Root: Better car insurance Reviews

by Jay9739

It’s not the first time I see an insurance provider is trying to adopt technology with the traditional ways to offer a service which is unique and affordable but this one unlike others are telling you just a small portion of all you need to know.
The one star rating is what they deserve for Root that you can check your driving style and find out if there’s an area you need to try more but what if it ended up with a high score and they are still believing that it’s not for you?!
I am trying to give anyone of you guys out there to give a head up as they are not just looking at the way you are driving but on top of that, how often you drive and where. The answers to these questions are way more important to them than how you did pass the test drive so if you really desperate in getting a great offer and you are a professional driver or someone who drive a lot whenever you drive, just try to either shut your phone down or don’t even bring it with you. For people who are not honest and transparent, I believe, we have to react the same way but in general it’s always like an insurance company who is better to know as minimum as possible. I know these people are issuing policies with discount and if you are desperate to get one (I wasn’t and thank goodness) I just gave you the hint.

by Jagrmeisters

I’ve been this app for a little bit now I think since 2017, when I first bought my car with everything maxed out it was $89 I couldn’t believe it. But since that time I’ve had to downgrade my insurance and I’m still at almost $200 now!!! I would say, get a insurance company that’s willing to work with you. this app does not work with you at all! Every insurance company I have ever been with they’ve always giving me some sort of discount or, hey you’ve been a customer for a long time let me take care of you. Nope not this app I really don’t think they care to be honest. But if you’re able to get a great rate I would say stick with them for about six months and then leave, otherwise they’re going to be taking advantage of you. Oh yeah by the way I’ve never had an accident or ticket that would cause this huge increase. But always remember they will NOT work with you on pricing. I also like to mention, they never give you straight data on why your prices are increased this is why I think it’s a bait and switch type program because they get you with that initial first good deal and then they increase your premiums by double, as they did with me.**update**
Liberty Mutual is $25 lower and slightly better coverage also Rory did nothing about me leaving or the fact that I was a member since 2017

by ChrisGotScrewed

I cannot stress this enough: do not use Root’s driving safety assessment...
Not only does this function track movements of your phone to determine distracted driving and hard braking to - they claim - reward safe drivers. It does so without explaining how it determines whether you are the driver or the passenger in a vehicle.
As if that’s not enough of a rogering for consumers, as I neared the end of my 30 day assessment cycle, I happened to not drive that often. In checking my “results” that last week in preparation for paying my premium, I saw that one of the metrics they score jumped FOUR points after days of not driving. Even worse, in checking the last two days of my assessment period - again, days I did not drive - my overall score dropped a full point with no new input over those final two days.
The end result was that the rate I had paid for my first month, which was already higher than my prior policy with the assurance that that was the worst case scenario and would drop to represent their savings claims, actually jumped about 20% after that mysterious drop in my score.
If you want to get screwed, this is the place for you. If you expect a company’s advertising to contain a little corporate integrity...definitely try another company!

by Llamaduckturtle

I got into an accident a month ago. I still have yet to know what my settlement is, where the paperwork is going, if it has even been sent. This has been a complete joke and I regret ever joining this company. My total loss adjuster never answers me emails except for in the middle of the night, my PIP adjuster never answered any emails and then randomly calls one day and says the paperwork was good and went through. I’ve asked so many times if I could take the totaled car off the policy since I’m not driving it and got no straight forward answer. So now I’ve paid for a car that I’m not driving because I don’t trust this company to not be shady about things. When I had State Farm, my accident was done and cleared within a week. Totaled, paid off, and claims done in a week. There is absolutely no reason why this has taken almost a month to be resolved. I’m disappointed and upset that this is what has happened. I’ve dished out money for this stupid company on a car I’m not driving and my adjusters don’t have the decency to keep me in the loop. I have to call and email numerous times for even a basic response. This company is complete crap and once my claim is done, which will probably be in another 10 years, I’m leaving and never coming back. I’ve also already emailed the company about this complaint and haven’t heard back either. What a shock.

