I Just Sold My Kia Soul To the Kia Dealer, Because My Little State Farm Beacon Buddy, Tracks Everything That I Do In My New Kia Sorento

Yeah it's great until you have been with them for a while. Ive achieved $6 discount every 6 months now. It seemed good for the first couple years. Im paying more because of increases than I was 3 years ago without. "Inflation" im lucky I drive more than 6,000 miles a year.

I'm gonna honk more. People are driving like their tires can't hold the road in any curve no matter how slight. 45 in a 50 mph? Hit the brakes for that gentle left bend. It is ridiculous!

I use an insurance App and it has improved my Driving and made more confident. I used to think i was a bad driver but by looking at my Progress it gives me reassurance on how good i am. But unfortunately my driving app only gives me the discount upon insurance renewal. I would highly recommend using this if you are a new driver. Not only to save money but as a teaching tool.

Time to get an old cheap "burner" just for use w/that beacon widget. Leave that one in the vehicle plugged in and in as immovable spot as possible. At least then you don't have to deal with their doubtless spyware on your actual phone.

AllState had, maybe still has, this drive wise similar setup. It promotes unsafe driving to avoid the "hard braking", "rapid acceleration" events.

If you're paying $500/month for car insurance, maybe you just shouldn't be driving.

So, this is essentially a State Farm and Kia ad?

I have a similar system with Progressive but it does not require an extraneous device. It works solely off my phone. It’s also considerably cheaper than State Farm. I am paying about $1100 per year on a new Volvo cross country wagon.

One of my coworkers was going to be cancelled because he would drive 140 mph on a daily basis. They were tracking him on his phone app. He is also a helicopter pilot at our job, they had to delete the app from his phone.

Who is paying that much for car insurance that you can save almost $300/ month. I insure 4 cars with full coverage for less than $200/month and one of them is a Corvette.

How dumb is this person? I have this bug because it gets me a good discount on my insurance. You can take it off at anytime and your not watched anymore by big brother. So what a cheap headline!! Not a good article at all!!!

Sorry, but anyone paying $500 a month/$6,000 a year for car insurance must be a terrible driver and/or has a lot of points on their license for traffic violations. I think the "buddy" is too much of an intrusion. Geotabs are common in trucking/CDL's and some non-CDL delivery driving occupations. The dealer example of cutting insurance in half by using the "buddy" seems high to me. I would question if there is a scam between the dealer and State Farm. Additionally, it was Kia/Hyundai that have certain models that, due to bad engineering, are easy to steal this increasing insurance cost

Unfortunately, this person will likely suffer more in the long run with this activity tracker. Any time I read an article about one of these devices, the long term effects are that their premiums go up. Insurance companies are not in the business of saving the customer money, they're in it to save themselves money. I would not be surprised if the dealership gets a cut for pushing these things either.

Nope. Not happening.
Its bad enough so much of our lives are tracked and monitored as it is. Not a chance in hell I will willingly give consent to this. I am a sports car driver, so a device like that would do more harm than good in my case. But im not broke either. So, I would just pay a higher premium to go without it.

I signed up with Progressive Ins. They offered the same thing basically. An item that plugs into your car computer. I will see what it reports on me.65 is usually my top speed. I have noticed various times it will beep for quick stop when I stop normally. Will wait and see.

In 40+ years of drive and purchasing numerous vehicles both new and used, I've never had a conversation about insurance with a car dealer other than giving them my current policy number. Sounds like some individual dealer shade and not sanctioned by Kia.
On the flip side though... When I first started seeing these "Install this device(now apps) and pay less!! things 15 years or so ago, I thought the next step is going to be making them a requirement to get any sort of insurance coverage let alone just being an option to get discounted rates.

As far as I'm concerned any insurance company that wants to put a tracking device on my car doesn't want my business and won't get it.

Over $200 a month for insurance? That's insane.

The beacon program is ridiculous. Hard braking is a ding against you as to your driving habits. In rural areas, hard braking is necessary to avoid a collision with a deer or some other random animal. In more urban areas, hard braking happens to avoid a collision with another vehicle such as someone who just pulled out from a business or driveway right in front of you or runs a light. I had it, got rid of it.

All of these insurance companies have the same program. You do not have to get the coverage. This woman is correct in stating that it tracks your every movement. You are not rwaling saving money on the coverage! Having these insurance companies tracking your every move is not for the weak. I will continue to live in peace.

If you go with State Farm car insurance the agent will suggest the beacon for savings. The program is not connected to Kia. Kia cannot offer this as a perk to sell vehicles. It’s illegal!

The policy is so high because Kia's are one of the most stolen cars because it's evidently easy and she must have points on her license. A friend had one of those about 20 years ago. Just wasn't Bluetooth. I think it plugged into the fuse box or the cigarette lighter.

I had one of these and never braked hard or accelerated fast and drove really careful. I would look at the report and it would say I had numerous hard brakes and fast accelerations. I intentionally drove very careful too. So they can raise your rates based on that report too.

Another example of big brother getting all up in your business. I had the Geico equivalent Installed in a car I didn't drive regularly. The device drained my car battery because I drove the car infrequently. No thanks. Don't let them push this crap on you.

Kia and Hyundai are so expensive for insurance because of all of the negative things that has happened. Due to the incident of some of the vehicles getting stolen and catching on fire is why insurance is so high for those brand vehicles. And sometimes the insurance companies won’t even ensure those two vehicles unless you already had a policy through them. And I was told that by my State Farm agent.

I’m thinking $500 a month is pretty high unless she is under 25 and has tickets and lives in an area with a lot of uninsured motorists like Mexico border states.

What happens if she drives too fast or listens to music or turns the car sharply? Do they up her rates or cancel her insurance? I realize she has to have full coverage bc it’s a loan but what other add-ons are in that $500?

I do have the state farm beacon. Not to afford a car payment though. I moved to state farm because triple a insurance kept raising my rates for no reason. My driving record is very good. So my state farm rate started at 101 per month and dropped down to 80 per month a few months later. I have full insurance with rental coverage. 2024 kia k-5. Completely paid for. Happy with state farm

This is a wonderful plan until it isn't
They updated their software and everything was working until I somehow got logged out. Trying to get back in has been nothing but a total hassle. It tells me I don't exist. No matter what I do there is no help, sadly my agent is unable to assist. The time to update my mileage ran out last week so am sure come next bill will be paying a lot more. Forget calling their tech support all you get is an automated system no live person. If I'm going to pay full rates I'll probably change all my insurance to a different company.

On what planet does anyone pay $500 a month car insurance...... your discount to $200 a month is still at least 30% too high. Who buys car insurance from a car dealership .....

U should've negotiated! I would've said, I want the lower price Withiout being Tracked or No Deal...if they wouldn't budge...I would've Walked Right out and went to Another Dealership....Some1 would've worked it out....Dealerships are Begging for Shoppers to Buy....Consumers have Lots of Power....learn to Use It!

Sounds like the Kia Sorento was too expensive of a purchase for this one. No one should be doing this - using a Drive Safe & Save app in order to actually afford making your monthly payments. Do yourself a favor and NEVER buy a brand new car again. You'll be saving thousands of dollars and maybe actually stick to your budget. One can only hope.