• Telematic apps that you install on your phone let your insurance companies know how saf
  ely you drive.
• Based on your scores you may qualify for an insurance premium discount, however you won’t incur in higher premiums.
• There may be an initial resistance to install these apps due to privacy concerns.
• In my personal experience and after using the app for a month, I have estimated savings of 22% when my insurance is up for renewal.
• The app has made me a better (safer) driver.

I remember signing up for the Telematics app and being approved

over a year and a half ago.  However the fact that my phone would be tracking my speed and driving habits made m

e apprehensive about enabling the app.   For one I had always had a habit of going at a faster speed than the posted limit, but like to believe I am a safe driver since I have not had a single accident where I have been at fault in 20 years of driving.

I bit the bullet a bit over a month ago and enabled the State Farm app, here’s my findings:

• The main criteria to rate each trip on a maximum of 100 points is the following:
  • Time of the day you’re driving, peak hours are more risky.
  • Respecting the posted speed limits.
  • No harsh braking.
  • No hard turning.  T
    urning 90 degrees past 30km/hour is questionable.
• There’s 3 trips you can be forgiven on, don’t use them up too quickly.
• The app does generally detect whether you are on a bus.
• You can edit each trip once to indicate whether you were a passenger, on a taxi, on the bus, etc.  Those trips won’t be tallied for your overall score.
• You do not need to remember to fire up the app every time you are about to start driving.  I have a 5+ year old cell phone (Nexus 5) and haven’t had missed any trips.
• Finally after my month of driving, I have obtained a rating of around 90 which should grant me a 22% discount come insurance policy renewal.

My veredict:  I will keep the Telematics app, since achieving a 22% discount is something significant on car insurance which tends to be quite expensive in Ontario.  Furthermore I find my driving has improved as I feel less compelled be the fastest person around, and rather be the one saving the most hard-earned dollars.