Safety Score

A Lemonade Safety Score pulls together several factors about your driving and is used to help determine the cost of your Lemonade Car insurance policy, depending on your state. This includes your mileage, as well as driving behaviors such as phone usage, braking, and the time of day that you drive.

What is a Lemonade Safety Score?

Your “Safety Score” is a rating from 0 to 10 that we calculate by crunching info about your driving behavior via the Lemonade app.

Your Safety Score, and your total mileage in particular, is a key data point that helps us determine the fairest price for your car insurance policy. 

What factors go into a Safety Score?

Essentially, we’re interested in collecting info on how safely you drive. Let’s map out the points of interest when it comes to calculating your Safety Score.

Total mileage

Your mileage is one of the top factors that affects your Safety Score. It’s just statistics— the more you drive, the higher the risk that you may be involved in a car accident. Beyond the rating, knowing your mileage is also super important (and good for the environment) because we plant trees based on how much you drive.

Time of day

The level of risk on your driving route varies depending on when the tires meet pavement. Cruising down an open road is safer than regularly maneuvering through peak rush hour traffic. And running errands during daylight hours means better visibility than doing so at night.

Weather conditions

Walking driving on sunshine runs a much lower risk than cruising around during a rain, snow, or hail storm. Braving the elements on the road makes you vulnerable to potential accidents due to decreased visibility, questionable road conditions, and other drivers who are up against the same obstacles.

Roads

Sticking to highways and simpler street networks presents a lower risk than driving on more complex or congested roads. Each sharp twist, double left turn lane, 4-way stop sign, and off-ramp you encounter impacts the statistical likelihood that you’ll end up in an accident. And road quality matters, too. Regularly taking roads that could use a little TLC (and a bit of pothole repair) can cause more damage to your car than a route with fresh asphalt.

Braking

If you didn’t notice that stop sign, you may have braked pretty hard to avoid running right through it. Your phone can sense, with high accuracy, if you’ve slammed on the brakes—so don’t make harsh stops a habit.

Smoothness

If you have a habit of accelerating rapidly and braking harshly, the Lemonade app will recognize this as tailgating. Tailgating adds a new level of danger to your time on the road and honestly, it won’t get you where you’re going any faster. We’re all about smooth sailing at Lemonade Car, and are firm believers that tailgating should be reserved exclusively for weekend parking lot barbecues.

Cornering

When you make a turn, how you slow down before the turn and the sharpness of the turn itself affects your car’s center of gravity. Basically, if you go into a turn too fast you risk rolling your car, especially if it’s already top-heavy. The best practice is to slow down gradually to a desirable, safe speed into turns, and accelerate gently out of them.

Phone usage 

Whether hand-held or hands-free, phone and mobile device usage significantly increases the danger of a car crash. Taking a call (or trying to plug an address into a navigation app) while on the road has implications for your safety as a driver. If it’s urgent, find somewhere safe to park first before texting your friend that you’re really “10 minutes away.”

How can I be sure that the Safety Score only calculates my driving stats?

The motion sensors in your phone help determine, with high accuracy, whether or not you’re the one behind the wheel. Your smartphone can detect and analyze simple movements when you drive, whether your phone is in your pocket, in a dashboard holder, or sitting on the seat next to you.

That means the Lemonade App is able to predict whether you’re the driver or simply a passenger in someone else’s car—as well as if you’re riding public transportation (or just, you know, riding your e-bike really fast).

All you have to do is keep location services enabled in the app. Thanks, technology!

How often is my Safety Score calculated?

Determining your Safety Score is a dynamic and ongoing process. With a Lemonade Car policy, you will receive a new Safety Score at every renewal, and it can impact your premium.

Because the calculation takes place over a six month period, one wrong turn won’t ruin your Safety Score. That being said, we care about driving habits that keep you, your car, and those around you safe. Each time you get behind the wheel is an opportunity to be the safest driver on the road.

Is Safety Score the only thing that affects my Lemonade Car policy price?

Your Safety Score is a key ingredient in the bigger mix of your car insurance cost, but we also fold in things like your violations and claims histories. When you drive a hybrid or EV vehicle, bundle policies, or stick with the Lemonade family over time we make sure to sprinkle in discounts to taste.

Lemonade Car is able to offer you lower premiums depending on how much and how well you drive. We measure your driving behavior on the same scale whether you just graduated from your learner’s permit to a full-fledged drivers license or whether you’re a seasoned driver. The better you drive, the less you pay, simple as that.

You can learn about what else goes into your Lemonade Car price here.

Can I still get a Safety Score if I don’t enable location services on the app?

Lemonade Car uses tech to give you the best real-time services including fair pricing and safe driving discounts. If you don’t enable location services on the Lemonade app, we won’t be able to provide you with the services and benefits that Lemonade Car was designed to offer. You’ll pay more, and you won’t be eligible for other perks like crash detection and free roadside assistance.

In order to properly calculate your Safety Score, location services need to be running in the background all the time, not just when you’re behind the wheel.

Before we go…

For better or for worse, earning scores is a part of life. There was your GPA in school, the SAT before you applied to college, and that beloved credit score once you entered the real world. So when it comes to ratings, the Lemonade Safety Score isn’t your first rodeo…but it can be a more exciting one (we hope).

If your Safety Score isn’t as high as you’d like, don’t lose heart. The great thing about Lemonade Car is that you always have the chance to improve your driving behavior. That means safer commutes today, and possible savings on your premium tomorrow.

If you’re interested, brush up on our ultimate guide to car insurance, as well as an explainer on what car insurance covers. And when you’re ready, click the button below to get your Lemonade Car quote.