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2.8

I live 1 mile from work and put less than 20 miles per week on my car. My car is sort of broken and does not accelerate very well at all.

Its a 1997 toyota Rav4 manual transmission. My SmartRide weekly report said I had 11 hard brakes and 3 accelerations in one week. It can not be correct! I called nationwide customer service.

The guy I spoke to said, he just went to an extensive one week training course on the SmartRide device. I said great then can you answer this question please? How does this device actually monitor the acceleration and braking on my car. (keep in mind its a 1997 with a very old basic car computer that is not hooked up to my speedometer ect...) He said and I quote "I do not know the answer to your question sir" I said, so for an entire week long class nobody explained to you how the device actually works?

He said, and I quote. "I can not give you that information. All I can do is take a message to email to my supervisor." I said may I just please speak to your supervisor? He said, no one is allowed to speak to a supervisor in the company.

All communication must go through him through email to a supervisor and there is no other way to communicate to a supervisor according to company policy. He called me back 3 days later and said, The device measures braking and acceleration through the cars RPM's. I said I have a stick shift and have to keep reving the motor cause it wont hold and idol plus every time I push the clutch in it is showing a hard stop even though Its just me shifting normally. So this device is going to read and rate me worse than a automatic transmission.

Do they program these all the same or for each type of transmission. He said, "I do not know the answer to that sir" I said well if you actually did'nt spend 1 week at your training class getting coffee and taking hour long dumps and sitting with your thumb up your butt and asked educational questions to the educator then you would have a educated response to give me. Send a message to your supervisor via email (company policy) that I want you fired for being a ***. He said, and I quote "I am not a mormon" I said *** not mormon.

So ya basically very poor company training, hiring, and technology from Nationwide.

As an open minded customer I have to suffer for this and can't erase the false bad driving record they now have for me on a permanent file. THANKS NATIONWIDE Always by my side.

Reason of review: False driving record on file.

Monetary Loss: $40.

Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Pros: Insurance agent is very nice.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Cons: Corporate policy training and faulty device aka smartride.

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Guest

I found out that Nationwide's auto Smart Ride now has a GPS that they say when I took it that it did not. Also the coverage discount they promise is only on certain catagorys. IN others words it all BS and slime

Guest

Has anyone bothered to ask HOW Nationwide calculates your discount?

Guest

Wow. So much misinformation in one little post, where do I begin.

Not sure why you thought that someone would be helpful to you as you insulted them, but maybe that's just me. Addressing your concerns:

Your smartride device does not negatively or positively affect your driving record. It measures 4 parameters: Number of miles driven, time of day when driving, hard stops, and hard acceleration events. 11 hard acceleration events and 3 hard stop events in a week is a very low amount, and would be considered an excellent result.

Getting caught approaching an intersection where the light suddenly changes and you have to jam on the brakes will give you a hard stop. Some are expected. Dozens or hundreds per week would be consider excessive. To address a concern in one of the replies, SmartRide does not measure your speed.

That should be obvious, but I'll explain. Since it doesn't have a GPS component built in, it doesn't know where you are. So how could it know if you are speeding? 65mph on a highway may be fine, 65mph in a residential area not so much.

Also, SmartRide data is not used in any way except to generate a discount for your good driving. The data cannot be accessed by claims reps to be used to determine how good a driver you are.

Let's see, what else. Oh yeah, is it designed for your car model?

Yes, each SmartRide device is keyed to a particular car, based on it's VIN number. So it knows if your car is a manual transmission car or an automatic, 4cyl, 6cyl, or V8, and it's custom programmed to your vehicle. Pushing in your clutch will not cause a hard braking event, just like revving your engine will not cause a hard acceleration event. Those events are measured by an accelerometer in the device, not by throttle position or brake position.

At the end of 6 months or less, Nationwide will request that you send the device back and the data that was collected will be used to figure your final discount. That discount is then applied at the next renewal period, and it is permanent, as long as you maintain your policy in good standing and that vehicle remains on the policy. The SmartRide discount is not transferrable to another vehicle, and the data collected cannot be used to cause your rate to increase, or to cancel your insurance, if you drive too many miles or have too many hard stops/starts you simply won't get a discount, that's all. Hopefully that was helpful.

But if not, keep in mind that I am also not a Mormon when you respond.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1044999

I also drive stick and have an unbelievable amount of idle time. I think the problem is it counts coasting in neutral as idle time.

Most of my driving is turnpike, not many idles.This is incredibly frustrating and I'm angry enough to start looking at other carriers. I realize from reading other posts that the discount is insignificant, but still.

Guest

I denied the offer to use these smart devices on my car. I have enough to worry about and it is okay if I have to shell out a little more.

On the other hand, your claim could be jeopardy if speeding is recorded.

Guest

Let's also not forget that if someone else drives your car then it affects your personal driving record even though you werent the one driving. I think I'll let my grandma drive so it's a flawless record LOL.

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