Steer Clear® Reviews

by Frustrated Driver 2

This should have been easy to complete in one roadtrip. . . instead I have spent 20+ hours of driving and upwards of 3 months trying to make it track. It will ONLY track for 30 minutes and if you don’t get on to end it, it probably won’t save. The only way I could finish it was to have my passenger get on SteerClear and end it and restart at exactly 30 minutes. State Farm - you’re trying to promote safe driving but this is inherently UNSAFE. I should not have to think about restarting my tracker every 30 minutes during my road-trips. Would not recommend this based on functionality.

by Steer Clear User

Steer clear is extremely sensitive!! Before I did it I read an review that said to get anyway near 100% you had to drive like you were afraid of the pedals and IT WAS RIGHT! I am a good driver and while using and doing SteerClear I have tried to be extra cautious of slow acceleration and slow braking. I braked so perfectly that you couldn’t really feel the car stop. I told my mom and made her come in a drive with me to see how I was driving. She couldn’t believe the scores it was giving me for how well I was driving. Also if your phone moves the tiniest bit, it won’t grade it!! I loss 30 minutes of driving and it wouldn’t score it because my phone moved! It consistently gave me a 50%. I accelerated so slow that cars around me would get annoyed and SteerClear would tell me that I had a rapid acceleration. ARE YOU SERIOUS?!! I only did it so I could get a discount and go on random drives so I can meet the time limit and get done with it as soon as possible. No matter how perfectly you drive you will get a low grade.

by BBKay2015

So I have the Drive Safe and Save and SteerClear recording my driving and I’m sorry but there are a lot of things showing up for SteerClear that are not showing up on my other app. The acceleration part and the braking part are what’s frustrating because I can’t just not brake once I come to a stop sign, and I can’t creep up to a turn off road in the middle of traffic! But SteerClear is saying that I’m braking to hard and I’m accelerating to much when I’m creeping out into traffic and the creeping up to a stop sign, remind you that there are people behind me blowing their horns. I’m not sure why it’s not rating me the same way the other app for the same company is rating me, but something needs to be relooked at.

by Sashajack

We have contacted State Farm three times because it’s not recording the drive once it turns off at 30 minutes. It’s supposed to record up to 30 min and provide a grade. If you manually turn it off at 30 minutes then it records the grade. But that’s a pain. And, they don’t have a way to recall your drive or the grade.

We also noticed that if you drive on an interstate with stop lights, it gives you a poor grade due to acceleration. Driving the same way on a regular road, the grade difference is 20 points higher.

Same applies on the free way. They ding you for accelerating. It’s a free way, I’m guessing you should ease on? I provided my number so they could contact me for additional feedback but no one called. I think they need to do more testing in different driving conditions.

If it wasn’t for the potential discount, I would not have my child complete this course. This is my second child completing the course. My second child is a far better driver than my oldest and is a lot more conscious of the things it’s measuring and it just seems like there is a great disparity in the calculations.

by Lotsaballs

SteerClear need some serious modifying. It is completely inaccurate the majority of the time. It scores your braking, cornering, and acceleration completely different every time you drive in spite of the fact that you drive the same way or better each trip.
In my opinion, if you’ve got your permit, drove with a licensed adult for a year, completed Drivers Ed, and obtained your state drivers license you should not have to compete a 5 hour driving log to get this certificate. You should simply answer the questions in the 5 sections and then get the discount. My son did all the above steps and yet we had to wait until he got 5 hours worth of driving logged to get a certificate which we then had to make a trip back to the insurance office to turn in, just to get the discount on his premiums.

by Annoyed Perfectionist

While my daughter was driving along a straightaway, steer clear dinged her about 8 times in about 4 miles! I was with her and it was one of the smoothest rides I’ve been on with her... it was a horribly bogus score.

Her next two drives she lost points for braking and acceleration- my opinion was that she drove perfectly fine on both trips. Took away points but had “No incidents “ to report... SteerClear will be dropped once her drivers license is obtained and we get a discount for her.

And still more instances of poor evaluations on acceleration and cornering... my opinion is that in order to get a perfect score, you would be more dangerous to the rest of the vehicles on the road.

by Disapointed_customer999

At first, I thought it was going to be no big deal, if this is all I needed to do just to save a few bucks, might as well do it. However, it became a hassle because you have to go into SteerClear every time you start to drive. I wish it could just tell when I'm on the road or be associated with the drive safe and save the device. Then, it would get frustrating when I knew I did everything well on the road and it would either stop recording, It would tell me I would break too hard, or there was phone movement. Again, I am grateful this saves me money per month, but I didn't appreciate how inaccurate it was every time.

