Cars & Bikes, Driving & Riding

Postby **LITT** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 8:14 am

Anybody know anyone with one of those insurance monitors on their car that monitors if you are a "safe driver"? My wife is looking into getting one to save some insurance money. She drives pretty slow. Seems pretty scary to me. I can see them being put on all cars some day and the police simply can send you a speeding ticket in the mail. I sure don't want one.

yes - highly recommended. on track for a 28% discount. It measures your night driving, idle time, hard stop/quick accelerations, and total drive time. basically as any of those increase, your potential discount decreases. guaranteed at least 12% with my company i think. this is my fourth time doing it, have never had an issues with any sort of policing.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 8:18 am

MetLife apparently uses an iOS app for this functionality, so I wonder if it's worth looking into it for my wife. I'd have to keep it far away from anything I drive.

Postby **dodint** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 8:58 am

I'm sure that thing would really enjoy my evenings at the race track. Particularly the last outing.

Postby **Willie Kool** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:00 am

hard stop/quick accelerations...

Based on that alone, I'd probably end up paying more...

Postby **iamjs** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 10:55 am

anybody have a promo code for Turo? They used to have a $25 first time driver promo, but that's gone.

Postby **Tomas** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 11:32 am

Source of the post needing to replace my last set of run flats (Continental ContiPro) after 20,000 miles...
Are you going with another set of run-flats? I had my dad switch from his absurdly expensive run-flats (whatever is factory on BMW) this summer.

I actually like the run flat concept. I don't consider myself a race driver, so I really don't feel the difference between driving the greatest tires on earth vs. (usually panned by critics) run flats. As long as I don't float in the rain on a highway, and I know that I have 50 miles to get my car to the service without working in a ditch trying to replace a flat tire - I'll be totally OK.

Just this time, I'll finally move away from Continental ContiPro (their 2 sets gave me 25K and 19K, respectively). I will be going with Bridgestone Driveguard - because they have better reviews on TireRack, plus they are cheaper (4 x $143 minus $70 mail-in rebate).
(Though, Contipro has much better reviews than the universally hated Bridgestone Turanza - but that one at least lasted 31K...)

Postby **dodint** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 11:52 am

I have AAA Premier. So I often travel without a spare tire. And never have a jack.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 12:11 pm

Check out both Simple Tire and TireBuyer.com before purchasing from TireRack, which is expensive. Some of those sites offer coupon codes saving you even more cash.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 12:24 pm

Simple Tire has the DriveGuard in 205/55R-16 for $146.99/tire. TireRack is cheaper, but if you use coupon code REVE13190AB1D at ST you'll save $50. I'm sure you've already seen it, but there's also a $70 rebate on those tires through September 9th.

Postby **Tomas** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 2:50 pm

Simple Tire has the DriveGuard in 205/55R-16 for $146.99/tire. TireRack is cheaper, but if you use coupon code REVE13190AB1D at ST you'll save $50. I'm sure you've already seen it, but there's also a $70 rebate on those tires through September 9th.

Bummer (maybe?).

I did the TireRack vs Simple Tire comparison a few months ago while shopping for tires for our Honda Pilot. At that time, I went with TireRack because (a) the road hazard protection was free (you'd pay $50+ with simple Tire) and (b) surprisingly, there was no tax added with TireRack (unlike with Simple Tire).

This time, the tax loophole was no longer available - but I was simply lazy to go for another round of comparisons, searching for coupons, etc. If the road hazard protection has any value, at least that somewhat balances things out...

Postby **Shyster** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 4:44 pm

Thanks!
And yes, it bothered me maybe the first 3 days - now I am completely used to that stupid yellow light...

You could always do what I do with my TPMS warning light in the winter when I have my non-TPMS snow tires/wheels on: stick a piece of electrical tape on the cover for the gauges to cover up the light.

Postby **dodint** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 4:45 pm

Elegant.

Postby **Shyster** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 5:07 pm

IIRC, that was the standard advice for a warning light on Car Talk. "Just put a piece of electrical tape over it."

I miss that show.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 5:15 pm

Or just buy another set of TPMS sensors.

Postby **dodint** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 5:41 pm

IIRC, that was the standard advice for a warning light on Car Talk. "Just put a piece of electrical tape over it."

I miss that show.

I still listen via podcast.

Postby **Shyster** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 5:56 pm

I got my winter wheels from my brother, who didn't like the stock wheels on his Hyundai Elantra GT. Hyundai and Kia use the exact same bolt patterns and hub sizes, and the Elantra GT is the Hyundai version of my Kia Forte5, so those wheels fit my car perfectly. I was hoping that the TPMS sensors on those wheels would work with my car, but that turned out to not be the case. I'll buy new TPMS sensors for those wheels whenever I buy new snow tires.

Postby **mac5155** » Fri Aug 23, 2019 12:12 pm

I've always heard of it happening, but in like 7 tries it never happened to me... However yesterday, when fighting a speeding ticket (to ask for leniency on the points), the officer did not show up and the charge was completely dropped.

Postby **Morkle** » Fri Aug 23, 2019 12:20 pm

I'll never forget the day I had to go downtown to fight a ticket. Everyone in front of me was arguing and bringing nonsense to fight their ticket.

I just walked up and said, "I'm just here so you don't give me points, I'll pay the fine." The guy was super nice about it because I sped in a school zone, I had no idea what to expect.

Postby **mac5155** » Fri Aug 23, 2019 7:38 pm

Yeah, almost every other time the cop meets you outside the court room and says "why are you here". The fine is what it is. By the time the trial rolls around I've already forgotten about it. I just don't want points, that's all. Sounds like I'll be getting a bit of a refund now, though. Even better.

Postby **NTP66** » Sat Aug 24, 2019 3:07 pm

My wife went out, and when I walked through the garage, I found a sizable oil spill on the ground. I swear we can’t catch a **** break with oil issues this year. She had an oil change done two weeks ago, and ball joints last week, and either nobody saw anything or nobody bothered saying anything.

Postby **dodint** » Sat Aug 24, 2019 6:10 pm

Good thing you don't have one of those gosh darn unreliable BMWs.

Postby **NTP66** » Sat Aug 24, 2019 7:44 pm

I got under the truck and couldn’t really see any leaks. I’ll monitor it, but I think it might have just been a sloppy tech who did the oil change. My wife told me today that she was checking out Land Rover Discovery Sports online recently, so I’d prefer to have this be a false alarm.

Postby **AuthorTony** » Sat Aug 24, 2019 7:49 pm

Aren't Land/Range Rovers pretty much the most unreliable modern vehicles available?

Postby **NTP66** » Sat Aug 24, 2019 7:53 pm

I’m honestly not sure, but my assumption is that they’re very expensive to actually maintain, which is why I don’t want any part of it.

Postby **NTP66** » Sat Aug 24, 2019 7:59 pm

This is from a quick Google search, and I don’t put much weight into JD Power, but:

I saw Land Rover at the bottom of multiple lists.