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

Hello

Enjoyed reading the article on the State Farm Beacon - I have it as well - and what it does not account for are the road conditions - NY has the worst roads. Lets not forget the animals crossing when you least expect it. I have an excellent driving record and having to use the Beacon for a better rate is ridiculous.

How is your insurance $500 a month? You must have multiple DWI. I call BS.

Yes they do track everything you do in your car. The discount is not monthly it is biannually. The discount is applied at the start of your in

Yes the discount works if you drive responsibly. It tracks everything you do in car. The discount is applied at start of each renewal period not monthly. We are older so it works for us. My daughter asked about it but I told her she would not be able to drive her sports car very fast. I told her not to get it. No fun in driving a sports car with tracker on, lol.

Yet another bullcrap way to track people all the time, as if our phones weren't enough already.
Listening to music while driving isn't a distraction so any app or device that says it is, is a no go for me. In fact listening to music while driving helps me to stay focused, especially if I've had a stressful day.
Going 10mph under the speed limit is not a safe way to drive as one should always follow the flow of traffic and do the speed limit.
I wonder if this app can tell when people don't use their turn signals or impede traffic because of their slow speed and/or slow reactions. Knowing when a driver uses their then signals (or doesn't) is more crucial than any of the other things it tracks in a vehicle.

For the author to say that Rodriqua is living a lifestyle that is more than her income is an unfair statement. Your average person is just trying to survive any way they can in this turbulent income world that we are living in today where everything is priced astronomically high. That includes groceries, gasoline, rent, mortgage, car insurance, etc. I believe that everyone deserves grace as we don't know an individual's story or their struggles to survive in this world that we are experiencing today.

I was checking to see if I could get a lower rate on my insurance from another company. Two places that responded said I would have to have something in my car for 90 days to get insurance rate quoted. Changed my mind. I am 78, no tickets, no wrecks and not going to have something looking over my shoulder now.

You could not afford that car

Maybe if she. didn’t get her nails done every week, she could afford the car. Choices.

Lots of insurance companies do that now. To give you a discount. Unfortunately, in mine all the bugs were not worked out of the system. My computer on my car system was not completely compatible. So, the end result was false information on the tag. Not all information. But a few were not correct.

They track you anyway thur the car brain

The real reason why they want to track you down through these devices: Most insurance companies are refusing to pay for Accident claims Even if it’s not your fault, so these devices Are designed so that they can keep on drawing up your hard Earned money while they are Protecting themselves and use the data they collect to come up with legal arguments to refuse your claims.

I think this is becoming a very common practice for insurance companies in general. I did the same when I purchased my new 2025 Ram 1500 crew cab, 4x4 pickup this past April. I have my insurance through Progressive. They were going to charge me about $230 a month. I decided to use their “Snapshot” and that brought my price down to $173 a month. I don’t really like the tracking but it has saved me a substantial amount of money.

It sounds like State Farm would be a perfect fit for 1930's or 1940's Nazi Germany. I'm sure what they are doing should is only legal in a totalitarian state, not in our Republic.Try a class action lawsuite, I'm sure there are some grounds for it. Also, there are better insurance companies you can patronize.

She said "she didn't have a choice". That's not true. Everyone has a choice. In this case, her choice was likely based on emotions. And the insurance expense is just the tip of the iceberg. Whatever the selling price of the vehicle was, it's now only worth 80% of that. Buying a vehicle is MUCH more expensive then people think, because they are expensive to maintain, repair and trade.

You mean to tell me your peace of mind, privacy, and right to use a product that you own the way you see fit and however you choose wasn't worth $300 a month? But you're willing to pay for a brand new Kia of all things? Those depreciate before you leave the parking lot! I say f#ck the insurance you need to make more financially sound decisions across the board. Maybe you don't need a brand new car if your finances are so tight. That's one reason your insurance is so high to begin with. Not to mention what's that driving record like? Maybe be slightly more responsible & treat a vehicle like a tool and not a toy. These are just suggestions. I hate articles like this because my privacy and my ability to use a vehicle however I see fit, whether it's to putt around on Sundays with my grandmother in tow and take her to the grocery or if I want to be doing donuts in a private parking lot at 2:00 in the morning until my tires burst I'll be dam*ed if I let some f#cking insurance company determine that for me. This is the issue people are all too willing to give up freedoms and privacies to save a buck or two. Maybe we need to reconsider why the f#ck we're paying insurance companies so much to begin with and also giving them access to our 24/7 location our driving habits the places we visit who we contact the music we listen to so on and so forth. Your article did nothing but point out what a f#cking rip off insurance companies are and just how far they intrude into our lives. You're a sellout yo!! Working for the man and not even knowing it you might as well become a state farm agent yourself and start working on your Jake voice!

