Metromile Launches Pay-Per-Mile Car Insurance and Updated Connected Driving Platform in California

SAN FRANCISCO, July 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Metromile today announced that it is expanding its connected driving platform to drivers in California, as well as a revamped mobile app experience. California customers who sign up for Metromile will receive access to the full set of services designed to save drivers time and money, including Metromile's free Metronome device and newly refreshed mobile app, and the nation's only pay-per-mile car insurance offering. California joins Illinois, Washington and Oregon as states currently offering Metromile's complete line of services.

"At Metromile, we are reinventing the car ownership experience to be smarter and more responsive to the needs of urban drivers," said Metromile CEO Dan Preston. "By unlocking the data in your car, we empower you to make smart decisions about how much you drive, how to keep your car in safe running condition, and even how to avoid street sweeping tickets. As a result, our customers are able to control many of the costs of owning a car, like insurance, fuel, tickets, and maintenance, much more effectively."

Metromile developed its pay-per-mile car insurance product by observing that traditional insurance pricing was not responding to the downward trend in US driving:  travel on all roads and streets dropped roughly 3.1 billion miles in February 2013 compared to February 2012 (U.S. DoT). By reinventing insurance to a variable pricing model based on miles driven, Metromile offers significant savings to people who drive less than 10,000 miles per year – the average Metromile customer saves nearly $500 annually. Unlike usage-based discounting programs like Progressive's Snapshot, Metromile does not use driving behavior, like how hard you brake, to calculate your cost – only the number of miles you drive.

In addition to its flagship car insurance product, Metromile has also upgraded its iPhone app, which offers drivers a transparent view into the workings of their car and its trips. The revamped app includes improved visualizations of trip statistics and trends, fuel consumption, vehicle diagnostics, and car location. App users also get the ability to view their fuel level (on supported vehicles), and can contact on-staff Metromile mechanics with inquiries. Drivers in San Francisco and Chicago can also receive notifications to help them avoid costly street sweeping tickets; additional city rollouts for this feature are on the horizon.

To activate all of the features in the app, Metromile users simply plug a device, the Metronome, into the OBD II diagnostics port of their vehicle. The Metronome captures data from the car and transmits back to the Metromile platform. With GPS enabled, the Metronome has also proven instrumental in helping customers locate and recover cars that were misplaced and stolen. Currently, the device is available for free to the public.

"Fundamentally, Metromile is a technology company with data science at its core," Preston said. "We use data to give drivers features that are really useful, like how much they spent on fuel last month, how much time they spend driving below 30mph, and when they need to move their car to avoid a ticket. With these kinds of insights, we hope to make the urban driving experience simpler, more affordable and more enjoyable for everyone."

To celebrate its California launch, Metromile is offering free car washes to the first 415 drivers to visit Tower Car Wash in San Francisco between 10 am and 6 pm on Saturday, July 19. To receive a free car wash, drivers must simply sign-up for a free Metronome at the event. Tower Car Wash is located at 1601 Mission Street in San Francisco.

About Metromile

Metromile is building a revolutionary platform for services built around the needs of drivers – from useful driving data and insights to an entirely new pay-per-mile car insurance model. Metromile technology combines hardware, software, and cloud-based infrastructure to access, analyze and manage driving data at a massive scale. Over time, the company plans to harness the power of its predictive modeling expertise to make all aspects of driving and owning a car simpler, less expensive, and more convenient. Metromile is located in San Francisco, California. For more information, visit www.Metromile.com.

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SOURCE Metromile