Allstate’s UBI Program Reports Almost 1B Miles Driven

Allstate reports that drivers that are signed up for its usage-based insurance program, Drivewise will register more than one billion miles driven this month.

Allstate also said that Drivewise is launching in Kentucky and Montana this week, making the usage-based insurance product available in 22 states.

Allstate’s UBI product measures as mileage, hard braking, excessive speed, and the time of day when a customer drives. Using that data, Allstate calculates insurance premium savings for each customer using its telematics technology. Customers receive savings equal to 10 percent of premium. After the first six months of use, customer savings are based on driving performance calculated from the data collected.

The company said that seven of every 10 Drivewise customers are saving money through the program and no one receives an increase. Of the drivers earning a discount, the average savings is about 14 percent per vehicle.

Allstate reports that roughly, a third of all new customers enroll in the Drivewise program, where it is available.

Allstate said that as it expects to make the program available in the majority of the country by year end.

A recent survey found that, despite some qualms, U.S. drivers are open to purchasing usage-based auto insurance (UBI) policies, or “pay as you drive” insurance, and are even more interested when told their premiums would go down.

The Towers Watson survey indicated that UBI is gaining momentum in the marketplace, with more consumers willing to let insurers monitor their driving habits with a telematics device in exchange for potential savings on their car insurance.

Most (79 percent) respondents to the UBI Consumer Survey indicated they either would buy a UBI policy or are willing to consider the concept, and if insurers would guarantee drivers’ premiums would not rise, that percentage increased to 89 percent.

Progressive Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. auto insurer that pioneered in UBI with its Snapshot product, recently said that getting customers to adopt the monitoring technology is a challenge.

Surveys of prospective Snapshot users have shown that “you get about 30 percent of people saying, ‘Yeah, why not?’; you get another 30 percent of people saying, ‘Maybe, I need to know more’; and you get about 40 percent of people saying, ‘No way in hell,’” Chief Executive Officer Glenn Renwick said recently.