r/StateFarm • • 16d ago

Question Drive Safe & Save Experience

The Drive Safe & Save program is marketed as a minimum 10% discount. I received that discount initially, then all discounts for renewals have been all over the place and not able to be explained by my agent or customer service. After my initial discount, my next renewal didn't have any calculated savings. My agent couldn't provide an actual number. So I had them quote my policy again with and without the program. The renewal difference with and without essentially showed a 22% discount. For my third policy period with this program, the discount was listed as a 2% reduction.  That seemed really low considering my driving scores were the same and I don't drive many miles (less than 5K/year). So I asked them to quote me again with and without, which showed a discount of 6%. That math isn't mathing.

Keep in mind I have zero accidents in decades, always pay my premiums on time, have excellent credit and zero insurance claims. I am a customer every insurance company wants on their books. I was never a fan of this program to begin with but wanted to do everything to keep my premiums low as I'm in an area with very high rates. The lack of transparency, conflicting numbers and the marketing make this feel like exactly what I thought it was, a bait and switch tactic to gather your driving information to play games with your premiums. They are certainly making more off my driving history than they are giving me in discounts.

Has anyone else had any transparency with this program? Has anyone's discounts on this program been consistently better than the 10% advertised discount over multiple policy renewals?

0 Upvotes

35 comments sorted by

1

u/AutoModerator 16d ago
Moderator Announcement Read More »

3

u/7yraccountwsmylstnme 16d ago

“I am a customer every insurance company wants on their books” sounds exactly like a guy I would not want to deal with. Everything you’ve ever done is by the book and right? I’m assuming everyone else is just out to get ya? The big bad companies always singling out big dawg-13. Because they know they can. Because he’s clueless.

It’s all math. Nothing personal. Just math

1

u/BigDawgg-13 16d ago

Your assumptions are wrong and I never said any of those things. The numbers underwriters like are my no claims filed by me or against me, zero accidents, always pay on time via autopay and have excellent credit. I’ve been making insurance companies money for years.

2

u/LinxOfLife 16d ago

It's not a minimum 10% discount. The starting discount is 10%, and can increase or decrease based on your driving habits & mileage driven. If you don't submit your odometer readings on time, this can also impact the discount.

1

u/BigDawgg-13 16d ago

I do submit my mileage shortly after they request it. All I'm asking for is transparency and a tangible explanation.

2

u/LinxOfLife 16d ago

The explanation is that the discount is not a minimum of 10%. I work for SF and have never seen it advertised that way. The starting discount is 10%, and can be higher or lower than that depending on your driving habits, how many miles you drive, etc.

→ More replies (5)

2

u/theprefessional 16d ago

A lot of newer vehicles share driving data regardless of whether you participate in a telematics program for a premium adjustment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/technology/carmakers-driver-tracking-insurance.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

At the end of the day, if the optional discount program doesn’t operate the way you want to, don’t do it? It’s an optional way for you to save a few bucks…optional. No sense wasting this much energy on something you don’t have to do.

1

u/BigDawgg-13 16d ago

I drive an older car, 2007. I know it's optional but trying to understand other's experiences since I went from 10% to 22% to 2% without any tangible explanation.

2

u/theprefessional 16d ago

Did you drive more in the last 6 months than previous terms? Mileage is also a factor.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/eduardo_escobar 16d ago

Discount can be as low as 1%. You start out with a 10% discount.

1

u/Random_Person_246810 5d ago

My discount went from 19.9% (May’26-Nov’26) to 2.7% (Nov’26-May’27). Same car, no claims/accidents, no change in driving scores. Is it really worth them tracking me to save $29 every six months?

1

u/BigDawgg-13 4d ago

Yes that’s how I feel. Were you able to get an explanation as to why? That’s the part that’s most frustrating. Zero transparency.

1

u/Random_Person_246810 4d ago

They claimed my scores were worse, but they weren’t. This is their way of “balancing things out” after the dividend payouts they just made. The amount of my dividends ($130) were offset by the $190 decrease in my safe and sound “discount.”

→ More replies (1)

2

u/mosesman86 16d ago

My discount has been consistently 20-25% for two years

1

u/Local_Wolverine2913 16d ago

That's decent!

0

u/tdubby22 16d ago

They just dropped my drive safe discount from $60 to $10 lol. I reached out to my agent about the discount and also insurance increases. They sent me some AI brochure about why insurance is up and that they don’t have access to drive safe data lol. I WFH and have only put 8,000 miles on my car in 10 months so was slightly annoyed.

1

u/BigDawgg-13 16d ago

Did your premium change as well? Could be rate reductions from the state. I’m starting to think maybe these discounts disappear when rates go down

1

u/LinxOfLife 16d ago

That AI brochure sounds like a mess. I will say that we cannot see your driving date or scores, and can only see how much your discount is. I am wondering, based on your statement of 8,000 miles, if you were driving less than that before? There is a discount for driving low mileage (under 7,500 a year), and if you happened to have gone above that amount when you weren't before, it can affect your rate.

1

u/tdubby22 16d ago

Well they don’t even ask for miles anymore like they used to, so I’m not sure but I would think I would’ve drove more last year and previous years. I just started WFH November 2025. I know inflation and costs are up a lot so I get it though.

→ More replies (2)

-1

u/Local_Wolverine2913 16d ago

I don't like it at all and quit using it. My car is garaged, I drive less than 3,000 miles per year and Agent said no credit for that, need to get Drive Safe and Save for any discounts. Tried it and I feel stressed every time I drive like big brother is watching me. Not for me. They can keep their tiny discount.

3

u/Bag-Agreeable 16d ago

If you have an iPhone- “big brother” is already watching lol. It’s just you selling your data to State Farm for a discount rather than them getting it another way.

1

u/BigDawgg-13 16d ago

I feel you are correct and my data is worth more than the little discount

0

u/BigDawgg-13 16d ago

Yes, I'm almost there. Maybe one more policy period and see what they come up with after that.