Root Car Insurance Customer Reviews

Buying a new car is not an entirely fun process. There are some annoying steps to be taken until you get to that point where you can just enjoy a sweet, safe ride in your new vehicle. All car owners need a reliable, trust-worthy insurance for their car, before they even think about getting behind the wheel.

Getting car insurance is usually an exhausting task, as it involves a lot of signatures and paperwork. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be like that.

What is Root Insurance?

Root Insurance Co is a relatively new company that sells car insurance in a more appealing and non-discriminatory manner. Root Insurance was only founded in 2015 but it’s already built a good reputation and a large client base.

Where is Root Car Insurance available?

The company doesn’t operate everywhere in the country yet, but it keeps expanding from one month to the other and it promises to soon cover the entire United States. Root is currently available in almost 30 states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia.

What does Root car Insurance offer?

Root Insurance brings a more attractive concept on the market, which helps you get car insurance almost instantly, without going through all the paperwork and trips to the car insurance company, as we mentioned at the beginning of this article. Instead, Root developed a mobile app you can download for free and that helps you get car insurance immediately, directly from your mobile phone. The app works with both iOS and Android devices.

There are two ways to go with Root: you can either get a temporary car insurance rate for up to 60 days (a period of time during which you to take Root’s test drive) or get a final insurance rate, but only after 30 days, after your test drive is completed.

What is Root’s test drive?

Root Car Insurance boasts on being fair towards its customers by not calculating your insurance rate based on factors such as your ZIP code, your age, nationality and so on. Instead, Root chooses to test your driving abilities, to learn what kind of a driver you are. It will then offer you a quote based on your driving abilities, tested during what they call a ‘test drive’. The better your results, the lower your car insurance rates.

The test drive lasts for approximately 2, 3 weeks and you don’t have to do anything out of the ordinary during this period. All you have to do is download and install the Root app on your phone and enable the GPS feature on your phone, for the entire period of the test drive. The Root app is a very complex app and uses artificial intelligence (complex algorithms and machine learning capabilities) to analyze your driving. Your phone’s motion sensors are also used by the app.

During the test drive, the app will analyze your braking habits, the way you take turns, your speed, how you use the gas pedal, your most common driving hours and so on. Your scores will appear in your ‘driver scorecard’ section in your app.

Root is smart enough to know when you are in your car driving and when you are not driving and you are in a bus, train and so on, with the help of the phone’s motion sensors. You will only be tested when you are driving the car.

After the test drive ends (usually 2 to 3 weeks), you will get a quote based on the score you’ve obtained.

The higher your score, the lower the rate. A cautious driver can save up to 52% more money on car insurance, compared to other companies.

There are a few important aspects to consider if you want to obtain a high score during the Root test drive:

• You should avoid driving during the night or high traffic hours as much as possible
• You should avoid sudden turns and brakes and be as consistent as possible in your driving
• Don’t take turns too fast and don’t drive too fast as a general rule

What do customers say about Root Car Insurance?

The fact that Root doesn’t discriminate among customers and doesn’t care about the driver’s age, experience in driving, their ZIP code or credit score, has made Root a very popular and appreciated car insurance provider. Customers are overall pleased with the features offered by Root Car Insurance and Root has received mostly positive reviews from customers so far.

Customers mostly appreciate the following in Root:

• Its transparence when it comes to pricing
• The fact that Root offers several coverage options (you can see all the available options here)
• Its customer support; customers say Root is responsive and fast
• Fast claim process
• Low rates for high-risk drivers such as those who are unexperienced (teenagers); other companies charge high rates for such categories of drivers

There are some negative reviews as well out there, most of them related to the age of the company. The fact that Root Car Insurance is a new player in the industry, with only approximately 5 years of experience, makes some people skeptical when it comes to trusting Root. They also complain that Root hasn’t been evaluated yet by reputable insurance rating agencies.

Another complaint related to Root Car Insurance is the fact that you have to wait for your test drive to complete to get a final quote. However, you can opt for a temporary insurance until then, so that shouldn’t be an issue.