MetroMile

Why is to so hard to speak to customer service to cancel the policy. Tried a couple of times and put on hold more than 15 minutes failing to speak to customer service I later hangup.
Later sent a message on 5/24 to cancel the policy on 5/28 but got a response on 5/30 that can't cancel via email and asking again to go back to the Web site or call to cancel. Web site does not provide proper direction to cancel the policy. When I finally able to locate the cancel the policy on web site, cancellation effective date has passed asking me to select a future date which they are going to charge to my credit card.

My car battery mysteriously went dead one morning a few months ago. Clueless as what was going on, I took the car (2016 Lexus CT200 hybrid) into the dealership and they replaced the battery with a new one and said I should be good to go. 30 days later the new battery also went completely dead, so I took the car back to Lexus and they did some further testing over the course of several days and determined that there was possibly something draining my battery, but they were not sure what it was. They thought it might be my aftermarket stereo and suggested I take it back to the shop that installed it. I brought the car back to the installers and they did the tests with me right there watching and showed me that there was indeed a draw on the battery, but it was not coming from the car stereo. We were perplexed and not sure how to proceed when suddenly a light bulb went off in my head. All the problems started shortly after I enrolled in Metromile and installed that innocent looking plug. Low and behold after pulling out the plug, the 100 Millamp draw disappeared and returned to a normal draw of 2-3 millamps.

For the life of me I cannot reach anyone live at Metromile by phone to report this problem after repeated attempts; just endless hold times with annoying recordings saying they are experiencing high call volumes. I think this money saving insurer was a big mistake.

It took me only three weeks to discover that they could not provide the proof of insurance to DMV. Therefore, I was essentially not covered for those three weeks. Customer service was polite but totally inept. Underwriters appear to have distorted perceptions of auto insurance policies. To make things worse, I am out hundreds of dollars in deposits and fees for non-insurance for the miserable three weeks with them. I can't understand how this company avoids problems with the insurance commission. I hope to report. DO NOT fall for their pie in the sky! Put them out of business!

I had a legal name change and have contacted customer care SIX times. I've waited 30+ minutes and only once was my call answered. The gentleman was not friendly at all and accidentally deleted my data twice after spending many minutes providing all of my information. Additionally, we found out that even though both my partner and myself had spoke to Metromile when we moved to our new address A YEAR AGO, our new address was never saved and we've been paying $9/month more than we should have been which is over $100 extra than we should have been. The customer service agent refused to put in a request for my overpayments for the last year. He then tried to make me feel sorry for him by saying he has been working over time and is actually in the sales department and Metromile has expanded so much that they cannot keep up with the customer service. Extremely poor business practices.

I had read the reviews so when they raised my rates after a few months, I expected it.

I did not expect them to charge me for miles in an exclusion area - on my last trip to Mexico. Even though their coverage is invalid, they billed me for those trips. Charging someone for a product or service you are not providing is fraud and I reported them to the BBB.

Unfortunately they refuse to do the right thing and responded saying "we are operating within the confines of your policy contract."