by BlakeTyler800

I wanted to give this a try, because I’ve been seeing ads for this everywhere and in concept it sounds like a good idea. However, they make you switch to their insurance in order to do the test drive which will give you the final quote. While they did match my current insurance companies 6 month premium for the initial test drive period, I do not immediately want to immediately cut ties with them because I have boat, and renters insurance bundled through them which I am getting discounts from (and additionally, if I cut ties and join this app, there’s even a possibility that they will raise my premium if I don’t score well on the test drive, and i’ll have to go back to my previous insurance company anyways!). Also, they give an option to stick with my current insurance company but also accept their mandatory insurance in order to do the test drive (but who in their right mind would simultaneously pay for two car insurance policies on the same car when it’s not guaranteed that your final this app premium will be lower after the test drive). I do not understand why I can’t do the test drive without switching to their insurance. They should offer an option to do the test drive, but not be insured through them during the process. If you have your car insurance bundled with other things in your current policy (which you are receiving discounts from), do not give this app a chance. What a shame!

by Tristan496

I am an EMT on an ambulance which requires what the test drive would consider “risky driving”. For example, the ambulance will undergo hard braking, quick accelerations, sudden turns, etc. All is done with due regard for the safety of the public and ourselves on the ambulance. However, the test drive can not be turned off during my working hours. I also cannot control when I am in the back of the ambulance and my partner may be driving. The test drive is picking up all of this data for times when I am not driving my personal vehicle and the driving circumstances are different than regular driving patterns. I have a spotless driving record, never been involved in an accident, and never even been pulled over by a police officer. According to Root , I am a risky driver and uninsurable by this app. When I called customer service they also banned me from ever applying for insurance through them again saying my drivers license number was recorded in their system and flagged. Very unimpressed by the customer service. I would have loved to pursue other options for car insurance. It is a shame that this app will not be a future option for myself.

Moral of the story: if you are a first responder and might have the slightest chance of driving emergent, don’t waste the 2 weeks of time and the waste of battery from this energy consuming app.

by Fannese

During this Covid-19 pandemic, like many I was unable to work and found myself barely having enough money to eat and pay bills. I couldn’t afford to keep my currently policy so I went on a search for a less expensive option. I found this app. I paid for 30 day auto insurance policy up front as required. The company requires you to take a test drive for 30 days. During that time you will be scored on your driving. Then the company will let you know if they can continue to cover you. The whole time I’ve been seeing “Good job” messages on the score board. According to Root , if you are in the green you’re doing good, red means bad. I’ve been in the green the entire time. I have 6 days left to test drive and I receive an email saying that my policy is being cancelled for failing to achieve minimum telematics score. I immediately called to ask what that meant. The company rep that answered my call said the company doesn’t tell them what that means and he doesn’t know what that means or why my policy was cancelled. So now I’m uninsured, out of the money I paid and my policy was cancelled early with no offer of a refund of the difference. this app preys on those that don’t have a lot of money to pay up front for auto insurance by offering incredibly low prices. I was scammed by this company. DO NOT USE this app INSURANCE!

by Bellsbarista

we started using this app in march. it was cheaper than our previous insurance by $210/month ($584 to $374), plus we paid the price for one month of insurance instead of paying extra as the down payment!
they were very understanding throughout the beginning of the pandemic. we still made our payments on time or within the grace period and had a driving score of 10/10. we didn’t drive very much because we lived on site of where we worked. this being said, we never had to file any claims or accidents.
when september came around, it was time for our policy to renew. i checked to see if our rate stayed the same or even lowered. it was increased by around 60% (from $374 to $598, which was more than our previous insurance). i was confused, so i went through the FAQs to figure out what was going on. they didn’t answer my questions, so i personally e-mailed an agent. i waited 10 or 11 days before resending my email, only to get a response that they were checking with their team to see if they can explain why my rate changed, but said it would take up to 15 business days. this was a frustrating process from start to finish. we ended up switching to another company yesterday since the payment was coming up and we hadn’t heard anything.
our experience was great until the very end. i just think they need to lay off on how much they skyrocket rates at the end of people’s policies.

