I’ve not experienced any strange effects that I can recall…

Holy crap – that’s awesome!!!! Thanks for sharing your incredible discount! It’s all about avoiding those hard brakes if you want to get the 30% savings I’ve found.

I will comment that if you take long trips say 3+ goes and use your cruise control, do not use the coast feature to slow down. It will slow you down too quickly and will count as a hard break. A deceleration of 7 mps (miles per second). Other than that it’s been a god send in savings $$$!

Great points! I fully agree with everything you’ve said here. They really should take more factors into account if they’d really like to appropriately categorize each person for accident risk. Thanks for stopping by to comment!

I take driving VERY seriously, and I have attended many performance driving schools. Just yesterday I avoided an accident when a woman suddenly turned into my lane without looking. If I had not been driving defensively, I would have hit her. Ironically, my training prevented her insurance rates from increasing from causing an accident.

Driver training in the U.S. is virtually nonexistent. It is FAR too easy to get a license in the U.S. When both of my sons got their license I sent them to a teen defensive driving school that gave them in-car experience with emergency braking – both with and without ABS – and emergency lane changes. It also included significant classroom instruction in things such as contact patches, weight transfer, understeer and oversteer. (The average “driving instructor” likely doesn’t even know what those terms mean.) They also spent time in a “skid-car” which taught them how to control a vehicle that is sliding. They learned how to handle emergency situations in a safe environment, so they are prepared when it happens in the real world. That is far more important than learning to parallel park.

Neither son ever had an accident, and I know for a fact that the training prevented accidents…when other people did stupid things (e.g., pulled out in front of my son).

Insurance companies should base rates on miles driven, driver training and accident history. Discounts should be given to drivers who complete advanced driver training programs that involve actual in-car experience in “accident” situations.

Driving fast is not necessarily dangerous. Driving too fast for conditions is, and that could be a slow as 20 mph. Looking merely at speed, the woman who pulled out in front of me would get an insurance discount.