Seriously, stay away from this company

I was saving a substantial amount, at first, but lately Metromile seems to be addicted to rate hikes, and they don't actually save you a lot of money unless you hardly drive at all. When I signed up in 2016, I had a 1996 Ford Crown Victoria and thought "Hey, cool!" at paying like $15 a month and a couple cents a mile for basic liability coverage, but in July of this year, I financed a 2018 Kia Soul Plus. Part of what made me comfortable taking on a car payment was the thought that Metromile had my back on car insurance rates. For a short while, they did. I was quoted something like $44 a month plus 9.6 cents per mile for $250 Collision and Comprehensive, 100/300/50 liability, $1,000 medical payments. Unfortunately, when it came time to renew, I got a declarations page stating that my rate would go up to something like $58 a month and 11.9 cents per mile. I thought, "Gee, that's a sizable increase, but still a lot cheaper than what other insurers want, so I'm not happy about this, but what can I do?". So, a couple of weeks later, the guy I'm renting a parking spot from tells me to get out and I change my parking address back to my home address, which is roughly two blocks away. Metromile generated another declarations page for my next term, beginning 10/29, saying it would now be $67-something plus 13.5 cents per mile. I did some quick math and determined that my average monthly bill would be over the flat rate of traditional insurers, such as American Family, State Farm, and others, and none of them make you put a thing in your car that tracks mileage. Well, Root Insurance had my attention anyway because their app rides along and sees how you drive and then offers you a personalized quote. Long story short, I was able to get better insurance coverages than Metromile for a flat rate of $82 per month (paid for the whole term up front), and so I accepted this and canceled my policy with Metromile, effective 10/29. I asked Metromile what gave. Why did my rates skyrocket, and then do so again, and wasn't really given satisfactory answers. I was told things like, "Well, different zip codes, and general statewide increases...". If that's the case, then Metromile has definitely lost their edge and is due to lose more customers because the potential savings just are now minimal and not worth the uncertainty, or having to install spyware in your car to determine your rates. And like all proprietary software, we can't be sure that Metromile is limiting themselves to only what they said it would do. For example, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and other big name companies use proprietary software to gather data and use it for god knows what. I'm not sure that Metromile used my information from the Pulse device maliciously to increase their rate, though, as the Root app rated my driving 9 out of 10. *shrug* Regardless, I'd never be able to prove that. Perhaps Metromile's customers are being asked to pay more because people living on the coast are getting hit by hurricanes and the entire state of California keeps getting set on fire, but that still really isn't my problem, in Illinois. It's not fair to punish me for the proverbial foolish man who built his house on the equally proverbial sand. Then there's the marketing that's all over the CTA recently. Maybe we're paying for that too. The funny part is that it says "Switch to Metromile and pay pennies per mile. Yes, just pennies!". The part that they left out seems to be that it's getting to be a bloody awful lot of pennies, and more every renewal or minor change to your policy. Will the last one to cancel Metromile please turn out the lights?

UPDATE 2/17/19: Well, I moved out of Chicago to Fox Lake, IL and Root Insurance gave me a substantially lower premium and a pro-rated refund for living in a better zip code. I checked Metromile again and it was going to cost me the same as when I lived in Chicago. So now, there's a huge difference. The base rate with Root ($65 a month with paid in full) with Root is now less than it would be to leave my car in the garage 24/7 and never drive anywhere with Metromile.

I'd also like to point out some things that I didn't mention in my original review. The customer service at Metromile is pure crap. You'll wait longer on the phone to talk to someone from Metromile than you will if you call the Post Office 800 number, Social Security, or the IRS. Like, an hour or more is not unheard of. Root answers the phone in a few minutes if you have a question and need to talk to a person. Also, Metromile's roadside assistance sucks. When I was driving the Crown Victoria, I blew a brake line out in Fort Wayne, Indiana and needed a tow truck (I got it off the road safely on the last remaining brake pressure.). Metromile let me open a ticket on the app, but when the tow truck did not arrive (in the middle of winter, mind you), I called them back and they said something like "Oh, we sent the tow truck out to such and such street in Chicago." and I'm like "I'm 170 miles from Chicago and don't you have a device plugged into my car telling you where I'm at?". Who are these people? Anyway, at that point in time I dropped Metromile's roadside and got AAA. In fact, I had my old AAA card in my wallet and they let me renew my membership on the phone and sent a tow truck 45 minutes later.

As an infrequent driver, I paid FAR less than I would have through a more conventional insurance policy.

More importantly, I couldn't be more pleased with the service I have received after my car was totaled by an uninsured driver.

The pay-out on my car was quick, and honestly more than I expected. They have also been very responsive regarding medical claims. My two adjusters have both been a joy to work with.

I couldn't have asked for better service!

I signed up for MetroMile on 6/15/18. I received the device 2 1/2 weeks later which didn't work. They did, however, begin to charge me 150 miles/day because they didn't get a signal. I'd tried to contact them via phone, email, and even Facebook Messenger to tell them the device had been plugged in for a week but still wasn't working, and it took them 5+ business days to respond to me. And they did so over Facebook Messenger. They finally did reverse the charges and sent me a new device, but I'd also threatened to report them to the PA department of Insurance.

I am convinced they are understaffed and can't handle the volume (just check out the Glassdoor reviews.) I have decided to stay with them because my base rate is 1/3 of what it was with Liberty Mutual and 1/4 of Geico and Progressive. However, I have a feeling that I will have significant delays if I ever have a claim.

If I drove more than 1-2 days/wk, I'd drop them like a hot potato, but I drive so seldom that it doesn't make sense to pay $100+/mo when I can pay $50 or less. I walk to work and bike around Center City Philadelphia, so Metromile works for me. But if you use your car for work or other necessities, I would not recommend this company.