by Derpalo

I think this app has great potential, so far Root was simple and interesting idea to me, to be given a quote actually based on your driving just like it should be, and I did the test drive of 2-3 weeks and now I finally got my quote only to be disappointed to have waisted my time and hopes up. I got a quote of 313 dollars just for state requirements monthly when in the test drive I was able to get a 8 as my driving score. I felt disappointed because I actually pay about 120 dollars for insurance monthly so my current insurer is actually giving me a much better deal than this app promised to be. I don’t think that Root is being completely unbiased when it Gave me my quote, I think because of the fact that since Im an 18 year old driver and because most teenagers and younger adults like me tend to be the bad drivers, but I never thought that would be a problem since I am currently about to be a college student who works a part time job and of course was looking to get the best deal in insurance and what better place to look than an app that insures based on driving experience and good driving? I hope In the future maybe i could get a lower quote as I truly thought I’d find a better quote here where a company insurer might see that i am actually a good driver, instead of the reckless driver that most people my age are

by Elev8ted09

I tried this app before, and I had some issues, but after speaking to their representatives, I was assured that I would no longer have issues. I initially signed up, for full coverage at $200 a month, it went up to $260, and now has increased again to $310. Throughout my entire test drive, it showed that my score was a 10 out of 10. That score immediately changed the day that they were finished with my test drive. Somehow I dropped down to a 7 out of 10. Very focused driving, very smooth breaking, and I have had one late night drive, to pick up a friend of mine at the airport. Other than that, I don’t know why I had a price increase. I read a lot of other reviews on Facebook, and social media, and people complain about the fact that their rates continue to increase. I know this is not everyone, but there’s no reason as to why a rate should increase, if there has not been any accidents or claims. It’s very difficult to get someone, or a live person on the phone. I don’t like how the system predicts if you were the driver or a passenger. I work at a car dealership, and when people take a vehicle out on a test drive, and I am with them, I cannot control how they drive the vehicle. But all I can do is try it. The system that they use is very flawed. I’ve had three increases in the last 30 days. On top of that, I also found out that after 60 days, it may increase again.

by MilkdotWhole

Setup is easy! That’s the biggest trait with this app. Everything is just easy. It’s why we all have an iPhone, and it’s why McDonalds is still a popular place to eat. I got 20% reduced from my original policy with State Farm, which is HUGE since I’m a college student in Mississippi. You can also specifically choose what you need in your policy package. Don’t think your car is will get stolen? No problem. Don’t pay for that premium in your package builder!
The few things that bother me are the following:
1. The iPhone X has been out since November, yet its almost Summer 2018 and Root still does not support the X screen! They have a photo of Root on the X without black bars on their website, which mislead me and makes me wonder why a company based on tech isn’t up to date with the display. This has nothing to do with the company itself, but it’s makes me question their sense of quality. Everything else is well made and fun to look at!
2. this app uses machine learning to determine if you are driving, if you are flying, or cycling, etc. I took a trip to NYC and rode a taxi (they are crazy drivers), and my driving score went from a 9 to an 8! I sent an email and got a response within 24 hours. Their response was that they have analysts who look at the data and see what was happening. With a company this new, I decided to trust them. Nevertheless, couldn’t ask for a better deal.

by Blakbuda

So I needed car insurance and quickly. I heard about this app years ago. Finally get all my quotes from various other insures, gave this app a shot as my last hope to not drain my pockets, quoted 80$ a month "I'll take that!!!" I send the money and get my policy only to find out after 30 days of driving it'd going to be readjusted to how well you drove within the 30 Day Test Dr. And I can either increase greatly or decrease greatly or stay about the same, I automatically regretted my decision to give route insurance a try and thought it would be impossible to hit a 10 out of 10 score and I would be paying $300 a month for insurance.I go with it anyway convincing myself that by the end of the driving course test. Even if I had a 10 out of 10 I will still have a car insurance quote well above $80 a month but I did my 10 out of 10 score and the rate dropped below $75 for the entire policy itself so if you’re skeptical about this app insurance don’t be I was terrified. But they are trust worthy!!!

by MyraB123

Honestly I had my doubts, it seemed like an insurance that was too good to be true. I joined this app when I was 27. I was having a hard time finding an insurance company that didn’t charge me $200 a month. I got into a small accident when I was 19 and 2 tickets for being on the phone. But still after 8 years my rates never changed. So I decided I might as well give this app a try after my insurance company dropped me for after a small hit on another car that cost them less than $600 to fix. I’m really happy I did, I am paying less than $150 a month now and I love it. I love how they give you the driving test to really see the kind of driver you are. I’ve had a great experience with them and plan on being with them for a long time. I hope you give them a try too, you won’t be disappointed and you’ll save so much money compared to these other companies that are supposed to help you save. I especially recommend to younger independent people who have a hard time finding a good rate just because of their age.

