Nationwide SmartRide

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I have used the mobile app on my phone for a couple months now and have noticed that it incorrectly logs rapid acceleration/hard braking events. On occasions where I have had to accelerate and merge into oncoming traffic, it counted each event as 2 events. As for other acceleration/hard braking events, it seems to be a bit screwy but I think the app is detecting nearby WiFi networks and dropping the app and then reconnecting and counting that as multiple events for each time it drops/connects. It has recorded events where there has been no change in speed. As for the total number of miles it records I have not verified that against reality but since the app is on a mobile phone and goes wherever you go in whatever vehicle you are in, with a friend, public transportation, etc, you need to be diligent verifying it’s your trip and/or you are driving your car insured by your policy. Otherwise the mileage and whatever happens on that trip will be counted against you. The device that is installed in the vehicle might be a better choice.

Been using for about a month and so far I’m not getting the bugs with hard brakes or acceleration. I do live in a smaller town with little traffic and a short commute, which I feel is kind of ideal considering the demands of the program. The main bugs I’ve noticed are with recording trips that aren’t mine and auto marking them as mine (I take a daily parking shuttle to my job) and the idle time either recording really high or just being way too strict. I sit at two lights in my commute and occasionally a few more if I go into town or to the store. I’m still always more than double the green amount it seems. I can’t imagine living in even a little more urban area and trying to use this without a lot of issues even as a safe driver. Otherwise I find it pretty easy to use and track. It doesn’t really take much effort. I’m not sure how you have to drive to get their advertised 40% but it must basically be down the block and back daily. I’m guessing most people land between 15-25%. Still better than nothing. Hope you don’t have anywhere to go!

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This app isn’t user friendly. It doesn’t operate how it’s supposed to. There’s no point in sending feedback because no one does anything with it. I requested to have a ride suppressed where I was a passenger. The ride had high mileage and multiple instances of hard braking/acceleration. When they suppressed it, my percentage didn’t go back up. They consider sitting at a traffic light idle time, which also counts against you. Plus, according to Chris at Nationwide, it’s programmed to make your driving look worse than it is; he even confirmed that with someone in the technical department. Of course, they have crappy customer service, as well, because if you have a complaint against the person you’re speaking to, they escalate it themselves, which means they don’t submit your complaint. After four months of anxiety, you have to wait until your next billing cycle to get the discount you “earned.” So, if you do annual billing, you’re screwed out of the discount for the rest of the year.

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The app itself is average at best and it takes a lot of time to manage properly if you often ride with others or take a lot of taxi/Uber rides. Every single time you are a passenger, you need to go into the app and tell it you aren’t driving. Plus there’s no way to tell the app to pause for a few days or longer while you are traveling for example. All in all, I spent six months logging my trips as did my wife. At the end of the program the app said both drivers had earned a “29% Discount”. Of course that’s not a discount on the entire policy so after all that time and effort, guess how much I saved on my policy renewal... a WHOPPING $43... for the ENTIRE 6 month policy. I highly value my time and to spend all this time logging and managing my rides only to save $7 a month is an absolute JOKE. Such a joke that I will be cancelling my policy at the end of this month and will be saving $80 A MONTH with Progressive for the same exact coverage. I’m highly disappointed in outcome.

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First of all, my app keeps saying it out of date and to update but the App Store has no update! Second, I had about a good month or two of trip data being recorded, I had to accelerate in certain situations, such as merging with aggressive drivers accelerating so I had to speed up. Or to speed up to go around things and this marks negatively on the app as “may indicate aggressive driving”. No, I drive defensively. Randomly, it began telling me my app is out of date and stopped recording my data all together. It would say “error trip not recorded, bad gps quality” and eventually stopped working all together. This caused my insurance to drop my discount for enrolling into the program and my rate went up at no fault of mine. I tried contacting support via email as they offer, to no avail. A few others recommended I try State Farm’s safe driving program as they’ve had success and lower rates so that will be my next stop! Very annoyed with nationwide for this crap!