Usage-based insurance can be a good option if you’re a safe, low-mileage driver. But some insurers can raise your rate if your driving habits are considered risky.
To help you find the best usage-based (UBI) car insurance, Yahoo Finance analyzed 20 major insurers based on six key factors: UBI enrollment discount, maximum UBI discount savings, whether risky driving with UBI can raise your premium, rate competitiveness, and overall coverage and discount options. Below are the companies that topped our rankings.
Learn more: Best car insurance companies overall
Farm Bureau’s flagship telematics program, Driveology, has an automatic 10% enrollment discount and the potential to earn up to 50% off for safe driving — one of the highest maximum discounts in our analysis. Just as important, Driveology does not raise your rate for risky driving. Farm Bureau’s UBI programs may be called Drive Trend or FB Drives in various states. Discounts and availability can vary by chapter.
Farm Bureau scored near the top of our analysis for best senior car insurance.
Farm Bureau pros and cons
Pros
Highest maximum UBI discount
Does not raise rates for risky driving
Competitive full coverage rates
Cons
Average cost for full coverage car insurance: $151
Availability: Varies by state and regional chapter
Crash Network grade for claims handling: B+ (varies by chapter)
Coverage offerings: 6 options
Available discounts: 8 types
Digital experience score: 1.8 (out of 5)
Learn more: Farm Bureau car insurance review
USAA’s SafePilot program is second on our list of best usage-based car insurance. It includes a 10% sign-up discount and up to a 30% renewal discount based on driving behavior. Like Farm Bureau, USAA stands out because SafePilot does not raise rates for risky driving.
USAA was the top insurer in our rankings for best car insurance for customer service.
USAA pros and cons
Pros
Cons
Average cost for full coverage car insurance: $168
Availability: Nationwide (but limited to military members, veterans, and eligible family)
Crash Network grade for claims handling: D+
Coverage offerings: 13 options
Available discounts: 15 types
Digital experience score: 4.75 (out of 5)
Learn more: USAA car insurance review
With Travelers’ IntelliDrive user-based insurance program, you can receive a 10% enrollment discount and up to 30% off at renewal for safe driving. However, unlike Farm Bureau and USAA, IntelliDrive can increase your premium if your driving habits are deemed risky. (There are a few exceptions — in Washington, D.C., and states like Montana, North Carolina, and Virginia, risky driving won’t raise your rate. And in some states, the maximum discount may be higher.)
Travelers also scored among the top insurers in our analysis for the best rideshare insurance.
Travelers pros and cons
Pros
Cons
Average cost for full coverage car insurance: $183
Availability: Nationwide
Crash Network grade for claims handling: C
Coverage offerings: 14 options
Available discounts: 14 types
Digital experience score: 4.65 (out of 5)
Learn more: Travelers car insurance review
Nationwide’s SmartRide program ranked number 1 in JD Power’s 2025 usage-based insurance customer satisfaction study. It also earned fairly high marks in our ranking of the best usage-based insurance options. Drivers receive a 5% enrollment discount and can earn up to 40% off at renewal based on safe driving behavior. Like Farm Bureau and USAA, SmartRide does not raise your premium for risky driving. Nationwide also offers SmartMiles, a separate pay-per-mile program for low-mileage drivers.
Nationwide scored among the top insurers in our analysis for the best senior car insurance.
Nationwide pros and cons
Pros
Great maximum UBI discount
Does not raise rates for risky driving
Offers separate pay-per-mile option
Cons
Average cost for full coverage car insurance: $199
Availability: Nationwide
Crash Network grade for claims handling: C
Coverage offerings: 14 options
Available discounts: 9 types
Digital experience score: 4.6 (out of 5)
Learn more: Nationwide car insurance review
State Farm rounds out our list of the best usage-based car insurancecompanies. It has a 10% enrollment discount, and you can earn up to 30% off at renewal based on factors like braking, speed, and mileage. Importantly, Drive Safe & Save will not increase your rate for risky driving. Your discount can fluctuate from term to term based on your driving data, but the program won’t increase your base rate.
State Farm also has some of the best car insurance for customer service, according to our analysis.