I have the Beacon from State Farm and I love it. I literally save $100 to $150 a month on my car Insurance. Obviously the Beacon helps me drive safer and better.

Unfortunately, these 'trackers' are unable to distinguish between you not paying attention or someone pulling out in front of you...or abruptly stopping in front of you. It just recognizes you slammed on your brakes, or suddenly swerved. It's incidents such as these that it tallies up, then raises your rates. My insurance agent (State Farm) playfully suggested one when I complained about a rate increase even though I had no traffic violations or accidents. I asked if he has one in his vehicle. His response was something like, "Absolutely not"...just a bit more 'colorful'.

"It's more likely that her lifestyle is more expensive than her income can afford. "
The car payment is 500 a month. Most people cannot afford to buy a new car. Likewise to be able to buy a new car on credit means you have to have good credit. Which means she pays her bills. And doesnt spend recklassly. She may be talented enough to do her nails. As well as her shirt looks like a thrift store find which means she know the value of a bargain. Her jewelry is simple and could have been treasured gifts or passed down from a

loved one.
Just because someone does what she has done does not mean that her lifestyle is expensive. It is expensive to live and survive. Not every one has a well paying job.
That sentence is highly judgemental and offensive. How dare you a white male judge a colored female for getting a good deal. And knowing the value of a dollar.
I say she's got it figured out how to maximize the most of getting a awesome deal!

I saved over $500 between my car and truch for 6 months BUT mileage seems to count as much as safe driving. The brakeing portion is ridiculous. A stop from the speed limit at a red light often trips a failure.

The State Farm beacon not only tracks the vehicle in question, it tracks YOU, 24x7.

I see the annoyance of the tracker BUT I have to call out the core problem. It's quite misleading when you go back the the start.... the woman was buying a brand new vehicle with what sounds like a limited budget and overextended herself. There was the cheaper insurance with tracker which was an option SHE chose to do. Nobody forced her to go that route. She would have been better off buying an older cheaper car that might not be the new crisp 'bling' but she would have transpo for work etc, and with no car payment, providing she saved enough for a $1500 car, and insurance wouldn't be $500 a month!
As a gen goonie we know all to well on what it's like to have a beater car when we first started driving. We learned real quick we had to live within our means and over-extending ourselves wasn't an option.
"She says she didn't have a choice because it was the only way she could afford life." We always have other choices and I have to say that comment shows the whole problem just in that thought process alone.
Look at it like this. $500 loan, $250/$500 ins × 12months = $6000 + $3000/$6000....
Buy a $1000 car with ZERO monthly payments, older car that is paid off has cheaper insurance AND full coverage isn't required. The only extra costs would be maintenance being an older vehicle. I have had many many older vehicles and saved so much going my route than making a poor decision just to have the car that was definitely "above my station".

I have had the drive safe and safe Beacon for almost 6 years now, and I love it! I'm not always on my phone while I'm driving, but in those 6 years my insurance is never went up. I break hard sometimes, I drive too fast sometimes and I take Corners too fast sometimes! But my insurance is never gone up. Hope this is helpful! PS, I also have a brand new 2024 Chevy I bought 2 years ago, and my insurance started at 218, now I'm at 140.

I had the beacon also with State Farm Auto Insurance when I bought my 2017 Kia Forte few years ago. You will find however that the rate will go up every 6 months and you end up spending a fortune to insure even with your safe driving habits. I changed insurance companies.

I have one of those in my truck and one in my camper van. —the insurance is lower. But a lot of times the traffic will be going 55 in a 45 zone - everyone!!! So it looks like your speeding to the app but you are really bring doubley safe.

It’s not the dealers place to tell you what kind of insurance you can afford or not just sounds like it’s another way. They can possibly make money off selling you the car. You didn’t check out any other kind of an auto insurance options before you decided to just get rid of the car?

This is just an ad this isn't a story. She could have used the beacon in the kia soul. This is just a sad excuse for a writer making up a story

No. I can't relate. I pay cash for all of my cars and invest my money instead of buying depreciating overpriced liabilities 🤣

This is clearly just an ad for S.F. disguised as an article. Pathetic.

I just bought a second hand car in February 2025. I had considered a Kia, but was told by my State Farm insurance agent that State Farm no longer insures Kia and Hyundai due to high theft issues and claims. I decided on a Toyota. State Farm informed me if I chose not to use their tracking device, I would be paying approximately $300 a year more, after they had already jacked my insurance up $100 per month. I had been a long standing client for over 20 years and have no tickets or violations! I shopped around and now pay less than I was paying with State Farm over a year ago. That tracking device is a ripoff. No grown adult should be made to feel like a newly licensed teenager, being monitored by mommy and daddy. Shame on State Farm!