The Fewer the Miles Driven the Greater the Savings with New Drive Safe & Save™ Program
California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and State Farm Agency Vice President Tom Conley announce the approval of State Farm’s innovation Drive Safe and Save program.
Woodland Hills, CA – Dec. 2, 2010 – The California Department of Insurance today gave approval to State Farm’s innovative mileage-based insurance program known as Drive Safe & Save™ (DSS). State Farm is the largest insurer in California to offer such a program. DSS is a voluntary option for customers with a simple premise, the fewer the miles driven, the greater the savings.
To participate in State Farm’s Drive Safe & Save™ program, a policyholder must either have a vehicle with an active OnStar account, or the customer can self report odometer readings, which can be completed via the internet or communicated to their agent. Odometer readings will be validated through external vendor sources when possible.
“Drive Safe & Save™ will help us better match price to risk and that’s a good thing,” said Tom Conley, State Farm Agency Vice President. “We believe customers will respond positively to this program.”
Customers who participate in DSS will initially get a participation discount of five percent. The participation discounts will typically only apply for the first policy term (six months). The program will have 39 mileage segments, which will increase in 500 mile increments. Except for the highest segments, the customer will save every time they drop down a segment. Most of the time, the savings will be between one and two percent every 500 miles. Policyholders who drive 19,000 miles or less can save by enrolling in the program. Ultra-low mileage drivers could save up to 45 percent.
The new program is prospective, the odometer readings will be used to determine future premiums, and the information will not be used retrospectively. If a customer chooses not to participate, they would remain in today's current program which offers two segments; short annual (below 7,500 miles) or long annual mileage (above 7,500 miles). The effective date of the Drive Safe & Save™ program is February 28, 2011.
California Public Affairs Specialists
State Farm insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the U.S., is the leading insurer of watercraft and is also a leading insurer in Canada. Our 17,800 agents and more than 68,000 employees serve 81 million policies and accounts – more than 79 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and nearly 2 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 34 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit statefarm.com® or in Canada statefarm.ca®.
