Welcome to day four of my Root test drive. I’m trying out the Root car insurance app because I’m hopeful it will save me some money. I’m also running the Allstate Drivewise app alongside it. Initially, I had hoped it might be a viable option to save money with my current car insurance company, but it looks like it won’t. However, I don’t know that for sure yet and I think it’ll be cool to see how the results compare and how each ranks me. Glitches Galore on RootRoot has decided, for whatever reason, that my settings are intermittently wrong, even when I don’t touch them and even when the app has not had an issue with them for a few hours. It looks as though it didn’t track my morning run to school, so I fired off a message to customer service this morning. No word back yet.
Keep Following My Root Test Drive and/or Share Your StoryI’m going to keep documenting this as I go, mostly because I’m a nerd and the tech intrigues me. If it intrigues you too, keep checking back for updates. I presently plan to do them daily, but if the apps stop being exciting, I’ll stop writing and wait for new developments.
In the meantime, I’m also glad to share the experiences of others. If you’ve tried Root, Allstate Drivewise, or a similar service, and you want to tell us about it, click “Share Your Story” in the main menu.
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I’m doing the Root car insurance test drive and on day three. To recap, I started this because I saw an ad for Root and heard there could be some major cost savings. That said, when I downloaded the app and started using it, I also realized my current company, Allstate, has a similar program called Drivewise which could lower my bill a bit too. I did a preliminary cost-comparison, and you can find that here, but the gist is that if I fall into the lower tier cost-wise with Root, they’ll still blow Allstate out of the water—perhaps by as much a $100 per month. So, I actually downloaded both apps and am using them at the same time and reporting the back here what my experiences are like. Both Allstate Drivewise and Root are GlitchyAs of this morning, the Root app says my test drive will take 6-8 weeks instead of 3-4 weeks. Last night, I realized the Allstate app was giving me errors saying there was a problem with the background app refresh. However, each time I’d go into the settings, the app refresh toggle would be set to “on” and faded, signifying I wasn’t allowed to turn it off. That’s pretty weird. I couldn’t do anything about it and repeated resets didn’t fix it. I took two drives this morning and didn’t really look at Root until after I was home from the second one. I think, at most, I spent 30 minutes behind the wheel, all on city streets. When I got home and checked Root, I realized I had the same error I was getting yesterday. It’s a generic error that tells me to fix my Motion an Fitness settings and that my rides aren’t being tracked. That’s a bummer because it means I probably wasn’t tracked during my morning drives. When I click the button to go to settings, everything looks ok. If I close out of the app and go back into it again, it’s fine. So, now I’m starting to wonder if this is an iOS issue; that perhaps Allstate Drivewise and Root are both flaking out because something’s up with the background app refresh- and nothing I can control via settings. Spoiler Alert: They’re unrelated problems. On the day I wrote this, I updated iOS (which did nothing for either app) and enabled background app refresh on Wi-Fi and cellular for all apps. The latter made Allstate Drivewise happy and the error warning disappeared. Root’s error continued on Day #4. I don’t know what’s causing the issue with it and have an email out to their customer service. Bye Bye Battery Life and DataMy home internet connection can sometimes flake out for a minute or so at a time, and when I can’t use the net well, I shut off Wi-Fi. Alas, I forgot I shut it off and now I’ve burned through a month of data in 3-4 days. Boo. Also, my phone used to go a whole day without a charge. I’m now having to charge it at least two, sometimes three, times a day. Double Boo. A Wired article says Root no longer tracks you once you’re insured, whereas Allstate’s program requires your tracking to remain on. So, it seems that for the sake of battery life and data, Root may be the better choice. Worse yet, the most I can hope for is a $38 savings per month with Allstate Drivewise, and most or half of that would probably go to paying for extra data, meaning Drivewise would be a wash at best. Boo. Allstate Drivewise Recognized My Afternoon Trip… Sort Of…Because of the errors and my delayed download, Allstate had not been tracking me thus far. However, I took an afternoon trip to a store that’s normally 15 minutes away via freeway, and one of my kiddos convinced me to stop for fast food on the way. The Allstate Drivewise app keeps a record of your trips and you can actually view them. Oddly enough, my trip record shows the trip to the fast food joint a mile away from my house, but not the second leg of the trip. I was really interested to see the data from Allstate because their app will tell you if you’ve done any hard braking or sped, whereas Root does not, and some of the Root reviews complain that they got denied because they drove on freeways in stop-and-go traffic and hit drive-throughs. Personally, I’m calling BS on those reviews. I’m betting those are the people who tailgate and drive like racecar drivers, sliding in and out of lanes, or drive aggressively. I don’t drive like that, so I’m eager to see if any rush hour traffic kills a score and those folks are right, or if they’re just bad drivers who got disqualified from Root because of that. Obviously, the two companies are unrelated, so their algorithms are going to be different, but I’m betting they’re similar enough that if Allstate tells me I’m driving bad, Root will have a problem with me as well, and vice versa. Time will tell. Follow Me on My Root Test DriveI’m documenting my Root test drive as I go. I don’t know at this point if I’ll even get a quote from them or if what they say will be compelling enough for me to make the switch from Allstate. However, I think sharing my story will help others, so I’ll continue journaling until I have enough info on both Allstate Drivewise and Root car insurance to make a decision. I’m also accepting guest posts and reviews from others who have tried Root or Allstate Drivewise, so if you’ve got something worthwhile to say, click “Share Your Story” on the main menu.
