This week Progressive Corp started a national advertising campaign for its Snapshot program, a pay-as-you drive initiative that already is running in more than 30 states. “It truly is a new way for many people to be able to potentially get a big discount,”  said Richard Hutchinson, general manager of usage-based insurance at Progressive, in a news release.

The way Snapshot works is that a small device is plugged into a diagnostic port in your car. The device tracks things like mileage, braking, speed and the time of day in which the car is being used. That data is sent back to the company. Once analyzed, Progressive will let the customer know if they are eligible for a discount based on their driving habits. “What we’re really trying to measure here is what we consider to be a few important factors that are tied to the propensity to have an accident,” Hutchinson said in a news release. It’s completely voluntary and only provides discounts– rates will not be increased.

So far the program seems to be working as a way for customers to save money. And one out of four consumers who are offered to enroll in the program do so. The company plans to expand the program to all states. It’s part of more than ten years of research and planning that started with a pioneer program back in 1998. Last year it launched in Minnesota and has been expanding since.

Progressive is a pioneer in usage-based insurance. Its program goes back to 1998, when the company launched a pilot program in Texas with a few hundred devices, Hutchinson said. The technology used back then has been improved, he said, and Snapshot launched on a broad basis in Minnesota early last year. Some people are concerned about privacy but Hutchinson says that location-tracking is removed and makes people more comfortable.