by Annette_NMK

I never leave reviews, this is my first one ever. But this app really is that good. My car flooded not once but TWICE because of a hurricane and a flash flood overnight (I live in the coastal south.) this app was supportive, accessible, and helped me get my car fixed. They covered everything at the repair shop. Even when the shop made a mistake, this app still covered it and I had nothing to stress about. It was easy and painless, I still reminder the guys name I talked to because he was so helpful and put me at ease- Ryan Grant. My roommate pays double what I pay and I have WAY better coverage than her. My friends are all jumping on this app when I show them how much I pay and my coverage. They can’t believe it. When I first heard about this app, I thought “this is too good to be true.” But it’s not, the catch is you really have to be a good driver. I do know a few people that have failed it and that’s why their system works. If you’ve read this far and you truly are a good and safe driver and are looking to save money- this app is for you. And soon enough you’ll be posting a review too and telling everyone and their mama ;)

by Dawng2579

Honestly I wish I had done this sooner! Root makes everything so easy and convenient. The reason I had decided to download it was because my coworker had a tire go flat at work. She was freaking out and was very concerned that she wouldn’t be able to get home. I asked her if she had roadside assistance and it was like a lightbulb went off in her head! She had forgotten that her new insurance automatically came with it. So together we navigated Root and it was the first time I had heard about this app and I was SO impressed with how easy it was. Just the tap of a few buttons and a guy was there in no time. I must say however the only downfall was the guy just aired up the tire rather than putting on a spare even though she needed the spare put on but luckily that air was enough to get her to a tire place. My only advice is maybe get some sort of grading system for the people that do roadside assistance because the dude was not the nicest. Anyways I decided to download Root . I did the 2 week test drive (came back perfect) and immediately signed up for this app. I went from paying $110 to $60 with more coverage now than before! I’m literally telling everyone about this insurance company. I don’t know if y’all offer rental insurance but you should!

by Happy Test Driver

The test drive was a little nerve raking because my coworker almost always drives to lunch. After he made my score go down some, I wised up and started driving. The only issue I have for this is the “consistency” rating. I live in Houston and we always have stop and go traffic. It did ding me for that, but still got approval. I’m saving almost $800 a year for slightly better coverage than I had with Geico. Most insurance carriers are raising their rates in the Houston area due to recent flooding. I looked to add a new car to my policy and they wanted to raise my premium $60/month for a new car! That’s when I started looking and found this app. I made sure to read reviews, both of Root and of the claims process and decided to make the switch today. I decided on the 6 month up front payment and I’m saving an additional 20%, meaning monthly it is $93 versus Geico $150. I don’t have any at fault wrecks or tickets in the past 8 years, so I decided geico got enough of my money. I would say take the test drive and see if you qualify, nothing hurts in seeing if they can save your money in the long run.

by Tahir223

this app is the best insurance company on the market today. I’m a 23 year old male driver whose never been in a accident or gotten a ticket. who doesn’t do a whole lot of driving i drive a couple minutes to get to work and make a couple trips throughout the month to go to the movies or out to dinner or something. I have a buddy who is the same age as me and has been in 3 accidents and guess what HIS PROGRESSIVE RATE IS THE EXACT SAME AS MINES!! Ridiculous, i should not be paying the same amount, 280$, with this app my payment is now 148$ with the same coverage. No longer do you have to call and go through a whole interview with a insurance agent and answer a million questions just for them to quote you the same rate they quoted someone they were just on the phone with. this app really tailors you’re rate based on your driving skill which is a HUGE advantage over most other companies. Set up is easy almost everything can be found within Root , including roadside assistance, towing, spare tire installation. They even make it to where you can actually customize your rate to fit your budget and your needs. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this app !

by LucidDreamMachine

I have been with this app for about a year now and I have had nothing but good experiences with this company. I left USAA (whom I love and still do business with in other areas) for this app, so that should say something. My wife and I did the initial driving test and passed with flying colors and started up with a rate that did end up saving us more than USAA could save us compared to the competition. With fair analytics and algorithms that look at you as a driver more than everyone else on the road and their statistics, you get a fair monthly rate with incredible services and benefits you’d come to expect from “higher end” insurers. So far in the last year, we’ve had 3 windshield replacements (courtesy of Safelite Auto Glass, whom they partner with) and a tire blow-out that was replaced by fast and efficient roadside assistance. All of these were covered either up front or reimbursed within a couple weeks via check in the mail. Claims are filed in-app and are as simple as taking a pic and submitting a request. The whole process has been eye opening to the whole car insurance market and how archaic it can be. I’m loving this new way of doing things.

