State Farm Drive Safe and Save or OnStar Program Review for 2024
Using the Drive Safe & Save mobile app or an OnStar-enabled vehicle, State Farm evaluates annual mileage and normal driving habits to determine your coverage discount every six months.
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Brad Larson
Licensed Insurance Agent
Brad Larson has been in the insurance industry for over 16 years. He specializes in helping clients navigate the claims process, with a particular emphasis on coverage analysis. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah in Political Science. He also holds an Associate in Claims (AIC) and Associate in General Insurance (AINS) designations, as well as a Utah Property and Casual...
Licensed Insurance Agent
UPDATED: Nov 27, 2023
It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right coverage choices.
Advertiser Disclosure: We strive to help you make confident insurance decisions. Comparison shopping should be easy. We partner with top insurance providers. This doesn’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own.
Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about auto insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything auto insurance related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by auto insurance experts.
UPDATED: Nov 27, 2023
It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right coverage choices.
Advertiser Disclosure: We strive to help you make confident insurance decisions. Comparison shopping should be easy. We partner with top insurance providers. This doesn’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own.
On This Page
- With State Farm Drive Safe & Save or OnStar, you can enjoy up to a 30% discount on your premiums as a safe driver and a low-mileage reward
- You can use either the State Farm Drive Safe & Save mobile application and Bluetooth device or sign up with an OnStar account with an OnStar-enabled vehicle
- Only odometer readings impact OnStar users
- Enrolling in State Farm’s Drive Safe program through the mobile app or OnStar will not result in any rate increases
You don’t need Jake from State Farm to use the State Farm Drive Safe & Save or the State Farm OnStar program. The website is set up to allow policyholders to do everything from their mobile devices to become safer drivers and save money doing it. This program provides a shortcut to see the benefits of long-term behavioral changes now.
Read through our guide to learn how OnStar plans or the State Farm Drive Safe program can lead to cheap auto insurance rates for any State Farm insurance customer.
Before you decide to buy State Farm car insurance or participate in the State Farm Drive Safe and Save or OnStar insurance programs, compare auto insurance quotes from reputable providers near you by entering your ZIP code into our free quote tool above.
What is State Farm Drive Safe and Save and OnStar?
Have you ever felt like your insurance policy rates were out of your control? Many drivers have wrestled with this for decades. You get in one small accident, and you could be paying for it for three to five years. Some drivers have a spotless driving record, and they’re still paying high premiums because of age, credit score, or other factors.
State Farm Insurance Drive Safe and Save is one of the top usage-based insurance programs (UBI) that monitors your driving techniques and rewards you with a discount based on a final score. No matter what your rates are now, this program identifies opportunities to improve your driving skills and rewards responsible driving.
Alternatively, State Farm allows drivers to use an OnStar-enabled vehicle to track odometer readings for the Drive Safe & Save deal.
UBI programs give insurers a more accurate understanding of a person’s driving risk level, according to https://content.naic.org/cipr_topics/topic_telematicsusagebased_insurance.htm. In traditional circumstances, insurers have to rely on data from local governments and the judgment of individual police officers. They have to trust in the honesty of drivers reporting when they’re in an accident.
With a telematics program, you have a silent tracker in your car for a set time period that counts everything without bias. At the end of the review period, it issues a score that represents the overall safety of the driver. This telematics program, which is State Farm technology by Cambridge Mobile, makes it easier to track, and you don’t have much to do in order to set it up.
Safe drivers can save up to 30% on their auto insurance policies. State Farm will not increase your rates as a result of participating in the program.
However, if you drive more than 7,500 miles annually and were previously receiving a low-mileage discount, you may lose it.
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How Does The Drive Safe & Save Device Work?
The State Farm Drive Safe & Save program works differently on the mobile app than when using OnStar.
To enroll using the mobile app and save text to 78836, download the app, and follow the enrollment instructions.