State Farm pros and cons
Pros
Cons
Average cost for full coverage car insurance: $190
Availability: Nationwide
Crash Network grade for claims handling: C-
Coverage offerings: 13 options
Available discounts: 16 types
Digital experience score: 4.7 (out of 5)
Learn more: State Farm car insurance review
We evaluated 20 major insurance companies to determine which offered the best usage-based insurance programs. The top spot went to Farm Bureau, which earned 5 stars (out of 5) thanks to its high maximum discount and policy of not raising rates for risky driving. USAA followed with 4.6 stars, then Travelers (4.5), Nationwide (4.4), and State Farm (4.4).
See the usage-based insurance star ratings for all the insurers we analyzed below.
Usage-based car insurance (UBI) programs use telematics technology to track your driving habits and adjust your premium accordingly. To participate, you typically download a smartphone app or plug a device into your car’s onboard diagnostics port. The program then monitors factors such as mileage, braking, acceleration, time of day driven, speed, and phone use while driving.
After a monitoring period, you may earn a discount based on your driving score. You typically get an enrollment discount that takes effect immediately, with the option to earn up to the maximum discount for safe driving. But it’s worth noting — even some of the best UBI programs will increase your rate for risky driving; it varies by insurer.
There are two main types of UBI programs:
Pay per mile: Your rate is based largely on how many miles you drive.
Pay how you drive: Your premium reflects your driving behavior, not just mileage.
Car insurance based on usage may be worth it if you’re a low-mileage, generally safe driver and don’t mind sharing driving data. If you frequently speed, brake hard, or drive late at night, a traditional policy could be a better fit.
Even if you enroll in a usage-based program, you’ll still need the right core coverage in place. Nearly every insurer offers these core coverages:
Beyond the basics, optional add-ons can strengthen your policy. Depending on the insurer, you may be able to add:
Learn more: Most common types of car insurance explained
Across the 20 insurers evaluated, full-coverage rates varied widely. Some companies, high on our usage-based list, like Farm Bureau and USAA, tend to price at or below the national average. Other top UBI insurers, such as Nationwide and State Farm, generally fall closer to the middle of the pack, according to data from the auto insurance marketplace Savvy Insurance Solutions.
Learn more: Cheapest full coverage car insurance
Choosing the insurer that offers the largest UBI discount doesn’t guarantee the lowest rate. Insurers calculate your starting rate using a mix of personal, vehicle, and location-based factors. The weight assigned to these factors varies from insurer to insurer.
Here are the common factors car insurance providers use when calculating rates:
Learn more: Car insurance rates are climbing. Here are 4 reasons why and 11 ways to save.
Here are tips for finding the best usage-based auto insurance.
Before enrolling in any telematics program, make sure the underlying policy works for you. UBI discounts apply to your premium, but they don’t replace core coverages.
Also, check whether the UBI program can raise your rates for risky driving. Some insurers only offer discounts. But others will increase your rate if they deem you a risky driver.
As you compare car insurance quotes for UBI, look at:
The enrollment discount you get just for signing up
The maximum possible discount
Whether risky driving can increase your premium
How long the monitoring period lasts
A company with a smaller maximum discount but no penalty for risky driving may feel safer than one offering a larger upside with downside risk.
Learn more: How much car insurance coverage do I need?
Every insurer tracks behavior differently. Some weigh hard braking heavily. Others focus more on mileage or phone use. Ask how your driving is scored and whether your data resets at renewal. If privacy matters to you, review how the company stores and uses telematics data before enrolling.
Some car insurance discounts are automatically applied as you fill out a quote form, but others you have to ask about. For example, you usually have to speak to an agent to get a good student discount or student away discount. Asking an agent if you’re eligible for discounts not already applied can help you find more ways to reduce your auto insurance premiums.
Learn more: Best car insurance discounts
UBI discounts can change from term to term. Check your renewal offer carefully to see how your driving score affected your premium. If your rate increases, it may be time to compare quotes again or opt out of the program.
Also, if you make changes during the year, such as buying a car, make sure to adjust your policy accordingly. You may also want to shop around again and switch car insurance companies if it makes sense for your finances.