by Smadasivada

I’ve been told by many people that I am one of the safest drivers they know. I was taught by my mother who has never had any sort of traffic incident on her record in her 33 years of driving. SteerClear is a wonderful idea to ensure people are driving safely, but it is not executed well at all. SteerClear is much too sensitive. To get anywhere near 100% on acceleration and braking scores, you have to drive like you’re afraid of the pedals. To “safely” accelerate, you have to pull off so slow that people are coming through the back window! To “safely” brake, you have to start braking WAY too early, and it just makes the people behind you mad. I’m convinced that SteerClear isn’t to make me a safer driver; this is an app to make me a danger to those around me and to myself. State Farm I hope you really read this. Driving slower than the rest of traffic isn’t safe. I tested SteerClear driving normally, and it gave me a 50% driving score. This is intriguing because on my Drive Safe and Save app, which is also owned by State Farm, that same drive was rated at 5 stars. Perfect score. It’s also annoying and tedious that I have to manually start and stop drives in the Steer Clear app when I don’t for Drive Safe and Save.

by Bkorb

Modules are pathetic, didn’t learn a thing. You have to set the trip every time in order to get the discount for 5 HOURS of driving. Keep in mind it resets every 30 MINUTES. So that’s 10, 30 minute trips that HOPEFULLY get recorded because if your phone moves even slightly it seems like it trashes the whole trip.

Totally needs some work to be easier to use possibly the same as the drive safe and save app which I’ve had no problems with. Don’t understand why those same drives that automatically recorded accurately to be used for credit for their expected 5 hours of drive time.

Unhappy all around with Steer clear, everything else about State Farm and their other app drive safe and save are good. STEER CLEAR is a juvenile attempt at teaching young drivers to be better drivers. The developers for SteerClear really half assed this one.

by Francisco Xavier Gutierrez

My dad is one of the safest drivers out there and he taught me. I always keep a few car lengths away from a car and keep my eyes ahead of traffic to predict what may happen. Not too sure how the acceleration, turning and braking is measured, but I do feel that it’s a little too sensitive. I’ve tested the driving scores and noticed that you have to be excessively slow in order to get a good score on the driving portion. I am fully aware that driving too slow can pose just as much a hazard as accelerating too quickly as well. I just wanted to point out my experience with SteerClear and the driving portion in hopes that SteerClear would be updated and more helpful for future drivers who use SteerClear. On the contrary, the review portion of SteerClear was amazing. It provides information that every driver should follow regardless of what age they are or how experienced they are.

by MollyandBelle

We learned the hard way That SteerClear does not share it with other devices. We had started the classroom modules on my iPad and then I started the driving on my phone. We learned that none of the work on the iPad would transfer to the phone. You will have The same problem if you set up one device for the car ride and a separate device for the tests.

That was very frustrating and time-consuming. SteerClear itself is picky. If your phone is not completely stationary in the car it will not pick up the drive. My phone was sitting in a phone carrier and still have this problem.

On the plus side, it is nice to get a grade on each drive and know what needed a little adjustment.

by Psky

My daughter had to use SteerClear to get an additional discount from State Farm. Often it would not rate her drive because it said that the phone was moving too much. She tried putting the phone is different places and different positions, but still would get the error reading. Also, because of our car’s engine, I don't feel the acceleration portion of SteerClear gives a clear picture of how her acceleration. And I don’t understand why that’s important anyway. I give it 3 stars only because it made her more aware of her cornering and breaking.

by Emmy7133

I find that SteerClear is over-sensitive: I have power boost in my car, which helps in city traffic because you need to take off when the light turns green, or risk getting hit from behind or the driver behind honking on the horn. It also helps when getting into traffic, but every time I use it, my score goes down. I have been working on my complete stops and going in a circle, but it gets me every time, & it is depressing. I am trying to be a better driver, but it’s always something. Meanwhile, drivers fly past me on both lines, which is downright scary.

by Isisisgreat

The modules are short; I finished them in less than an hour. The transcripts of the videos are mostly accurate, though one was blank entirely and there are a handful of errors that make sentences not fully understandable.

The driving is... frustrating, at the very least. I recognize that as a Jersey driver, I’m not the gentlest, but there are just some roads that have sharp corners, and the speed limit is 45, and I’m not going to go 20 mph and potentially cause an accident just because I don’t want SteerClear to ding me for “sharp corners.” Depending on the roads, I can tell when my score will be higher or lower, because highway stop lights and turns on some roads are not SteerClear’s friend. But apparently the scores don’t really matter for the discount regardless, so I’m learning to care less (even though I secretly want to unlock all those badges).

by All The Names Are Taken 028474

SteerClear itself is alright, modules are very easy if you’ve been driving for any period of time, and as others have said, the driving ratings are extremely sensitive. My main issue, as a “risky” 24 year old driver using SteerClear to get a discount, is how targeted the language is towards teens and extremely new drivers. When you’ve been driving for 7 years, it does get kind of annoying to have an app talk down to you, or chide you for braking too hard (I guess it would rather have me rear end someone)

by Wack Zeiner

Been using SteerClear non stop lately. Works perfectly and teaches allot to new drivers. Just dont take its driver rating to heart because its only as accurate as ur phone and gps signal. Personally had a dmv driver in my car for a scoring to see how SteerClear compares. I drove perfectly with the instructor giving me a 100 but SteerClear only gave it a 90 :/, if you hit any form of traffic it also throws off the rating from what i could tell. So if u want the perfectionist medal dont attempt to get it anytime during traffic hours. Its still a perfect app that i would recommend to anyone.