by D-Wonder22

First things first, i’m going to start this off by saying I could honestly care less about anything negative that anybody has to say about this app! I’ve been with this insurance company for exactly 4 days and today my car stopped on me in the middle of an intersection and I live in Las Vegas, Nevada bro. I’m writing this June 17th and if you’re from Vegas you should know how hot it is around this time of year! I called roadside assistance via the this app app and they dispatched an outside vendor to come and tow me back to my apartment with Real time updates as to when they were going to arrive and after my experience with the personnel who gave me the tow I can honestly say that this app must truly care about their customers because he was so friendly and when we got back to my apartment we had to put my car in the back of my unit and he helped me push it into my space! I would definitely recommend anybody get insurance through this app becauseI had seen mixed reviews about them but this is done away any skepticism I may have had! All you have to do is be a good driver and you’ll save money on your insurance and they actually help you in a time of need!

by Thebulder

Looked at this app insurance about a year ago and they were not in my state (Kentucky). This time, they were though! When first signing up, I had an issue with setting up two drivers. Customer service was very responsive and got the issue resolved. After 3 weeks, we got a quote. The rate this app offered was great! The rate with this app is saving us $320 a year over Liberty Mutual and we got higher coverages like $50,000 Personal Injury Protection and no deductible compared to $10,000 with and a deductible with Liberty Mutual. And, we no longer need to pay for AAA since roadside assistance is included!

The this app app is so easy to use and we were really happy to see that if we need to make any changes to our policy, we can do so right in Root and see how it affects our rate. I can’t say enough good things about Root and company! I also sent an app suggestion to them and got a very quick and friendly response! Considering the price, benefits, and exceptional customer service, I have a feeling we will be staying with this app insurance for a very long time!

this app has certainly gone above and beyond in finding ways to put their customers first and treat us like an insurance company should! I will definitely be referring other customers to this app and highly recommend them for auto insurance!

by Fillmytummy

I’m giving this car insurance a bad review, because their integrity to what they advertise is questionable. They give you a low rate and just being with them a little over 6 months I’m experience an increase in my price. Being that your rate should be in correlation to your driving, my driving has being excellent with this company, a rating of 10 out of 10 and rather than being rewarded for my good driving, as they advertise, it is vice versa. When I reached out to them, regarding this concern and disagreement I had, I basically get “oh well, deal with it”. It was handled in an unreasonable and black and white manner. As pointed, their integrity does not stand by what they represent.

I would like to add that they state there is many reasons ones rate can change. Apparently reasons have come to raise my rate and then when I ask why, there is no explanation to what those reasons are. They say they give you a customised rate, but raise the price for other reason which doesn’t adhere to this so called customised rate. This doesn’t feel like a good driver reward or a means to insure good drivers, so that one doesn’t have to pay for the accidents of bad drivers or whatever others mysterious reasons there could be. This doesn’t seem to stand by what is said.

by ImPharaoh

I’ve heard of this app from a few other people who were tying it out. My past payments with State Farm wasn’t too bad, but who doesn’t want to save money even more on insurance payments right? Well I decided to try it out and even Root seemed easy and user friendly with a couple cool options. Anyway during the so called review I noticed that my driving progress to a 6 and said good for the majority of the 3-4weeks. I drive a lot to get to and back from work, and I’m very good. I don’t have any caused accidents on any of my past insurance records. Root always said I was in the “good” area but the gauge never seemed to move. Well today I see that this app has taken another payment out of my account without my say so. So I opened Root to see why that was, and kinda assumed it was because I was approved for that rate...well that wasn’t the case. I was told that they’re not a good fit for me and I had to cancel either now or in a couple of weeks, but either way they won’t insure me. But they sure still took that money out of my account before stating this. I emailed them to see if we can at least resolve this payment issue but of course was told that it may take up to 48hrs to get a response. Hopefully this review helps anyone considering switching insurance.

