Update: New Car Insurance Scheme

A while back, I mentioned that I was starting a new discount program through Progressive where I plug a little gadget called a snapshop into my car, and it records the number of miles I drive, what times of day, etc., and could potentially get me a discount on my policy.  After 30+ days of collecting data, I'm pleased to report that my projected discount is 10%!

Since I did way more driving than usual in that first 30 days, I'm fairly confident that I can get that number even lower before my policy is set to renew end of December.

One thing that I have found frustrating with this little gadget is the penalty for hard braking.  Every time you brake hard, which they define as reducing your speed by more than seven miles per second, you get an angry beep that lets you know you've done wrong.  I'm not much of a lead foot, so I really didn't think this would be an issue, but I've still gotten dinged a few times.  Problem is, most often, I brake hard to avoid running into another car or killing a pedestrian.  Unfortunately, there's no way to tell the Snapshot that, so I have to listen to the awful three beeps and just shake my fist in futility.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the program.  Since I'm someone who doesn't drive much, I'm guaranteed to save money, which I'm a huge fan of.  It also makes me think a bit more about those times when I do take the car.  I'm even more vigilant about clustering my errands and biking when I can, and I haven't bought gas in a month (though BF has filled up since I last did).  I'm on track to save ~100 per year, possibly more, and I can think of a lot of things I'd rather do with that money than give it to Progressive.