Root Car Insurance: A Comprehensive Review
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Everything You Need to Know About Root Car Insurance
Introduction to Root Car Insurance
Root Insurance Company is a relatively new auto insurance provider that entered the market in 2015. Root uses smartphone apps and telematics technology to track actual driver performance and base premium rates on that data rather than traditional factors like age, gender and credit scores.
This innovative approach allows safer drivers to potentially receive significant discounts compared to standard insurance carriers. However, Root’s reliance on algorithms and apps poses some drawbacks as well.
How Does Root Car Insurance Work?
Root requires interested customers to download their free app and drive with it for 2-4 weeks. The Root app collects various driving metrics including speed, acceleration, braking, turning, phone usage, and what times of day you drive most often. All this data gets processed to generate a risk profile and personalized premium quote.
New adult drivers with limited history, for example, may save money with Root if they drive safely despite their demographics. The app also provides feedback to promote better habits. However, you must own a smartphone and drive regularly to qualify.
What Kinds of Auto Insurance Coverage Does Root Offer?
Root provides all the standard personal auto insurance coverages including:
- Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability
- Collision
- Comprehensive
- Personal Injury Protection
- Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist
- Medical Payments
Additionally, Root policies include basic protections like roadside assistance, rental reimbursement, Mexico physical damage coverage and rideshare coverage for Uber and Lyft.
However, Root does NOT offer GAP insurance, SR-22 plans, business/commercial policies or specialty equipment coverage at this time. They also encourage customers to purchase umbrellas or higher limits from other insurers.
Root Auto Insurance Pros
- Lower premium rates for safe, low-risk drivers based on actual driving habits, not just demographics
- Easy mobile app for managing your policy or starting a claim
- No long term contracts – cancel anytime if rates increase next renewal
Root Auto Insurance Cons
- High volume of customer complaints about claims handling/delays
- Bare minimum call center assistance and human interaction
- App tracking required which raises privacy concerns for some
- Poor customer satisfaction ratings on third party review sites
Root Car Insurance Customer Reviews
While some safer drivers rave about the significant savings from Root’s telematics model, the majority opinion is less enthusiastic. Root currently holds only a 1.5 out 5 star rating on BBB and 1 star out of 5 on Trustpilot based largely around poor claims processing and non-existent customer service.
While starting a policy on the Root app is simple enough, getting issues resolved with an actual human appears nearly impossible without extreme persistence. Keep this lack of post-sale support in mind before selecting any app-based insurer.
Our Final Take on Root Car Insurance
Root represents an exciting glimpse into the future of usage-based auto insurance rates. For extremely safe drivers comfortable interacting strictly through a self-service app, Root delivers competitive prices not possible for most standard carriers.
However, we cannot currently recommend Root Insurance outright until they address persistent complaints around claims handling responsiveness and complete lack of customer assistance options. Root’s algorithmic underwriting works fine – their human support does not.
Drivers interested in exploring telematics policies would do better with options like Progressive’s Snapshot or State Farm’s Drive Safe & Save program in their current form. We advise all motorists to compare Root alongside traditional providers during a thorough rate shopping process for the best overall value insurance.
