USAA DriveSafe

It takes a point deduction when your phone is utilized while driving. For example if your phone moves for ANY reason such as bumped or falling in floor or if a passenger uses it. It will determine that the driver touched the phone and is distracted. I contacted USAA and proposed this issue and their work around was have someone else use their phone instead of the drivers. I explained various scenarios such as the driver phone is GPS or music and the passenger touches the phone to adjust said items, while the driver is focusing on the road…still point deductions. I also tried explaining that I was getting deductions even though I, the driver was not touching my phone and they said once again to have my passenger use my phone and to leave mine alone. Overall, I don’t know if it’s a great app yet or not. I do know that other drivers affect my score such as if something happens and I have to hit my brakes..deduction. You could honestly be the safest driver ever and still get deductions which is wild to me. Anyways give it a try but play the long game. They say the discount applies to your next premium so prepare for a possible discount maybe for months away.

Overall, the app is great with a few significant issues. Other than harsh braking, phone handling, and phone use, the score is arbitrary to the driver as there is no apparent or disclosed reasons for point deductions. The algorithm is not provided. For example, if I take a short drive at or just under the speed limit, take turns at moderate normal safe speed, and drive otherwise perfectly, don’t touch my phone, etc the app will deduct one or two points for undisclosed reasons, so there is no way for a driver to improve without reasonable feedback. Often, when I drive to get gas or stop to drop off something or pull over to make a call in a parking lot (engine off, Apple ios driver focus off), the app counts going to and returning from the gas station or parking lot as a single drive even though I was stopped for about 5 minutes with the engine off - just using my phone attached wallet seems to trigger point deductions when stopped. After almost two months of driving, I’m still waiting for a discount, again without specific feedback of when the discount is awarded (how many miles, hours, days, etc). As a result, the app is frustrating due to lack of accurate scoring and limited feedback. I wrote the review hopeful that USAA will pay attention and fix the issues. It’s a great app, just needs maturity and more disclosure and feedback regarding scoring.