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The price of car insurance just keeps going up. According to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between December 2022 and December 2023, U.S. car insurance costs increased by 20.3%. If your auto insurance premium is causing stress for your monthly budget, it's time to get serious about finding car insurance discounts.
Not everyone wants to take the risk of raising their car insurance deductible or dropping comprehensive coverage. What if there was a better way to lower your car insurance costs, such as by sharing some driving data with your insurance company?
Telematics car insurance is a hot new trend in car insurance, where leading auto insurance companies like Allstate reward you for safer driving. With the Allstate Drivewise® safe driving tool, all you have to do is sign up to share some driving data via a mobile app. Telematics insurance like Allstate Drivewise® can help you improve your driving, reduce your risk of car crashes -- and earn a lower-cost car insurance premium.
Let's look at how Allstate uses telematics with its Drivewise® safe driving tool.
Allstate's telematics car insurance: Drivewise®
Drivewise is a free, optional safe-driving tool from Allstate that lets you choose to share information about your driving. You can add Drivewise to any Allstate auto insurance policy, and you can sign up for it via the Allstate mobile app. Drivewise measures your safe driving behaviors and rewards you for safer driving with discounts.
You'll get an immediate discount just for activating Drivewise in the Allstate app. After that, every six months you can get a "performance reward" on your insurance policy based on your safe driving behaviors. There are no extra telematics devices or gadgets that you have to attach to your car; the Allstate Drivewise tool works within the Allstate mobile app.
Allstate Drivewise measures your safe driving behavior in the following ways that affect your performance reward:
- Safe speeds: The app tracks your driving speed to see if you can stay under 80 miles per hour.
- Safe stops: The app tracks your "braking events" to see how gradually (and safely) you stop.
- Safe driving: The app tracks the times of day (or night) when you drive -- and high-risk times are after 11 p.m. Limit your late-night trips, and you might earn a discount.
Compared to other companies' telematics programs, the Allstate Drivewise app is less intrusive in the data it collects. Some other companies track your phone usage to incentivize you to avoid distracted driving. Drivewise shows you your phone activity, but only as a safe driving feature; it's not part of the calculation for your discount.
Allstate Drivewise also gives you safe driving features like a dashboard (showing how much money you've saved), driving insights, safe driving challenges, and crash detection to get you help ASAP in case of an accident. Drivewise isn't just a way to get car insurance discounts -- it can be an added layer of protection to help keep you safer behind the wheel.
There is no specific guarantee for how much you can save on car insurance with Allstate Drivewise. Your exact discounts will depend on your state. However, you can earn performance rewards in as little as 50 trips -- this might be faster than other insurance companies that require a few months' worth of data.
Allstate Drivewise telematics car insurance: Pros and cons
Every car insurance company's telematics program has a few potential advantages and downsides. Let's look at a few for Allstate.
Allstate Drivewise pros
- Instant savings: Allstate gives you an instant discount just for activating Drivewise.
- No extra devices required: Unlike some other companies, Allstate's telematics program is contained within the mobile app. You don't have to plug in any other devices.
- Driving behavior data collection is focused and limited: Compared to other telematics car insurance plans, Allstate Drivewise seems to collect data on just a few types of behaviors -- driving speed, stopping speed, and time of day.
- Extra built-in safety features: The Drivewise tool offers some useful features that could help you improve your driving habits, avoid distracted driving, or even get faster help in case of a crash.
- Highly rated mobile app for iOS: The Allstate mobile app gets rave reviews on the App Store, where it's rated 4.8 out of 5 stars. iOS customers seem to really love the Allstate app.
- Available in almost all states: Allstate Drivewise is not available in California or Alaska, but other than those states, this telematics car insurance has an impressive nationwide reach.
Allstate Drivewise cons
- The actual amount of discounts is unclear: Some other insurance companies promise a range of specific discounts that you can get with telematics car insurance. Allstate doesn't offer any specific savings. Your savings will depend on where you live and how you drive.
- Negative reviews for Android app: If you're an Android user, beware of the Allstate app; it got only 3.8 out of 5 stars on Google Play. This is one of the lowest-rated car insurance apps I've ever seen. Customers complained about Drivewise implementations, excessive notifications, and lost GPS signals while driving.
- Your premium could go up: Some other car insurance companies (like State Farm) promise not to raise your premium if you use telematics. Allstate is not one of them. The company website's fine print says, "...in some states your rate could increase with high-risk driving." If you've got a lead foot and get in lots of car crashes, Allstate Drivewise might not help you.
Bottom line: Allstate auto insurance tends to be more expensive than other car insurance companies. But if you want to save money on Allstate insurance, Drivewise could be worth trying.
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