Using Your Smart Phone To Save Hundreds On Your Personal Auto Insurance
Need to purchase a new dress for your cousin's wedding? There is an app for that! Need to order dinner for you and some unexpected guests? There is an app for that! Looking to save hundreds of dollars on your personal auto insurance? Well as it turns out, there is also an app for that!
Your smartphone offers you a great opportunity to save tons of cash on your personal auto insurance policy without the need to put in much effort at all. This is because most insurance companies now give you the ability to prove that you are a safe driver by simply downloading a special app on your phone. These apps are designed to run in the background and collect data about the way you drive. This data is then automatically sent to your insurance carrier who then uses the information to determine how safely you drive and how big of a risk they are taking by insuring you. The safer you drive, the bigger your insurance discount will be.
What Kind Of Information The App Collects
The more you understand how these apps work, the more likely you will be to score a big discount on your insurance. While each company's app is unique, you can expect the app to collect information such as:
- your speed
- your average trip length
- your braking and acceleration patterns
- your cell phone use while driving
- your total time spent on the road
Now that you have a better idea of what the app is looking for, you can make adjustments to your driving habits in order to score an even bigger discount.
Influencing How Much You Save
Some of the steps you can take to save more will be quite obvious. For example, you will want to avoid speeding or talking on your cell phone while the app is monitoring you. However, there are some tips and tricks you can use that may not be quite so obvious. For instance, insurance companies will often look at what time of the day you drive when assessing the risk of insuring you. This is because more accidents happen during rush hour and late at night. Choosing to stay off the road during these hours can help you maximize your safe driver discount. You can also help maximize your discount by limiting the total amount of time you spend on the road each day.
If you are worried about whether or not you can make these changes to your driving habits, you will be glad to know that these changes in your routine do not need to be permanent since most insurance companies only require you to keep the app downloaded on your phone for a short period of time while they collect the necessary data to award your discount. Once this evaluation period is up, you will be free to disable or uninstall the app.
Keep these tips in mind when looking for a new personal auto insurance company.
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