Why did I susbscribe to the Allstate DriveWise program

I have been with Allstate Insurance in Southern Ontario for over 20 years.  In all that time I have not had an at fault claim and I can't remember when I got the last traffic ticket.  I have no demerit points.  I have a 2006 Dodge Charger (V6).  A nice safe car that is not too expensive.  My insurance rates keep going up and up and up.  I have home insurance bundle discount, multi-car discount, winter tire discount, email discount and other discounts that I don't even remember but the price keeps going up and up and up.

Then Allstate told me that I could sign up for the DriveWise Program.

    What is Drivewise?
         A great new way for drivers to save up to 30% on their auto insurance.

I was told that I could save up to 30%! WOW - sign me up.  I wanted to get onto the program in Nov 2015 but I was not told that I had to start the program on the date of my renewal and so I had to wait a year until November 2016.

My first impression with the program: Allstate does not provide a lot of detail on what being a "good driver" is.  They do not tell you what the criteria are for getting a 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% or 30% discount.  Neither the DriveWise support team nor the internal "Ombudsman" will provide information because they state that information is proprietary.  OK - I can understand that.

Allstate will also not answer questions about what the distribution of discounts is. 
No answer about how many people get a 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% or 30% discount. 

From Drivewise support: As we do have privacy and confidentiality policies in place, we cannot share the details as to how many customers are earning which types of discounts. However, we do have a wide range of customers earning discounts across the board from 0-30%.

I was told that the average discount is about 8.4% (Dec 2016)

I thought the discount distribution might be like line A
but now my gut feel says it is more like line B

Lesson learned: Like store sales that have BIG signs that state in large numbers 75% OFF, but in very small letters saying "up to".  Very very few people will get between 25% and 30% discount. Very few. So few that Allstate does not even want to disclose the number.


In this blog I will provide my thoughts on my experience with the Allstate DriveWise program.

My demographic stats.
   Gender: Male
   Age: 50
   Status: Single
   Area: Mississauga, Ontario
       Note: I do not drive the car to work.


Other reviews
Chris Patterson - Dec 17, 2013
George Burgyan - Jan 30, 2012