Allstate Insurance announced last Thursday that it has launched a new, voluntary program that uses a tracking device installed in a car to track driving habits and reward safe, low-mileage drivers in Illinois with savings that could be up to 30%. The program, called Drive Wise, might be expanded to other states as soon as the second quarter of this year.
Drive Wise participants receive a small wireless device that is described as being about the same size as a pack of cigarettes and connects to a vehicles onboard computer via the diagnostic port, which is generally found under the dashboard. It then tracks mileage, hard or extreme braking, and maximum speed, and the data is used by Allstate to calculate a driving score. Speeds over 80mph adversely affect that score.
Allstate policyholders will receive an immediate discount of ten percent merely for enrolling in the Drive Wise program, but later policy periods will use a performance rating based on total mileage and driving behavior to determine the actual discount.
In joining other insurers, such as State Farm and Progressive, in using tracking devices to gauge driver performance, Allstate has also come under scrutiny from people who feel such monitoring is an invasion of privacy. The insurer, however, maintains that no other data is tracked, and that no information is sold to any third parties.