I bought a 2021 ES250 and was surprised to learn that Allstate Drivewise dongle is not compatible with this car. We save $200/yr on insurance premiums with this on my other car. My insurance rep says this is the only late model car she's seen that's incompatible.

Has anybody else had a similar experience?

 

I wouldn't kmow as I gave up Allstate years ago when I realized they were raping me on premiums even tjough I have a perfect driving record for years and years.

 

After switching around a bit throughout the years, I've found Mercury to be the cheapest (of the big name carriers)

my 2021 ES turned out to only be $8 a month more than my 2015 CT200h

 

I used to be an insurance broker in my early 20's and I can tell you from experience there isn't a single company that is inexpensive to everyone. There are many variables but some of the most impactful are as follows:

• Vehicle
• Driving record
• Zipcode

The best advice is to shop around online and get several quotes before making a decision.

 

Good advice. Plus if you are with an independent agent, be proactive and make sure they shop your coverage each year. Insurance rates are regulated and companies are always filing different rate and discount programs. I once had an agent that just renewed my policy each year. Had another independent agent cold call me with offer to review my coverage. He put me with the same company (Travelers) but at a substantial savings for identical coverage as there were different rate codes he could use.

 

I have USAA so I'm not sure what Allstate's drivewise dongle is exactly. I'm assuming it is something that plugs into the OBDII port. In what way is it incompatible?

For what it's worth, I power my Valentine 1 radar detector using the same port without any issues.

 

Our State Farm device just sits in the car and connects to my smartphone via bluetooth. Not a perfect solution as it will sometimes connect automatically to my wife's smartphone while I am driving, and then we get nicked for smartphone usage while driving because she will be reading e-mail or looking something up.

 

Mostly true but all things being equal, Mercury is usually cheaper than lets say Allstate. Again excluding non-standards.

 

Can't the problem with your wife's phone be eliminated if she turns off the Bluetooth connection when you are driving and when she wants to be using her phone?

 

Technically, yes that would work. As a practical matter, that turns her Apple Watch into just another timepiece... We have actually tried this a few times and of course, the main challenge is that she forgets to turn it back on after we reach our destination. Another one of those first world problems isn't it?

 

Yes it plugs into the diagnostic port. It tells Allstate how much you drive, what hours of the day you drive, how fast you accelerate, etc. You get an extra discount based on your driving habits.

I got big discounts on my previous cars and on my 2019 Cadillac XT5. I was amazed to learn that Allstate says the device isn't compatible with the 2021 Lexus ES. My agent said it's the only new car she's seen that isn't compatible.

 

Be careful with USAA. Was with them for about 5 years then when I checked last year, the renewal was $3400 for my wife and I. Clean record, 5000 miles a year each. Called State farm and saved $1400 a year.

 

I signed up for the State Farm Drive Safe and Save program for my 2017 ES a couple of months ago. Since I don't drive the ES in the winter, I hadn't had a chance to see how it works.

Today, I took the ES out of winter storage. During my first trip, I wanted to stream audio from my phone via the Tune-In Radio app. Afterwards, I saw that the State Farm app had dinged me for using my phone even though the only phone usage was using the Tune-In app to stream audio.

 

Interesting. I have contacted State Farm about the "mistaken identity" problem before and they had no "reasonable" solutions. I would suggest you reach out to them on this as well, but I'm not optimistic they will have a workable solution for this. I don't believe it completely tanks the possible discount, but it will clearly diminish it somewhat.

 

Now, I'm wondering whether I'll also be getting dinged if I answer the phone (hands free) when I get an incoming call while I'm driving. Since I didn't get any incoming coming calls while I was out yesterday, I don't know for sure, but I won't be surprised if I do get dinged.

Do you know whether that is the case?