Progressive, a truck insurer and provider of usage-based insurance (UBI), has launched Smart Haul, a UBI program for commercial truck drivers based on electronic logging devices (ELDs). Smart Haul is available now to owner-operators and small fleets that use ELDs.
Smart Haul offers qualifying truckers a minimum savings of 3% on their initial commercial auto policy period for signing up and sharing their ELD driving data, Progressive says, and claims many can save more. New qualifying truck customers that use an ELD and sign up for Smart Haul save an average of $1,384 on their commercial auto policy premium for the initial policy term, according to the company.
Rates can change over time and depends on where, when, and how a user drives, according to their ELD driving data.
ELDs automatically record driving data, including the hours of service in a day, and are required for the vast majority of owner-operators and small fleets that operate interstate. Many larger fleets have been keeping electronic logs of some kind for years.
“We know many drivers are still becoming comfortable with ELDs,” said John Barbagallo, Progressive’s commercial lines president. “We think turning the ELD requirement into an opportunity to save some money for safe driving will appeal to lots of truckers. Our extensive experience providing UBI to our auto customers through our long-running Snapshot program helped us introduce this innovation for the commercial truck market.”
Through a collaboration with ELD vendors, Smart Haul collects the same data gathered as part of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) ELD mandate and does not require the driver to get another device.
After years of data collection and investments in research and development, Progressive says it began using the Smart Haul name last year for a precursor program that helped provide truckers with ELD devices free of charge in exchange for sharing their data for analysis. Combined with insight gained from more than 25 billion miles of Snapshot driving data and working closely with leading ELD vendors, that extensive data set allowed Progressive to create and test the Smart Haul UBI program the company is offering today.
