Progressive Insurance Snapshot Device

I have State Farm Drive Safe & Save beacons in both of my vehicles. At least for State Farm, they don't raise your rates, it just determines if you get a discount off your regular rate. Yeah, yeah, I know, but I'm paying less for car insurance than I ever have really. Granted I'm using them for homeowners too, so I get a bundle price.

Sometimes I get $5 off or something, but I get a lot of speeding events which is hard to avoid around here. Typically when moving the flow of traffic here is 10 MPH over the posted limit.
 
I switched to Progressive a while back. I hoped to save money with the Snapshot device but I will not. They said "most people will save money" which I find hard to believe. No accidents in 30 years, 1 speeding ticket in the last 15 years for going 43 in a 30 zone. So I opted out of it and will see a $22 rate increase over 6 months.
But it doesn't seem fair to me. I'm 69, don't drink, don't talk on a cell phone, don't smoke, I spoil my car rotten and everything on it works, everything. I don't tailgate, I drive defensively and my car is in the garage most days about 5 PM for the day. I drive a 9 year old Prius C. And Snapshot gives my driving a C- rating. It claimed I had 7 hard brakings one day I took a 90 mile ride to a new place. I can't even recall braking hard one time that day. Evidently, some people drive like a robot for 6 weeks until the test period is over, and then they save on their car insurance for as long as they own that car but that doesn't sound like something I'd want to bother with.
So my 6-month premium will now be $257 for 6 months. I guess that's not too bad but it seems steep compared to the rates I paid in the 80s and 90s.
I have Progressive multiple car insurance for so many years and every time I renew my policy there's always a price increase. I have a good driving record and I don't know why? Maybe, it's because of those corny advertisements they have on TV competing with Gieco & Liberty Mutual.

I cancelled my policy with Progressive and went in with another insurance company.
 
I switched tho Hartford through AARP. Had State Frm. Was a bundle for my cars. Hartford saved me over$600. on my truck and two campers and one small convertible. Always ready to help with service.
 
Why buy insurance from a company that wants to install a tracking device on your car?
They don't "want to install a tracking device on your car."
The Snapshot device is voluntary, not mandatory, and if you choose it, you run it in the car for 45 to 60 days, and then that sets your rate for as long as you own that vehicle.
 
It feels good to get that Snapshot thing out of my car.
Every time I'd hit the brakes I'd be afraid my policy was going to go up, LoL.
Seriously, that device doesn't do you any favors unless you feel like driving like a driver's ed student for 8 weeks.
 
Why buy insurance from a company that wants to install a tracking device on your car?
I get it..from the insurance company POV. I’m so glad I’ve outlived this big brother technology. It’ll be the norm some day. And I’ll be...? I’m ok with that.
 
Keeping my old cars. I gotta worry about a possum walking in front of me at night while I make a split second decision about my insurance rates going up cause I have to make a hard brake? No thanks.

Waaaaaiiit, you brake for vermin? I only stop for obvious pets. You know someone loves that cat or dog. I will slam on 'em for a bear, deer...anything that would massacre you if it landed in your lap through the windshield.

I *tried* and returned a plug in dongle for State Farm. It caused very odd engine behavior in my case. Stalls and hesitant bucking under power. As soon as I popped out the plug in and dropped it on the floor boards, my beast woke up again. It must only be compatible with late generation vehicles. I returned it that day to the odd looks of my agent. *^.^*
 
I know. I had a possum encounter several weeks ago. Late at night, the only other car on the road was right behind me and a typical New Jersey a hole was up my butt. Had a fraction of a second to make the call. Brake, swerve, or kill the possum. I ran it over. Tore out the air dam covering front to back. Cost me $100. Next time I’ll stand on the brakes, spare the possum, sue the tailgater.
 
Waaaaaiiit, you brake for vermin? I only stop for obvious pets. You know someone loves that cat or dog. I will slam on 'em for a bear, deer...anything that would massacre you if it landed in your lap through the windshield.

I *tried* and returned a plug in dongle for State Farm. It caused very odd engine behavior in my case. Stalls and hesitant bucking under power. As soon as I popped out the plug in and dropped it on the floor boards, my beast woke up again. It must only be compatible with late generation vehicles. I returned it that day to the odd looks of my agent. *^.^*
I hit a raccoon in my Caliber at 40mph, it shattered this part of my bumper and knocked the ambient temp sensor loose. For smaller/lower cars I’ll brake, in my truck I won’t because it has the ground clearance to clear such animals.
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I hit a raccoon in my Caliber at 40mph, it shattered this part of my bumper and knocked the ambient temp sensor loose. For smaller/lower cars I’ll brake, in my truck I won’t because it has the ground clearance to clear such animals.
Did the raccoon survive by any chance?
 
Yeah, if its a banded armadillo, you know... Something tough, I'll bleed off speed (if I can do so safely). In my 95 Blazer, I came across one such 'Dillo at 3 am. I slowed down despite having steel bumpers and full underbody armor. The little booger *jumped* at the last second. I had no idea that they could pop up off the pavement so high!

Anyhow, the little beast didn't go under a wheel or along the underbelly. He popped up to about kidney height, but still moving sideways, momentum carried him up to about driver's side mirror height. *smash*

He completely took my mirror off and blew out the glass in it. It was hanging by the motor drive wires. He went down along the body of the truck leaving a steak of "skin", like fingernail scratches. I popped in a manual O'Reilly's generic, non- motorized mirror for $50. Meguire's Scratch Dr. II the skid marks off...went about my business. As long as I had that truck afterwards?

I run straight at them. Suck them under. Let them catch their death on my forward rock plate when they jump up while going 45 MPH on my residential street run along my home road.

I squarely put wheel on them in my Murano with a plastic bumper skirt. Same in the Silverado SS. Put the flat of fast, wide, nose heavy wheels on them. If I don't kill them off, they'll reproduce. More and more of them after every season. Haven't seen one now in over 3 years. ^.^

If I'm not being tailgated, yes. I come to full stops for pets, cranes, bear and deer.

Edit: spelling corrections and clarification. (I'm posting on my phone)
 
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Don't need the "Snap shot" thing if you own a new vehicle. It does all that and more. It knows more about you than your cell phone. LOL
 
I hit a raccoon in my Caliber at 40mph, it shattered this part of my bumper and knocked the ambient temp sensor loose. For smaller/lower cars I’ll brake, in my truck I won’t because it has the ground clearance to clear such animals.View attachment 54509
The front bumper wasn't the only place made of plastic. The whole 2/3rds of the rear of the vehicle was.......
 
Most likely, the secret will be "move."
Actually the trick is to switch insurance companies. Safeco's rate is a little over 3,300 for a year, while Progressive is a little over 2,000. Coverages matched 100% so I don't know what the difference is, other than we're paying for somebody's house in the Hamptons. But no longer.
 
Don't need the "Snap shot" thing if you own a new vehicle. It does all that and more. It knows more about you than your cell phone. LOL
Most of my vehicles are so old they don't even have an OBD-II port. No "snap shot" device possible and the vehicle doesn't know a thing. (Even the newer ones are barely in the OBD-II era and gather little or no data beyond engine and emission control parameters. Certainly no external connectivity.)

I don't have a smartphone either. Just a dumb pay-as-you-go flip phone for emergency use that's off when not used, so that doesn't know much either.

To keep good rates you have to shop around every 2 or 3 years. Typically the various gangs in the insurance mafia lure you in with introductory low rates and then raise them for no good reason every year. When that happens shop around for another gang, repeat as needed. It helps to have an agent that deals with multiple companies. My agent approaches me every so often with a better deal and if it looks good I do the switcheroo.
 
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