by OlatheSam

SteerClear is limited in allowing the adult driver to explain why some measurable reactions need to be explained. Case in point when SteerClear sensed an abrupt sudden stop. The reason for the stop is due to a driver running a stop sign. Luckily Alejandro was able to avoid the impact. I’m certainly glad at least I have this review venue to provide these details. In my opinion there should be a place after each driving session for comments.

by It's James, James Bond

At first when driving my mom had just started longer trips and soon realized that the time spent v.s the tracker were COMPLETELY different. Later we found out this is due to a limit SteerClear sets for 30 minutes... so I was only getting a 4th of the time I had driven. Also be aware that you must keep your phone in a stable place otherwise it won’t score your driving. Overall the set up of SteerClear is practical and easy to manage, just extremely touchy. On certain drives where I feel like I’ve done better than previous trips I will often have a much lower percentage, so I personally didn’t think it reflected how well I drive all too accurately but that could also just be me. Majority of my complaints aren’t anything too bad but extremely aggravating I would still recommend it to other people but I would’ve preferred a somewhat repetitive notice reminding drivers.

by HovaYoHomie

Overall SteerClear is amazing but when you are being asked is it better to be less distracted or more distracted and then the correct answer being not distracted. Even though I know not distracted was correct you should not make a question phrased like that. It is just stupid and unnecessary.

by Dehate

As the mentor of a student driver, I do not Think that your overall percentage scores and even your individual scores for particular skills is accurate. I am very particular in the way that my son drives, been a very safe driver myself, I think an app on a phone cannotSee what a driver has to deal with. As such, sometimes when they have to accelerate faster than your app thinks they should or taking a curve has had to avoid something they get scored lower.

by Kster47

I am a new driver and downloaded SteerClear because I saw that SteerClear came with a discount. However, SteerClear is frustrating as it lacks consistency. The time tracking has been unreliable as I have missed out on 3 or more hours of driving, due to SteerClear not recording it. The grading system is also horrible. I could take a 30 minute drive and slam on the brakes due to a car merging into traffic, and that one hard brake, drops my 100% grade, to maybe an 80%. If you are interested in the insurance discount, go ahead and download SteerClear, but be warned, SteerClear is very inconsistent and is very frustrating to work with.

by Viper37

My teen has been using SteerClear in order to log her five (5) hours of drive time. However, she has easily driven twice that time, yet SteerClear consistently errors out during a trip thus resulting in not recording and giving her credit for the time driven. Further, SteerClear has deducted points for driver error, however, when I compare this with the State Farm Drive Safe and Save app, the errors are not reflected on SteerClear or the Life360 app either. My teen is frustrated and as a parent I’m extremely frustrated. I’ll be so glad when it finally recognizes the five hours drive time!!!!

by Lissa Stocks

The scores I receive are frustrating. I have become very conscious about my driving and I don’t speed, turn too sharply, brake to hard; yet the highest score I have gotten is an 89%. In school, I enjoy 100%, and an 89% is not so pretty.

I give it 2-star rating due to its quick lessons, the idea it makes me more aware, and it’s helping with my insurance. But really, it’s a pain. The scoring system is too picky, and some of my trips were not calculated —-which I understand that is due to my movement of my phone. But still, the scoring system needs to be reworked.

by Elliehurricane

The calibration often started my drives of at 1.5 miles and then would shut down half way through, the videos would not play until you restarted SteerClear and if you forgot to end your trip, it would measure the walk you made from your car to your destination or really any movement made in the next 30 minutes part of your drive and would ruin your score. Really if your phone moves at all during your drive, even to pick it up or set it down, your score will be poor. The driving tips were nice though.

by SmartSafeKnowledgebleDriver

A lot of the questions were opinion based and 1 question in particular was completely contradictory. The question asked was if you should use your high beams in rural areas if possible. I answered true but the “correct” answer was false because cars will come that you’ll have to turn your high beams off for. In that case, logically, when can you ever use your high beams!? Doesn’t make sense and is completely against how people drive. Besides that I already knew ALL of the answers except for the opinion based questions that are based on subjectivity.

by BiogeochemistCAP

Not a bad app at all, easy and user friendly. The modules are crazy easy, and SteerClear is incredibly easy to navigate. However, the driving factor needs improvement. It senses potholes as braking or acceleration, and when you live somewhere with a lot of them, that can be an issue. Or if you accidentally leave SteerClear running when you get out of your car, it does the same thing, dropping your score. It would be nice if it could sense these things.