by Ibrake4tanks

I have been in 2 incidents first one was someone hit me and it was to the point I gave up because it was a dent. Second claim was my fault and I’m trying to get it resolve! I pay for premium where it’s maxed out and I can’t get answer the phone for 1 week after I file a claim. So I posted something negative on Facebook and they got back to me right away and someone called to tell me someone else will be taking care of it. Are you kidding me! I’m about to file a complaint with BBB. I rather pay more with better claims service from a different company. If you read all the reviews for claims they are awful. I have yet to find 1 good review about their claims. And if you look at the negative reviews it the same response “We’re so sorry to hear about your accident. We're working diligently to improve our claims process and have passed along your review to our colleagues in Claims. We hope you have a resolution soon. Thanks.” All they do is copy and paste. They truly don’t care. I have seen claims where it’s taking over months to get resolve. That’s a nightmare I don’t want to be in. I’m telling my friends and family to stay away. And that is why I am writing this review. I never thought I would be in an accident but it happens. And this is the most stressful situation I don’t want anyone to go through!

by Lil Figger

With their app you cannot change your payment frequency from once every 6 months to monthly. I made the mistake of paying my entire policy the first time, since I had my tax refund available. I contacted them numerous times to change my payment frequency and they repeatedly told me I could do that myself in their app. There is nothing for me to click on the payment frequency tab. It only tells me my payment is due every 6 months! I checked my email this afternoon and, since I got paid Friday afternoon, they had emailed thanking me for my payment!!! They took out the entire 6 months which only left me with $38 in my account for my electric and water bill, groceries, gas to get to work, getting my car tagged, transferring my driver’s license, paying credit card and computer bills. Needlessly to say I am infuriated because I could NOT afford to make that entire payment!!! Others charge more but have more options and will work with you on making payments and make changing stuff easy. When I start making more money (hopefully next month) I will cancel my policy with them and never use or recommend them again! Also shortly before my renewal came due my score dropped from 10/10 to 6/10...... odd

by BillXuFromMD

First of all, it does beat my previous insurance cost, and thus I ended up switching to this app. Good work for them!
However, regarding to the test driving feature, I don’t really think it worked as well as customers expect. The biggest problem I had was that it couldn’t tell whether you’re the driver or passenger. Although this app claims that Root could tell the difference, but I really don’t believe it. You can claim points for each trip you drive, and that’s how I figured that out — it detected “trips” even when I parked and ride with public transportation, or ride in my coworkers’ car for lunch. But meanwhile, I don’t really think the test driving scores are making huge difference to you premium. Although I couldn’t prove that, but I believe this driving score is more of a marketing trick for this app. Unless you’re really driving horribly, I don’t think you will get a quote much higher than others, or even get denied, so don’t worry too much about it.
One more thing, don’t count on them to cancel your old policy on time. Do it yourself.

by Pallaium

There are so many things I love about Root. Firstly I am 22 and decided to give Root a chance and take the “first steps of adulthood” and get my own insurance. I was told time and time again (even by insurance agencies I called for a quote) that I should stay on my parents insurance for as long as possible because it was going to be more expensive. I still went through the test drive and got an AMAZING quote that was half the price of being on my parents insurance! I was so happy!

The next thing I love about Root is you do the test drive for around three weeks (which is the time it takes to form a habit) and practice keeping your phone away and driving a little bit more carefully than you normally would to get a good rate, and those habits have stuck with me! I (who treats their phone like an appendage) now have created a habit of starting up my music before I start driving and leaving my phone alone while I’m driving, which is something I am very happy about.

Thank you this app for saving me money and making me safer!

by C- Breazy

this app is awesome! I just saved $36 a month on the exact same coverage that I had with progressive. The only difference? this app has roadside assistance included! I couldn’t believe it I was shocked, I went from $86 down to $50. The only downside of this application is that it takes time to get your quote. The bad part about that is once you get your quote you are going to wish you had found this app sooner. The reasoning and great thing about it taking awhile is, that’s how you know your insurance is custom made to your specific driving profile and not grouped into a most people category. People should pay based on how they drive instead of being affected and reaping bad consequences for someone else’s driving profile or a populations average. Also people that claim to be good drivers can finally test to see if they really are good and bad drivers can see where they need improvement. Thank you this app, way to stick with the times, you’re are a modern day genius!😎👍