Allstate’s Safe Driving Bonus Check: Caveat Emptor?

Despite being around for almost 10 years now, should one read the proverbial “fine print” before availing themselves of Allstate’s Safe Driving Bonus Check? 

By: Ringo Bones 

When I first saw the Allstate Safe Driving Bonus Check advert back in 2007 and the related TV ad featuring The Unit’s Dennis Haysbert, it seems that Allstate’s scheme to drag more customers to avail themselves of their “novel” Car Insurance / Auto Insurance policy scheme seems too good to be true for giving you a bonus if you don’t have an accident claim for six months – and it really is by the time you read the fine print – it is not available in all states in the United States, especially in the state of California. But if the “positive aspects” of Allstate’s Safe Driving Bonus Check is available in your territory, is it a really beneficial bonus of one’s car insurance / auto insurance policy? 

The Safe Driving Bonus Check provides a credit to Allstate insured drivers that do not have a claim within a specified policy term for at least six months. The allotted credit is up to 5 percent of the policy insurance premium, applied to your renewal policy. For example, if you pay $500 for six months of car insurance, you are eligible to receive a $25 credit for your next six-month policy term. In other words, you would only have to pay $475 for your next six months with Allstate. This may seem to do wonders to your car insurance premiums, but as always, there are some minor catches. 

The minor catches are: In order to qualify for any of this, you must first be enrolled in Allstate Your Choice Auto program. Allstate Your Choice Auto requires you to have a clean driving record and good credit – i.e. insurance score. If you are eligible or already enrolled, the Safe Driving Bonus Check may not be available until your next policy renewal and additionally, any bonus under $5 will only be applied to your renewal premium. So if you don’t stay insured will Allstate, all bets are off. 

Will The EU’s New Insurance Gender Equality Laws Affect Women’s Driving Behavior?

While supposedly making EU insurance laws more or less gender neutral will the latest EU court decision on gender equality geared EU insurance laws affect women’s driving attitudes in the EU?

By: Ringo Bones

Unfair stereotype or not, the statistical correlation of young women drivers aged 18 to 25 being safer than their male counterparts is not easy to overlook. But will the latest European Union Court ruling to make insurance premium pricing laws gender neutral across the EU eventually change current safety-conscious attitudes of EU citizen drivers?

The new EU law outlawing gender discrimination in the pricing of insurance premiums in the vehicular / car / driving insurance front could make women drivers in the EU face a sharp jump in the cost of their driving insurance premiums by as much as 40%. And according to Aidan Kerr of the Association of British Insurers, the sharp rise in car insurance premiums of women drivers in the EU would certainly affect their safety conscious driving attitudes down the road if they now pay the same insurance premium rates as their male counterparts.

Not only driving insurance premium rates will be affected. The latest European Union Court ruling on gender neutral insurance premium pricing will also affect life insurance and pension annuity premiums. Women in the European Union will be paying up to 30% more on their life insurance premiums despite recent scientific studies showing that women in the EU tend to live longer than their male counterparts in a statistically significant manner. Whether it is due to genetics or due to an inherently risk averse behavior, anyone – male or female – who live longer and pay for their life insurance premiums for much longer due to their longevity do deserve lesser premium rates. 

On the “losing” side, EU men now could face to collect 10% less on their retirement income of their pension annuities due to the new EU insurance gender equality laws. Although, the policymakers that legislated the new EU insurance gender equality laws seems to be silent on how all of this will affect the inherently safety-conscious attitudes of EU women drivers who now have to pay the same increased car insurance pricing premiums as their male counterparts in the near future. Is it just an unjust law that defies current scientific findings?

Can Computer-Aided Driving Lower One’s Car Insurance Premiums?

Given that the steepness of one’s car insurance premiums is directly proportional to their accident risk, can computer-aided driving result in a more equitable policy?

By: Ringo Bones

Given that there is now a near ubiquity of GPS navigation in the latest car models, the world’s leading automotive manufacturers have now engaged themselves in a toe-in-the-water exercise on the commercial viability of automotive computers that help improve ones driving skills – safety wise. As of late, lane-departure warning devices – computer-based smart devices that use the white lines on the road as a guide - have been tried out in order to improve the road safety aspect of one’s driving skills. They emit an audible warning to the driver whenever he or she deviates from the straight path, given that less-than-sober drivers swerve in and out of their designated lane.

Andrew Yeoman, managing director of Trimble – an in-car mini computer that collects data of one’s driving performance and also provides driving tips – could allow a driver’s insurance premiums to go down by making him or her into a less accident-prone driver. As of the late, the Trimble system had received good reviews by those who tried it out. Unfortunately, as with similar in-car driving aid computers, they don’t work reliably in not-so-well-maintained roadways where the white dividing lines are already faded off. If computer-aided driving becomes commonplace, will in-car computers that drives our cars more safely than us be the next big thing in automotive accessories?