David Bartlett knows he is a safe driver. The 24-year-old Short North resident doesn’t drive too fast or late at night and always wears his seat belt.

Now his insurer is convinced, too, and is rewarding Bartlett with lower rates.

Bartlett’s savings comes from Progressive’s “Snapshot” program, which the insurer says can reduce rates by as much as 30 percent.

Under the program, policyholders plug in a device — which fits in the palm of a hand — into their car’s diagnostic port, typically below the steering wheel. The device tracks drivers’ speed, miles driven, braking habits and time of day when driving takes place. That information then is sent to Progressive using technology called telematics.

Bartlett was able to cut his monthly insurance premium from $120 to $80. He also was able to score some additional savings because the company forgave a speeding ticket that he had on his insurance record.

This and other similar programs being rolled out by insurers figure to lead to big changes in how auto insurance is priced in the years to come.

Until now, insurers have based rates on generic factors such as age, gender, accident frequency, tickets, place of residence and credit scores.

Use of technology to base rates on actual driving habits is likely to benefit, for example, a young man who is safer than his peers or someone who might drive only on weekends.

“These things are very powerful, and they are coming,” said Brian Sullivan, editor of Risk Information, which publishes newsletters for the insurance industry.

In essence, the devices could do for drivers what the credit industry has done for consumers — create a score that will help determine how risky a particular individual might be to insure, just as a credit score indicates financial risk and determines whether consumers can get loans and how much interest they must pay.

The changes could alter driving habits for the better as people adapt their driving styles or even reduce the amount they drive to save money on premiums, experts say.

“This is the personalization of your insurance and also allows for behavior changes,” said Richard Hutchison, general manager of usage-based insurance for Progressive, which just began national advertising for its Snapshot discount.

Customers of Progressive, based in the Cleveland suburb of Mayfield Village, typically are saving about $150 per year, or about 10 to 15 percent, for participating in the Snapshot program, the company says.

The device has its limits in what it can track: It does not know who is driving the car or the car’s location, and the company says it won’t share the information unless it’s required as part of your policy.

The technology is not new, but the costs of building the devices and transmitting the information they generate have come down enough to allow insurers to begin using them extensively.

Progressive customers using Snapshot can go online after the device has been in place for 30 days to see what kind of discount they are earning and what they can do to rack up more savings.

The device is used for six months. After that, customers return it to Progressive and the company calculates the final discount that will be applied going forward. At worst, a driver’s rates will stay the same.

So far, about 250,000 drivers have signed up for Snapshot, the company said.

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