Allstate Drivewise: Is It Worth It?
Just about anyone can earn rewards with Allstate’s Drivewise program—but is the app really worth it for insurance discounts?
Written by R.E. Fulton
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Allstate’s Drivewise® is a usage-based telematics program for car insurance savings, and rewards. Unlike some programs that track your driving, Drivewise won’t raise your insurance rate, making it a low-risk way to practice safe driving and save money.
In 2023, most insurance companies offer some kind of usage-based insurance program that tracks your driving behaviors in exchange for potential discounts on your
auto insurance
. How does Allstate’s Drivewise measure up to the competition? Check out our complete Allstate Drivewise review. Compare insurance quotes from 50+ carriers with Jerry in under 45 seconds (Title in payload)
4.7/5 rating on the App Store | Trusted by 5+ million customers and 7 million cars4.7/5 app rating | Trusted by 5M+ driversHow does Allstate Drivewise work?
The Allstate Drivewise program uses the Allstate mobile app on your smartphone (or, in
Arkansas
and New York
, a plug-in telematics device) to track your driving habits. Safe drivers who log trips without any hard stops or excessive speeds can complete safe driving challenges, earn Drivewise rewards, and get a discounted rate when their Allstate policy is up for renewal. To use Drivewise, all you need to do is enroll and then drive with location services set to “Always On.” This gives Drivewise permission to run in the background while you’re doing other things (like focusing on the road!). Make sure that your device has at least a 25% battery charge when you’re driving.
Drivewise will track your driving in real time and collect data to use for discounting purposes. When your policy is up for renewal, any discount you earned will be applied to your premium.
While most Drivewise members just use their phone to track driving performance, drivers in Arkansas and New York can opt to receive a small device that plugs into their vehicle’s OBD-II port. In addition to working with the Drivewise app to calculate insurance discounts, the Drivewise device can run diagnostics on your vehicle and alert you if you need to schedule an appointment for maintenance.
What Drivewise tracks
Drivewise records a lot of information about your driving habits, from where you drove and at what time of day to your speed and phone use. When you log onto the app, you’ll be able to view trip route maps and logs of your driving behavior.
You can use all of this data to understand and modify your driving habits (for instance, if you notice that you touch your phone a lot while driving, start being mindful and sending any calls or texts before you get behind the wheel). But only three pieces of information will affect your Allstate auto insurance rate:
- Speed: If you keep your speed under 80 mph, you’ll improve your discount. Unlike other telematics apps, Drivewise doesn’t pay attention to your speed relative to the speed limit—so you won’t get dinged for going 50 mph in a 20 zone (not by the app, anyway).
- Time of day: Avoid driving late at night to get a discount. Drivewise considers any time between 11pm and 4am (11pm and 5am on weekends) to be late-night driving.
- Hard braking: A “fast stop,” in Drivewise terms, is a reduction in speed of 8 mph or more per second. Maximize your discount by coming to a gradual stop instead.
That’s it! Other information that the app tracks, such as phone activity and location information, is displayed in the app for your benefit, but it won’t affect your discount. Location services information isn’t available to the Allstate agents calculating your rates.
"I wasn’t comfortable signing onto an otherwise cheap policy because the provider would track my miles, soJerryfound me a non-tracking policy with Clearcover for only $61/month! I think I made the right choice going with Clearcover. Thanks for helping my peace of mind, Jerry.” —Jorge C.
Allstate Drivewise car insurance discounts and benefits
Allstate claims that drivers can save 40% or more on their insurance premiums by using Drivewise.
Allstate doesn’t make the way Drivewise discounts are calculated public, so it’s hard to say exactly how large your discount could get. What we can say is that the average cost of an Allstate auto insurance policy is about $1,880 per year and the average Drivewise customer’s premium is $996 per year. That’s a reduction of close to 50%—so, while those are just averages, it seems like it’s not unrealistic to expect a sizable discount.
That is, if you’re a safe driver! You may think of yourself as a good driver and discover after downloading Drivewise that you do a lot more sudden braking than you realized—or that your highway commute puts you over 80 mph on a regular basis. No worries: you can’t raise your rate with Drivewise, so at worst you’ll pay the same rate and at best you’ll have a chance to replace those risky practices with safe driving habits.
One more thing: all Allstate policyholders who enroll in Drivewise get an instant policy discount of 3% just for signing up! If you don’t end up getting a usage-based discount, that 3% will go away when your policy renews. Drivers in Florida can get a 7% sign-up discount, while New Jersey drivers get 5% off at sign-up.
Drivewise features
Drivewise also has some extra features, like free, built-in crash detection that triggers an option to call 911, start an insurance claim, or summon
roadside assistance
if it senses a collision over 25 mph. Other Drivewise functions include: - Parking reminders: Records where you parked and gives you a nudge if you need to feed the meter
- Gas Finder: Helps locate gas stations near you
- Good Hands Rescue: Call for roadside assistance at any time
- QuickFoto: Allows you to take photos at an accident scene to begin an insurance claim
You don’t need to have a car insurance policy with Allstate to use Drivewise. While only Allstate policyholders can get insurance discounts through the app, anyone can earn Drivewise rewards points that can be redeemed for gift cards, sweepstakes, and other perks. There’s just one exception: drivers in New York State aren’t eligible for Allstate rewards through Drivewise.
MORE: How does your credit score affect car insurance?
How does Drivewise compare to other usage-based insurance programs?
Let’s put Drivewise up against similar telematics rewards programs from other leading auto insurance companies.
Program | What it tracks | Advertised discount | Can it raise your rate? | Apple App Store rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Allstate Drivewise® | High speeds, harsh braking, and time of day | 40% or more | No | 4.8 stars |
Time of day, braking, cornering, distracted driving, smoothness, distance, weather | Up to 25% | Yes | 3.3 stars | |
Braking, acceleration, time of day, phone use, time on road | $156 per year (average) | Yes | 4.5 stars | |
Acceleration, braking, cornering, speeding, distracted driving | Up to 30% | Yes | 4.6 stars | |
Mileage, braking, acceleration, time of day | Up to 40% | No | 4.5 stars | |
Location, time of day, phone use, braking, annual mileage | Up to 30% | No | 4.4 stars |
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Out of all the major telematics apps, Allstate’s has the highest user rating and the highest possible discounts. It’s also one of the handful of virtually risk-free telematics programs. And one extra perk of Drivewise: unlike other car insurance companies, Allstate doesn’t require you to download a separate app just to get discounts. You can practice good driving, save money, and win rewards—all without cluttering up space on your iPhone or Android.
The bottom line: is Drivewise worth it?
Not every Allstate customer will qualify for a discount through Drivewise—but it’s still worth enrolling in the program.
For one thing, you’ll get an instant discount when you sign up. If you can maintain safe speeds and avoid hard braking and late-night driving, you’ve got a good chance of keeping that discount and even adding to it. But even if you don’t get a discounted rate, you can still practice better driving habits, earn perks by completing challenges, and use other app features like crash detection and parking reminders.
If you’re not currently an Allstate customer, you can still use the app. Or, if it’s been a while since you shopped for insurance quotes, compare rates from Allstate and a few other providers to see if switching could save you even more. You can call insurance agents for free quotes or use a
trusted quote comparison tool
. "Jerryhelped me cut my rate almost in half by switching me to Allstate for the same coverage. I highly recommend this app to anyone.” —Drew E.
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