After enrollment, the company sends you a Bluetooth beacon which can be attached to your windshield. Keep Bluetooth and location services turned on, and the app records your trips. Users are given real time feedback through the app. You will not be penalized for not following its advice. The points for each behavior remain throughout the trial period.
Track your discount progress and receive safe driving tips through the Drive Safe & Save mobile app.
Through OnStar, you must have an active OnStar plan and an enabled vehicle. State Farm requests odometer information from OnStar within 30 days after you’ve enrolled in the program.
Either way, your discount updates approximately every six months. Not everyone on your policy needs to enroll in the program. The program connects to vehicles on your policy, not the drivers.
State Farm also offers the Steer Clear UBI program for drivers younger than 25-years-old.
Report problems or inaccuracies within your app by calling 888-559-1922 or emailing State Farm through the company website.
What Driving Habits Does State Farm Drive Safe & Save and OnStar Track?
Annual mileage is just one of the factors this program tracks. Its aim is to promote safer driving habits that lead to fewer accidents and claims. If used as designed, the program may reduce your risk of traffic infractions as well leading to naturally lower rates.
Primarily, the State Farm Drive Safe and Save program tracks the odometer readings on your vehicle and bases your automobile insurance discount on how far you’ve driven.
OnStar users are only evaluated based on odometer readings. Learn more by using your Onstar login information and tracking your account details.
The mobile app also tracks the following information:
- Quick accelerations (Burning rubber is not encouraged)
- Hard braking events (Do you have to brake hard on a regular basis to avoid accidents? If so, you are at a higher risk of bodily and property damage)
- Fast corners (Do you slow down when you turn around corners or do you maintain about the same speed? Hazards are harder to see around corners, and some cars are also less stable when turning at higher speeds)
- Speeding (Do you follow the posted speed limits? Especially if you’re in an area where most people do, this could lead to tailgating, delayed stops, and other serious hazards)
- Distracted driving (We’ve all been guilty of distracted driving at some point whether we were eating, putting on makeup, talking on our phones, or something else. Even if you think it doesn’t make a difference, it does. The telematics device identifies these small differences and tracks them.
- Time of day (If you’re driving in the middle of the night, you’re at a higher risk of being in an accident. While you may not be around as many cars as you would be during rush hour, you’re more likely to fall asleep or hit something due to slower reflexes)
According to the privacy policy, State Farm only shares data gathered about you and your driving score within the State Farm family of companies for informational purposes and on an as-needed basis.
Privacy laws vary by state.
Is State Farm Drive Safe and Save or OnStar worth it?
No matter who you are, you can save money with State Farm Drive Safe & Save or OnStar. Traditional insurance rates account for various factors that are thought to influence risk. This could lead to a safe and cautious driver paying a higher rate than a riskier driver because of a factor the insured doesn’t know about.
State Farm Drive Safe and Save skips past this to see how insured parties are actually driving. Then they issue rewards based on the tracked behavior. Insurers like Liberty Mutual have similar programs. The exact details vary, but the idea is the same. The safest drivers reap the biggest rewards, and everybody has the chance to get better over time. It’s better than an accident-free discount in part because there’s a wider pool of data.
Are you approaching your policy renewal with State Farm? Maybe you’re comparing different options to see if you want to stay with your current insurer. This is just one of many safe driving habits programs. You can get an auto quote or several with our online tool and compare different programs based on your vehicle location. Then you can decide which policy and discount opportunity are right for you.
Now that you know the State Farm Drive Safe and Save or OnStar auto insurance rates see what other UBI programs are out there by entering your ZIP code into our free quote tool below.
Enter your ZIP code below to compare auto insurance rates.
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Brad Larson
Licensed Insurance Agent
Brad Larson has been in the insurance industry for over 16 years. He specializes in helping clients navigate the claims process, with a particular emphasis on coverage analysis. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah in Political Science. He also holds an Associate in Claims (AIC) and Associate in General Insurance (AINS) designations, as well as a Utah Property and Casual...
Licensed Insurance Agent
Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about auto insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything auto insurance related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by auto insurance experts.