Learn more: Does buying car insurance online save you money?
Many use-based insurance programs give you a small enrollment discount (often 5% to 15%), with the option to earn a maximum discount of 25% to 50% for consistently safe driving. Your actual discount depends on your mileage and driving habits during the monitoring period.
Yes. Allstate offers a telematics program called Drivewise. In our analysis, Allstate scored 2.1 stars for usage-based insurance. While it offers an enrollment discount and the potential for savings, its middle-of-the-road discounts and ability to increase your rate for risky driving lowered its overall ranking.
That depends on the insurer, but most usage-based programs monitor how much you drive and how you drive. Common data points could include mileage, hard braking, rapid acceleration, speed, time of day you’re on the road, and whether you use your phone while driving. Your driving data is then used to calculate a score that determines your discount (or, in some cases, whether your rate could increase).
Tim Manni edited this article.
To identify the best usage-based car insurance programs, Yahoo Finance evaluated 20 major insurers that offer telematics-based policies. Each company was scored using a standardized rubric focused specifically on what matters most in a UBI program: how much you can save, whether your rate can increase for risky driving, and how competitive the insurer’s base pricing is.
All factors were converted to a standardized point scale and combined into a composite score. Maximum discount potential and rate impact policies carried the greatest weight, followed by enrollment discounts, rate competitiveness, and overall coverage flexibility.
1. Maximum potential discount: 30% of score. We evaluated the highest publicly advertised discount available through each insurer’s usage-based car insurance program. Companies offering larger maximum savings earned higher scores.
2. Rate impact policy: 20% of score. Insurers that do not increase premiums for risky driving received full credit. Programs that may impose surcharges earned zero points in this category.
3. Enrollment discount: 15% of score. Many UBI programs offer an automatic discount just for signing up. Larger enrollment discounts earned more points.
4. Rate competitiveness: 25% of score. Average rate estimates were provided by Savvy Insurance Solutions (“Savvy”), which operates a nationwide insurance marketplace and licensed agency. Estimates are generated using Savvy’s in-house machine learning models based on more than 3 million data points across major insurers.
For this analysis, rates were modeled using a standard “full coverage” profile. Full coverage car insurance includes liability insurance, any state-required coverage, plus collision and comprehensive coverage. Insurers with more competitive full coverage rates earned higher scores.
5. Coverage offerings and overall discount breadth: 10% of score. This ranking also considered both the total number of coverage options and discounts available. Companies offering broader policy flexibility and discounts received additional points.
Unless stated otherwise, the estimates above are provided by Savvy Insurance Solutions (“Savvy”). Savvy operates a marketplace for home and auto insurance, plus an agency licensed in all 50 states. Estimates are generated using Savvy’s in-house machine learning models based on over 3 million data points, and include more than 15 of the largest insurance companies in Savvy’s nationwide data set. This includes data from more than 2 million insurance accounts connected through Trellis Connect, an in-house technology allowing consumers to “link” their insurance accounts before searching for insurance, and tens of thousands of policies bound by Savvy’s own agents. It takes into account a myriad of factors to create predictions, such as:
Policyholder age
Number of vehicles
ZIP code
Vehicle age
Insurer
… and more
Savvy creates estimates by running models against multiple inputs to the parameters of interest. For instance, the “teen driver” estimates were created by adjusting the policyholder age input into the pricing model while keeping all other variables steady from the baseline for “full coverage.” The models enable hyper-personalized estimates that take into account a plethora of user attribute permutations (e.g., teen drivers in specific states, teen drivers with new vehicles, teen drivers in specific states with new vehicles) to provide individuals with a unique and tailored experience. The charts above are a subset of the kinds of personalization Savvy can do.
The following are definitions used by Savvy when providing its rate estimates for various types of coverage.
Full coverage car insurance: A policy with comprehensive, collision, and liability coverage.
Average policyholder: A 48-year-old driver who owns a 13-year-old vehicle and lives in an average-income ZIP code.
Senior driver: A 70-year-old policyholder with full coverage car insurance.
Good driver: Drivers across all coverage types, vehicle types, and locations who have no tickets, accidents or DUIs.
