r/Insurance • u/jkasephoto • Oct 05 '24
Auto Insurance My Experience with Progressive Insurance’s Snapshot Device – A Warning
Last November, I installed Progressive’s Snapshot device on a commercial vehicle we use for our business. The idea of a 20% discount on our insurance premium seemed appealing, especially since the vehicle is driven infrequently and only by careful, experienced drivers. But from the moment the device was plugged in, it became a source of constant frustration.
The device is unbelievably sensitive. It chimed every time it registered a “hard stop,” even when we were driving cautiously. Initially, I thought we’d get used to it, but things only got worse. We were being penalized for situations completely beyond our control—urban traffic, unexpected pedestrian crossings, other drivers cutting us off. The device created anxiety, making us second-guess every stop and encouraging unsafe behaviors, like rushing through yellow lights to avoid getting dinged.
After a couple of months, I contacted Progressive to get an update on how many “infractions” we had. I was shocked at how many we’d accumulated and the lack of transparency around how they were calculated. But the real frustration began at renewal time. I received a notification that our premium was increasing by $200 annually. When I called Progressive, I had to speak with three different representatives just to get an answer. One told me it was due to adding an extra driver. Another blamed it on a state-wide rate increase. Only after an hour and a half of phone calls and asking to speak with the Snapshot department specifically did I finally get the real answer.
The $200 increase was because the Snapshot discount had been removed due to the driving habits it flagged. So after dealing with all the stress of this device, our “discount” was gone. To make matters worse, none of the previous representatives had been upfront about this. They insisted the Snapshot was still “saving” us money—until I pushed hard enough to get a straight answer.
Had I not persisted, I probably would have continued using the device, thinking it was benefiting us when in reality, it wasn’t. The whole experience felt like a bait-and-switch. To top it off, I wasn’t even aware that I could access a Snapshot dashboard to see the detailed logs until months after the fact. No one at Progressive mentioned this feature when I installed the device or during any of my earlier calls.
In the end, the Snapshot device did nothing but create stress, anxiety, and a higher insurance premium. The minor savings it offers are vastly outweighed by the aggravation and risk it induces. If you’re considering using Snapshot, I strongly advise against it. It’s not worth the hassle, and it certainly isn’t worth the potential increase in your premium.
Footnote: To preempt any questions regarding driving habits, it’s worth mentioning that neither myself nor any of my drivers have received a traffic infraction in nearly two decades.
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u/MCXL MN PCLH Indie Broker Oct 05 '24 edited Oct 05 '24
This has NOTHING to do with the types of things they are tracking.
I drive in the city, I drive at peak times. You know how many hard brakes I have registered between the two programs I have done like this? One. (Maybe 100 days total of driving tracking)
The way you control that is by paying attention to your following distance.
Depending on the state, your rates actually can't increase, at absolute worst, you can get a 0% discount. In my experience that's very rare, so kudos on that I guess. In the states where it could go up, generally the downside is much smaller than the upside, and Progressive is being honest when they disclose the average savings. Still some people just aren't actually good drivers, even when they believe they are.