Drive Safe & Save‪™‬ 4+

Much better than previous version - still more needing to be done

While I can certainly understand the issue some may have with the new ways of the “grading” with the update there are many more positives that outweigh the minor issues. I am a big fan of the fact that I will be able to easily track my mileage on business related trips when it comes time to do my taxes again as I spend a lot of miles on the road with my profession. The idea of my grade being hurt by using my phone while driving has helped reverse what was once a bad habit of mine. With that being said, it is unfortunate that I can be punished for phone use when my significant other is using the phone to find music, etc. Overall, I am very pleased with the upgrade and look forward to seeing the smaller improvements to come. One suggestion would be giving the user the option to either label a trip after it has been recorded or choose the nature of the trip before it starts such as “work related” to help with the tracking of total miles for those of us who use our business miles for tax deduction purposes.

Battery Usage

I enjoy that you’re able to see the specifics as to how they rate your driving & how they show you on the map where certain things happened if you get “dinged” with speeding/hard braking/phone usage, etc.
One problem I’ve noticed, living in an area where some spots can have a lot of deer, if I brake due to a deer running across the road (which you’d think would be the safe option), I end up getting a lower driving score for hard braking & it tells me to keep a safe distance from the car ahead of me.. except it was for a deer, not me following too closely.
Also, not too thrilled that it marks you down for using navigation apps, as I use my phone for gps sometimes. Even to skip songs or have someone else use your phone for you, it marks you down. I know it says the phone usage doesn’t effect the discount, however, it lowers your overall driving score which does effect the discount.
Another issue I’ve ran into now that I have to have my location services on all the time along with Bluetooth, I’ve noticed that my battery is dying so fast!! I used to get away with not even charging my phone at night sometimes because the battery would still be high enough from the previous nights charge & now I’m having to recharge my phone at least twice a day - it’s really kind of inconvenient. If I charge my phone while I drive (suggested by State Farm), then I can’t listen to music, as it uses the same plug in area on my phone.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for the feedback! Our app will use more of your battery than other apps, especially during a trip. The battery usage is similar to navigation apps because we use both GPS and Bluetooth services during the trip. One way to reduce the battery usage is to plug in your phone while you drive.

Like the discount; hate the app

Just having this app and beacon gives me a discount, which I appreciate. There is no driving bad enough to not qualify for at least some kind of discount, according to the FAQs. However, seeing that discounts could go into an upper range of 30% to 50%, I feel like I’m getting robbed when the app keeps flagging me for “events” beyond my control.
On the first day of having the beacon, I was flagged for speeding when I KNOW I wasn’t. This has only happened once, but still it aggravated me.
More frustrating is the “phone use” event. When my wife and I are in a car together, it’s usually me driving. But her phone connects to the beacon before mine can, for some reason. So she either has to remember to toggle her Bluetooth on and off, or not use her phone while being a passenger. We’ve been dinged on this issue a bunch. But it’s not the worst….
The “hard braking”……. Really, State Farm??? “Drive Safe and…..” get flagged for an “event”!!!!! This event, from my understanding, exists in order to encourage the driver to not follow to closely. I’m constantly keeping a 3-4 second space between me and the vehicle ahead of me. But I get flagged for hard braking when I AM driving safe—changing stop lights, people pulling out in front of me, etc. And it’s infuriating!
I know I’m already getting a discount, but this kind of stuff keeps me from getting an even better discount, even though I do “Drive Safe” like the program states.