In Round One of Allstate vs. Root, I’m going to break down what my current Allstate bill is, what I think I will pay if I get cash back for using Allstate’s Drivewise program, and what I estimate my Root bill will be if I get a quote. My Current Allstate Bill: $164.23 per MonthI presently pay over $164/ mo for comprehensive coverage on my 2006 Chevy Uplander. This includes a Premier Plus discount for being accident-free for more than five years. My policy says I get a homeowner discount, but it’s not itemized, so I don’t think I’m actually receiving it. The total cost for six months is $1282.89, minus a $321.04 Premier Plus discount, so it’s $961.85 after. My current bill due is $164.23 for this month. Estimated Allstate Bill with Drivewise: $125.74 per MonthDrivewise will knock 3% off my bill just for using it, so that’s $38.49 over six months or $6.42 monthly. If I qualify for the full 15% discount for good driving, that’s $192.43 over six months or $32.07 monthly cash back, but they only give it back at the end of six months. In any case, I’m tabulating it as if it was part of a monthly discount even though it’s really not, meaning Drivewise could save me as much as $38.49 per month, bringing my bill to $125.74. Estimated Car Insurance Bill with Root: $60-80I’ve been scouring the net and haven’t found many people who actually say what their Root quote was. That said, most who do place their new bills between $60-80 each month for comprehensive coverage. I don’t yet know if it’s the exact same coverage, nor have I been offered a quote by Root yet, but it seriously looks like I could cut my bill by $100 per month over what I pay now, and about $45 less over the best Allstate could give me. Follow My Root Car Insurance Journey or Share Your StoryAs I write this, I’m still in the beginning stages of my Root test drive. I don’t know how it will turn out or whether I’ll even get a quote. However, I’ll keep sharing as I go.
I’m also glad to share your story too. If you’ve had an experience with Root, Allstate, or a similar product, click “Share Your Story” in the main menu and we just might feature it as a guest post. If this is your first stop-off on this site, I should mention first that my testing of Allstate’s Drivewise program was totally unexpected. I’m a lifelong Allstate customer who had no idea the product existed until after I downloaded the Root car insurance app to see about switching. So, on my second active day of my Root test drive period, I decided to download the Allstate app as well and see how the two compare. I’ll get into that stuff more as I go, so for now, I’m just going to cover how Allstate Drivewise works. Customers and Non-Customers Can Download the AppInstead of having a separate app for the Drivewise program, Allstate worked the tech into their regular app. You can download it for iOS or Android. Because I was already an Allstate customer, all I had to do was input my login info and the app let me start right away. If you aren’t already a customer or don’t use their online features, you’ll have to set up an account. Drivewise has a Robust Set of FeaturesI’ll do a comparison later, but the Allstate Drivewise app has a lot going on. It seems to use the same core tech as Root does and tracks you while you drive. If you’re an Allstate customer, you’ll automatically get 3% off your bill for using Drivewise and sticking with it. If you demonstrate you’re a good driver, you get up to 15% cash back after 50 trips, then it’s tabulated every six months. Good driving and completing challenges (such as not braking hard for three days) also lets you earn points, which you can use on daily deal, gift cards, and what seemingly appears to be a bunch of overpriced crap. It takes 24-48 hours to gain access to the rewards store, so I have yet to see anything beyond the daily deals, but my internet sleuthing says the stuff goes on auction and you bid with points. And, apparently, you’re never going to win an auction. Sorry… I’m not excited about the points. I mostly just want to save money on my car insurance. How Allstate Drivewise WorksThe Drivewise program monitors your driving in the background and checks your:
Find Out More on How Allstate Drivewise Works and Compares to RootIf you want to learn more about the Drivewise program, you can check out the Allstate website. I’ll also be testing it alongside the Root car insurance app and reporting back the results. If you’ve had a personal experience with either or something similar you’d like us to share, click “Share Your Story” on the main menu. |
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