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I volunteered to plug into the matrix and use my smartphone to monitor my driving.
Reasons why:
1. It's free money. Insurers offer a solid discount in exchange for the driving habits of those who participate.
2. They can't hold a poor driving skills against you. The rules around 'Telematics' DO NOT allow insurers to SURCHARGE if you're terrible. You just don't get offered any additional discounts next year...but you still get the free money THIS year.
3. I'm delusional about my own abilities behind the wheel and believe I may be the best driver on the planet. Plus this appeals to me as a placeholder for video games I no longer have time for.
4. I had questions about it, and before I recommended it to customers i wanted answers. Is it easy to use? Is it annoying? How do i enjoy the enjoy the experience? ALl this stuff.
Getting Setup
When you decide to sign up, you need to choose a cell phone number to use with it.
*Consider the impact of this decision if you have a work phone/work vehicle... otherwise you may not be accurately reflecting the use of your own vehicle.
Download the app on your phone, and when the policy is completed you'll receive a text with instructions.
After you enter the text message's PIN into the app it logs you right in.
You will need to 'allow access to Location Services' so it can read the GPS of the device. I normally dislike ever 'clicking yes' on these but it's the entire point of this app.
TRACKING TRIPS
Once I was into the app, I was hoping to take this for a test drive and see what it was all about.
What I learned was, there's really nothing left to be done. The experience is kind of a slow burn.
It starta tracking your driving in the first few trips once it calibrates, but takes 30 days of monitoring before it's able to guess at what discount you've earned.
Here's what a regular trip looks like.
The 4 purple circles on the bottom let you know how you did on each trip. If they're red, the app has detected an 'incident' and will factor that into your driving profile/discount.
A trip with an 'incident'.
You ARE able to EDIT and remove completed trips where you were not the driver. I liked this since it saves you from having to worry about constantly turning it on an off/on. Though I still do that because I'm way too into this.
The Experience
I wasn't sure how to feel about the fact it shows you EXACTLY where you were when an incident is recorded. At first I thought it was cool use of tech but later I wondered if I'd have preferred not to know.
"THERE?!...THAT was the incident??! This is rigged."
PRO: Transparency with the ability to recall what happened, and change the behavior going forward.
CON: Most people disagree with the penalty, or don't remember it happening which brings a bit of resentment towards anyone involved.
MY BIGGEST TAKEAWAY: 'Incidents' feel much more personal than I'd expected. That was surprising.
FULL DISCLOSURE: My wife and I both started using the apps concurrently on separate vehicles and not surprisingly it's become a serious competition to me.
Tale of the Tape
Her car is automatic, mine is a standard. - ADVANTAGE ME.
She commutes in stop & go traffic, I get to avoid that. - ALSO ADVANTAGE ME
She's not into driving at all , and really doesn't even know how serious I'm taking this friendly competition. - MAJOR ADVANTAGE FOR ME
Results at Day 61
At the end of the first I've got a 25% discount at renewal and she's sitting at 22%!
My reaction SHOULD have been "that's great!" but all I can think is that I'm driving around like I'm delivering landmines for 3%??
RECOMMENDATION: Use her approach of forgetting this is even a thing. *Also if anyone is interested in action on her covering the spread on this...leave me a comment.*
Everyone starts at 30. Each tick below it I die a little inside.
OVERALL
So far, I'm actually quite impressed with it.
We saved a few hundred dollars THIS year by using it, and am on track to get more next year at renewal.
1. Setup was easy, and the app hasn't hurt my battery life.
2. It's been surprisingly liberal about giving out 'incidents'.
(I was cut off by a snowplow and it didn't even register)
3. It hasn't really been a nuisance to monitor.
4. It has me actively thinking about driving safely.
It's probably not for everybody, but if you're on the fence and it suits your lifestyle I recommend giving it a whirl.
- MD
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Take back your glovebox in 2019
Stop digging through the pile of napkins and receipts...only to find expired pink cards. Nova Scotia allows drivers to provide digital proof of insurance and it's available now.
It's called
and it's excellent.
Brokers who use MyProof can send you a secure email and in a few quick steps you'll have it on you wherever you go.
STEP 1 - Hop on your phone and open up that email.
STEP 2 - "CLICK TO DOWNLOAD AUTO INSURANCE CARD"
Which looks like this:
STEP 3 - "ADD" to wallet.
Adding the Proof of Insurance to your phone's 'digital wallet' let's you access it without an internet connection or cellphone signal.
It works just like a boarding pass...and if you haven't been brave enough to use one of those yet, let me take this moment to FULLY ENDORSE IT. You're missing out. *For those not familiar a 'Digital Wallet' comes pre-installed on i-phones, and is available for download on your devices specific app store. Once you have a card in your wallet it stays there until you delete it. 
The Digital Pink card does still have the year to year limitation, but it's a good reminder to take a look at your renewal with your broker and update it.
HERE'S A VIDEO THAT LETS YOU SEE IT IN ACTION.
The video mentions PRIVACY and LOCKING your phone when presenting your Pink Card. A valid point that needs addressing.
In order to feel comfortable passing your phone to a stranger you should activate what's called "Guided Access" on your device. It allows you to lock your screen within applications and restricts access to other parts of the device. It's handy for this exact reason, and also to let kids handle your phone without calling someone or buying something. At the risk of becoming a tech-blog, here's a quick map for activating GUIDED ACCESS on i-phone and Android devices. 
Believe it or not, allowing Electronic Proof of Auto Insurance was new in 2018.
What's more impressive is that Nova Scotia was the first province in Canada to allow it. Look at us! I don't think the paper pink cards are going away anytime soon, but I'd like to think at least once...this comes in handy for someone at a police checkpoint. MD In the past 5 years, have you ever been cancelled, declined, or refused coverage?"
Clients that have been cancelled for non payment may find themselves PAYING A LOT MORE for coverage at renewal.
Here's a few reasons to make insurance payments a priority.
Avoid getting picked last for kickball.
More Money.
Fortunately Auto Insurance is regulated by the province, and if you pay the missing amount before your cancellation date there's a requirement to reinstate your coverage.
Once renewal rolls around though, that's when you'll see the additional costs.
Property on the other hand has NO REGULATION which means insurance companies don't HAVE to do anything... and the market is trending towards insurers NOT REINSTATING HOME POLICIES that have been cancelled for non-payment.
This leads to shopping for coverage elsewhere right away, and your options are often less attractive.
When it Rains, it Pours.
If you're able to get your insurer to reinstate your HOME policy, there's a good chance they may not offer monthly payment anymore.
PAYMENT IN FULL?!
Sadly yes.
If you decide to go elsewhere "since this is ridiculous" you're likely to have an even higher premium elsewhere since you've been removed from the WANTED list.
Understand What You Signed Up For.
An insurance policy is a 12 month agreement.
Tons of people end up getting cancelled for non-payment simply because they didn't know it was a big deal, or they didn't think it affected them. I knew a guy who put a 'stop pay' on his payments after he sold his car since he didn't need it anymore. I'm not kidding. Rather than calling and cancelling it like most people, he just pushed his future self off an insurance rating cliff.
I guess my takeaway here is:
If you’re living paycheck to paycheck and you sometimes have to ask: "WHICH BILL IS GETTING PAID THIS MONTH?" You can save FUTURE YOU some money by putting your insurance bill near the top of the pile. - MD |
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