Can Money-Saving Driving Monitors Be Installed in the Model S for Insurance Purposes?

[WEG8899]

Many insurance companies offer discounts for customers who permit electronic monitors (through the OBD-II diagnostic port) on many newer vehicles -- discounts can reach up to 30% because the vehicle reports safe and responsible driving, taking the hedge out of their risk calculations. My insurance company offers 10% just for plugging it in for three months.

Anybody know if such a provision is resident on the Model S?

 

[Majerus]

From my understanding there should be an obd-ll that is federally mandated on all vehicles sold in the united states, there should be no reason it would not work.

On-board diagnostics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Model S Insurance in Canada

 

[mitch672]

From my understanding there should be an obd-ll that is federally mandated on all vehicles sold in the united states, there should be no reason it would not work.

On-board diagnostics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Model S Insurance in Canada

I wouldn't count on that necessarily working. When I got my Model S inspected at my old Toyota dealer, their RMV diagnostic system would not communicate with the Model S, Tesla might be using some non-standard protocol, or something odd.

 

[MichaelS]

In my experience driving electric vehicles, all the EV manufactures used their own proprietary data format and/or protocol to communicate with the cars. Since EV's don't have to comply with smog laws they don't have to talk to smog testers. In addition, there is a lot of data from the car that does not exist in a gas car, such as pack voltage and current.

So, plugging in a standard OBDII reader into an EV will not work.

 

[GSP]

On Board Diagnostics (OBD) are required to reduce exhaust emissions of criteria pollutants. With no engine, I doubt that EVs are required to have OBDII. Has anyone looked for the OBDII connector? It is required to be below the steering wheel.

GSP

 

[EarlyAdopter]

There is an OBD II port under the dash, driver's side, far left. I tried my cheap Bluetooth OBD II reader but it was unable to establish a protocol match. PLX Kiwi WiFi and Ross-Tech HEX-CAN don't work, either. All of these devices worked on my Audi and BMW.

 

[mitch672]

There is an OBD II port under the dash, driver's side, far left. I tried my cheap Bluetooth OBD II reader but it was unable to establish a protocol match. I have a couple of other device I plan on trying.

Yes, this is probably going to need it's own thread, and maybe support from Tesla, if they are willing to release the protocol/format and codes.

 

[mynameisjim]

Perhaps it might help to learn that Progressive does not support the Nissan Leaf but State Farm does. You'll have to hope for someone with your insurance company to respond. Saving 10% for signing up sounds like Allstate? (only for one renewal cycle BTW)

 

[Majerus]

OBDII reports far more then just smog and other emissions related information.. Besides that however looks like progressive does not support the model s currently.

 

[theganjaguru]

OBDII reports far more then just smog and other emissions related information.. Besides that however looks like progressive does not support the model s currently. View attachment 23881

I'm not sure I'd use progressives snap shot even if it were "compatible". Lots of people ended up with dead batteries.
Courthouse News Service

 

[ElSupreme]

I'm not sure I'd use progressives snap shot even if it were "compatible". Lots of people ended up with dead batteries.
Courthouse News Service

Not to mention they would probably raise my rates or drop me completely after such a test ...

 

[JPP]

...can the average Model S owner keep the acceleration rate (never mind the top speed) within the predicted 'safe driver' range that progressive would want to give you a discount? Like ElSupreme said, better that they don't know how you are driving or they will raise your rates.

 

[zdre]

Definitely not a good idea for the Model S. The max acceleration is way too much fun not to use at least occasionally.

 

[jerry33]

The ODB port provides access to the CAN bus, and maybe the Bean bus as well as the ODBII bus. The standard mandatory emission items are on the ODBII bus but all the interesting bits are on the CAN bus. While ODB readers like the Scanguage II can read the CAN bus, you have to know what signals to send it to get the information. This is different between car manufacturers and car models (even car model years). It took a couple of years for the technically inclined to figure out most of the codes for the 2G Prius (and about four years for the 1G Prius). Once you know the codes, the Scangauge has to be programmed to read them.

 

[yobigd20]

...can the average Model S owner keep the acceleration rate (never mind the top speed) within the predicted 'safe driver' range that progressive would want to give you a discount? Like ElSupreme said, better that they don't know how you are driving or they will raise your rates.

I don't have one (never would agree to something like that), but I'm pretty sure that they *CANNOT* raise your rates from your driving habits. AFAIK that's a common misconception. They should only be used to determine whether or not you quality for a discount. If you don't, your premium stays the same. It should never hurt your rates. That being said, again, I still wouldn't slap one of those on mine.

 

[brianman]

FAQs: Snapshot Discount, Pay As You Drive, Usage-Based Insurance – Progressive

What driving habits impact my potential savings?
(1) How often you make hard brakes, (2) how many miles you drive each day and (3) how often you drive between midnight and 4 a.m. can all impact your potential savings.

While all these seem totally rational, (3) sounds like a curfew and (2) will likely seem unfair to some and (1) might actually give regen vehicles an advantage (directly if they monitor the brake pedal vs. using accelerometer, and indirectly because regen tends to make you use heavy braking less IMO).

 

[raptorweb]

I can confirm that the progressive snapshot does not work on the S, but because they issued me one prior to them knowing it didn't work I got the full discount.

The device was unable to track any of my driving so in almost 6 months of it being attached it logged 0 trips but reported home the full time so their systems just saw it as a parked car. Otherwise I did not see any issues created by the device but would guess that similar devices would have the same issues.

While all these seem totally rational, (3) sounds like a curfew and (2) will likely seem unfair to some and (1) might actually give regen vehicles an advantage (directly if they monitor the brake pedal vs. using accelerometer, and indirectly because regen tends to make you use heavy braking less IMO).

I cant say for sure but my last car was a manual and I seem to remember the device beeping at least once when I was slowing down using a lower gear. They define a hard brake as something like slowing down 6-7mph/s if I remember right, so I would think it is just reading the car's current speed.

 

[mnx]

SO a bluetooth OBD reader won't work then? (I had the idea of using one of those with the Torque android app).

- - - Updated - - -

SO a bluetooth OBD reader won't work then? (I had the idea of using one of those with the Torque android app).

Yup, won't work: (found this with a search)
Warranty/Servicing - official Tesla responses (incl GeorgeB) - Page 59

 

[Linux64]

Definitely not a good idea for the Model S. The max acceleration is way too much fun not to use at least occasionally.

I came here to say this.