitoring aspect is concerned, I am pretty sure that they have collection points at specific locations along roads. There is a similar capability used by radio stations (music, talk, etc …). The company that offers this service is called Arbitron, through a software called Maximi$er ( yes using the dollar simbol). Their sites can scan your radio when you drive by and tell what station you are tuned to, no plug in device required. The results tell them when people are listening and what station, from this they know what to charge advertisers for 15 or 30 second comercials during peak and low times ( rush hour is good and 2 am is not).
I am almost certain this is the method they are employing because when my wife was signing up for it she was told it is available in our area. This leads me to believe that it is only for areas that have the sensors installed.

By: Jettagirl

Jettagirl — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 03:58:00 +0000

No, sounds like he’s a try it and see for yourself before making harsh accusations type.

By: AnnoyedinPA

AnnoyedinPA — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 17:09:00 +0000

I’m with you! This sounds creepy to me and an invasion. All I can say is everyone thought the patriot act was a great idea. Until we all learned it wasn’t terrorists who were watched, it was a way to take away a whole bunch of our rights in one fail swoop. I don’t like it and it sets a dangerous precedent. Sure, it seems very reasonable at first and we all save some money. What happens over time when they reach saturation and they aren’t making the same profits? Restrictions become more stringent, more penalties, etc. this is a bad idea!

By: Jester

Jester — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 05:07:00 +0000

Not entirely true with the lessoning of profit. They will certainly provide something that lessens profit if it increases customers. Think of directv; they have the $10 off your bill/month if a friend you refer signs up. So they lose profit on you but gain overall. That’s the idea behind this–encourage more to switch because they all will pay less.

By: hmkatl

hmkatl — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 01:52:00 +0000

I find the entire promotion of the product odd. You have a product that monitors you then you have Flo appearing to be Big “Sister” in a TV commercial. She appears on all TVs everyone goes into to a trance and she tells them to use it. Not a great way to market a product in my book. lol kinda creepy…

By: poopmom

poopmom — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 02:34:00 +0000

fuck you

By: Crabs

Crabs — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 06:04:00 +0000

Utilizing the GPS and GIS mapping they can tell where you go and when. It is all about data points and the data for Progressive. You are a data collector for them. Like your cellphones but there are lawsuits that prevent cell phone carriers from tracking the data.

By: Real talk

Real talk — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 04:09:00 +0000

Here’s how it works. It’s a gimmick to get you in the door and hear their pitch. How it works and what info it gives is irrelevant.

By: Concerned35

Concerned35 — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 16:21:00 +0000

The thing that sticks out the most about your comment…”I assume”…
You sound like a cop, a rep for the company, or just a very naive person. IMHO…I’m just saying…
And btw, I have a perfect driving record…no tickets/accidents, but highly disagree with this concept. What’s next…a snapshot that gets implanted under your skin so the Health Insurance Industry can “offer lower rates???”
I am with Allstate…and my rates are quite low.

By: chris

chris — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 07:31:00 +0000

How about if I am good no one remembers and when I am bad no one never forgets

By: chris

chris — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 07:23:00 +0000

My guess is that when it’s time to pay out it will count all the times you went through a yellow light etc. . Do I need to go on. Not in a million years would I use that device since I am only a human and make mistakes

By: islesailor

islesailor — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 18:18:00 +0000

When it becomes mandatory they should include a breathalyzer and eleminate DUI.

By: person1

person1 — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:09:00 +0000

No, it would make more sense to switch to another insurance company that doesn’t use this gimmick to “save you money”. Progressive is a rip-off anyway.

By: ITSNOTAGOODAYFORU

ITSNOTAGOODAYFORU — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 03:30:00 +0000

They can be truthful (but not necessarily honest) about not measuring your speed to lure you in BUT it’s a simple mathematical matter to calculate that from other parameters!
Also I don’t think those guys intended to be paranoid. The point that they can track and determine your driving routine they may conclude that you drive a “high risk path” frequently. And so render you at their mercy to whatever their decision may be.

By: NotTooGoodForTheTruth

NotTooGoodForTheTruth — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 22:45:00 +0000

Why must you be such a dumba$$

By: alpoochini

alpoochini — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 19:09:00 +0000

hey nobody’s forcing you to use their tracking device. It’s entirely voluntary– but the discounts don’t come free– you have to participate in the program in order to receive them. So relax, you can feel safe on your toidy– nobody’s watching (or caring). Whine thee not.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 03:58:00 +0000

Whatever you do, do NOT install this device in your car!!!!!! I installed it into my Mazda RX8 and did not have it in for a month before it almost destroyed my car’s computer. The technicians at the dealership I take my car to told me to remove it immediately due to the codes it was producing in my ck engine light. I was driving down the hwy at 75 mph around 3000 rpms and suddenly my rpms dropped to 0 and then shot back up. This happened twice and my ck engine light came on. When I had it checked it showed lost connection to instrument panel and lost connection to powertrain control module A. Needless to say I yanked that puppy out as fast as i could and have not had another issue since, approx a wk. But if there is any permanent damage done to my cars computer, guess whose getting a call to fix my car? Progressive.

By: StacieHebert

StacieHebert — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 04:26:00 +0000

So, while focusing on only my own pocketbook, and wondering if I would waste my time ordering, reading FAQs and terms and agreements and privacy policies, installing, checking, then returning the Snapshot device, it occurred to me that Progressive must be getting something out of this program – something other than “good feelings” and free data.

Why would a company try to lessen their monetary intake from customers? I figured out how this helps the insurance company save money. For the 30 days and then 6 months of driving more cautiously, in order to gain the highest discount one can, the number of covered incidents are reduced by enough that it more than covers the future discounts given to customers. It also attracts and keeps safer drivers in their insurance pool, which in a fair world lowers costs for the entire/safer pool while the company takes its share and a lot of the savings, too. If we save 30%, then Progressive is obviously counting on saving at least double that, plus the cost to implement the program.

I am glad to save money with my safe driving habits and to be identified as such, but as always, we do all the work, save the company a load and get some crumbs for it.