I had a car accident on a Friday. I did receive a letter regarding the claim via email, but no one has called me (it's Sunday). This is different than previous insurers. I bought a new used car on Saturday, and since there is NO WAY TO REACH METROMILE CUSTOMER SERVICE ON A WEEKEND, I purchased new insurance with a different company to begin on Monday, when I hope to pick up my new car. Don't recommend.

They are awful people to deal with. I was fooled and didn't read the reviews before buying in. Now 4 months later they are still thinking if they will or will not cover my car that was stolen and recovered. They have my car in there storage and they keep running me around. They will use your words against you and run you around with questions that have nothing to do with your claim.
THEY WILL DO ANYTHING SO THEY DONT HAVE TO COVER YOUR LOSS.

After moving to the city I was considering selling my car as it was just too damn expensive to have. I usually bike to work & just drive on weekends or roadtrips. I saw Metromile's ad on Bart and haven't looked back. I went from paying $130/month to now about ~$60! That's $800+ a year in savings! Can't beat that. I'm keeping my car because of Metromile.

Update 12/4/17: I am updating because I have seen a significant improvement in service since my original review 3 weeks ago. My stolen car was recovered, and then, due to major damage it was declared a total loss. The MetroMile claims adjuster did come through and acted quickly after the car was recovered to get it towed and evaluated, and within just a few days was able to let me know that the car was considered a total loss. So it took slightly less than a month between the date that the car was stolen, 11/3/17 and the day that I was informed about the total loss12/1/17. I still think that there is not a satisfactory and efficient connection between the various departments, but based on the performance of my claims adjuster I will probably sign up with MetroMile again, once I acquire another car.

(This is not the only website where I have posted this review.)
My car was stolen from my driveway in Lake Arrowhead, CA two weeks ago. The MetroMile claims adjuster (Phoenix, AZ) just informed me that it could take a month or more to settle such a claim.The day before my car was stolen from my driveway, the MetroMile dongle device worked for part of my trip to the supermarket, but did not show me coming home from there. The next day, when I discovered that my car had been stolen I called MetroMile to report it and asked if they could use the transponder to find out where the car was. They told me that it had stopped working 10 minutes after the car had left my driveway and they were not receiving a signal. Today, two weeks later, I received an email telling me that if the device was not plugged back into my car by November 20th, they would start charging me 140 miles a day, according to the terms of my contract. Calling customer service, yet again, (I've called them 4 times in the last two weeks) I was told that they had no information showing that the car had been stolen two weeks ago.
So, a claims adjuster who doesn't think that not having a car to drive is such a big deal, working for a company whose right brain doesn't know what its left brain is doing seems to be a good reason to stay away from MetroMile. I will be moving to a new company as soon as the claim is settled.

You do save money through this company, but at a cost. It seems the money you save is the money that should have went to Metromile's claims team. If you do not need to file a claim, this will save you money with no hassle. As soon as you need to file a claim, be prepared to not get answers for extended periods of time. In my case, Metromile took the full time allowed by the extent of the law, without being considered bad faith insurance. They know how not to be sued for bad faith, so they can take the full amount of time to give you the money for your claim, taking advantage of their customers when they are in a terrible situation. Trying to call an agent in the claims department automatically transfers you to a voicemail system. Besides leaving a voicemail, the only other option is to wait on hold, however the voice message is very unclear about the options, and in my opinion is intentionally confusing. Average hold time was around 15-20 minutes. Their system connects you to someone who routes the calls, not an agent. Once was routed to an agent's voicemail, never to get a callback. Thanks for wasting my lunch break. Another time was routed to an agent who could not answer my questions, and could only tell me that they should know soon and to call back. Thanks for wasting another lunch break. Very slow turnaround time on claims, and very hard to get in touch with someone regarding your claim. Metromile has been working to bring its claims department in-house from an even worse 3rd party system, however they still have a HUGE ways to go. You are rolling the dice with this company until they can figure out how to fix their claims department.

Please stay away from this dishonest company. After a year with no claims no issues Metromile suddenly doubled my insurance for the coming year. I called to cancel my policy and was told that my cancellation was recorded but there was no confirmation # for that. I was also told they were sending a new transponder but that I should just send it back as my policy was ending in a couple of weeks. Then I get an email from them announcing that I will be summarily charged 150 miles every day for not installing the new transponder that they told me to send back! I typically only drive 3-4 days a week and 10-20 miles a day. This is blatantly cheating the consumer, this company deserves to fail as quickly as possible and be sued into oblivion.