Progressive's snapshot program and device
 

I have enrolled in progressives snapshot program. I had one of these devices on an old truck back in 2010 and I received a pretty good discount for participating. However today I went to look up the Snapshot device with Lexus vehicles and ran across tons of articles as recent as 2018 about this device damaging cars electrical systems and shutting off some peoples cars while on the road. This has me a bit freaked out because my old truck was a ford and was a 1996 model and had no fancy electrical system, but my Lexus car is very electrical dependent and has systems on it that I am now concerned could be impaired by this device. I would like to find out if anyone has had any issues with the Lexus vehicles concerning the Snapshot device. I tried to research on your forums here but didn't see any threads concerning this.

Anyway, I am new here, just signed up and I hope I get some responses. Thanks folks!

if you drive alot i would stay away from that snapshot because they wont give you discounts they will find a reason to hike your price up if you drive over 3000 miles a year
one way to bring your rate down a bit is to make sure you accurate on how mch you drive if you drive less than 10000 miles a year make sure you call up and tell them you drive less then 1000 be accurate if you only drive 5000 make sure they know you only drive 5000 miles because most american Insurnace companys automicaly quete drivers for 10000 to 12000 miles average per year and rates are higher themor eyou drive more chances for you to get into an accident
they can adjust the rate by average annual miles driven i had a quate of 1000 every 6 months because they automitcaly set me to 13000 miles a year when i told them the average miles on this car per year would be like 5000 miles they came back with a rate of 700 for 6 months

Yea, I don't drive that often, I am retired and only go to the store maybe twice up month up the road and to and from my doctor appointments, which are all a mile away from my house. My biggest concern is that this device could create issues for my car, so I wanted to find out if anyone here had any issues with the device. Thanks!

You might try calling a Lexus dealer and ask the service department if they have seen issues caused by these devices.

what does it analyze and how much of a discount do you get?
just curious

These are tracking devices that record acceleration , speed , braking data and provide it to the insurance company data base. The object is to see if you abide by traffic laws and if you don't violate them they will give you a little discount. Now just like sales items they charge you a little more on your policy and reduce it from there. The down side is it also gives them an excuse to cancel you based on your driving record. So if you never violate ANY traffic law you may get some sort of discount. When was the last time you didn't break one. 26 mph in a 25 mph zone is a violation. Also if you read the fine print this info can/will be available to law enforcement in case of an accident. It's kind of like these DNA tests where you now enter a big brother data base available to those who require the info.

Ok I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on the Snapshot device on my car. Shortly after installing it I started noticing the low tire pressure light and check engine light coming on and off randomly. Last Friday I took my car in to have its regular oil change and the technician came out and said my brake check light, check engine light and low tire pressure light were all on. He asked me if I had had any problems with my car and I said no, and mentioned that I recently put the Snapshot device on my car. He pulled the Snapshot device out of the OBD port and plugged in his handheld scan device to check the computerized portion of my car, and what repeated on his handheld device was "speed sensor, speed sensor, speed sensor" over and over. He said it appeared that the Snapshot device had implemented code into my cars computerized system and suggested to keep the snapshot device off my car. He told me to drive it for a few days and see if the cars system didn't clear it out. He said if it didn't that I may need to bring it back and do a reset of the computerized system. Needless to say I was pretty angry about this. I talked to a Progressive rep right before I installed the device who assured me it was safe for my car. When I got home I called Progressive and chewed some folks out. They have given me a "Fleet loss claim" and said that this was their companies insurance not mine that this will not go onto my car insurance as a claim. One of the Progressive reps told me that they had never had a problem with the Lexus cars, and said they wouldn't have given the device to me if their were any known issues for the Lexus cars. I will keep you all updated on this. Since Friday the low tire pressure, check engine light intermittently come on and off as I drive. Today is Labor day so I have to wait till tomorrow to hear back from Progressives claim people. I suspect they will want to examine my cars computer system. My fear is that they may have damaged my cars system. So, if any of you are thinking about utilizing Progressives Snapshot device I would advise you to avoid.