This guide will help answer some of the most frequent questions asked about the Trips History section.

How are my trips recorded?

The app will automatically detect when you are in your vehicle without the need to launch the app on every trip and each of your trips will be logged and displayed separately. We recommend that you occasionally verify that your app is running when starting a new trip. The “Trip Recording” feature tracks each of your trips and is designed to report and help improve your driving behavior.

At the completion of each trip the details of that trip will be displayed with your trip score as well as any of the specific events listed in the next paragraph. Please note, Location Services must be enabled on your mobile device for the mapping features to work.

Do I have to launch the app each time I go on a trip?

After you plug in the Savy Driver device and pair to it with the app, the app should automatically start recording every time you get in your vehicle and begin a new trip. You do not have to relaunch and reconnect each time you start a new trip unless you have terminated the application.

If you terminate the app, you must manually launch the app again. Even if you see the app icon in your tray it does not always mean the app is active. If you find that your trips stopped tracking or you suspect that the app has crashed, kill the app and launch it again.

The system is always being updated to ensure that the app is always running in the background; however, there may be times when you will need to relaunch the app. For example, your mobile device’s operating system can occasionally kill apps due to a lack available memory; therefore it will need to be relaunched.

How are my trips scored?

The score each one of your trips get is based on how efficiently you are driving. To come up with the score we take a look at several factors:

Smart Speed

The app focuses on fuel efficiency and one of the prime factors for fuel efficiency is “Smart Speed”. Whenever our sensor detects you exceed 70 mph, points will be deducted from your score because studies have shown that speed in excess of 70 mph decreases fuel efficiency dramatically.

Sharp Braking and Rapid Acceleration

Sharp braking and rapid accelerations affect the efficiency of your vehicle. For example, to obtain the best performance from your vehicle you should accelerate at a steady rate, and whenever you are approaching a stop, you should decelerate at a steady rate. Points are added or deducted based on these events.

Idling

A vehicle uses fuel whenever the engine is on, even when it’s not moving, so excessive idle time will also result in point deductions.

Engine Maintenance

If your vehicle has overdue service or maintenance, points will be deducted because poor engine maintenance has an impact on fuel efficiency as well.

How is the fuel cost estimated?

We determine the estimated amount of fuel you used on each trip based on the average fuel consumption of your vehicle based on it’s Make, Model and Year.

To determine the estimated cost of your trip based on the amount of fuel used, the app compares the trip data collected from the OBD to the information provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). This allows the system to make a calculation based on the current average price of gasoline and the data received to determine your estimated fuel costs per trip. Whenever possible, the system will use your actual location (determined by the GPS) to get local fuel prices and display a more accurate cost.

Learn more

Trips are synced to the server routinely when your device has an internet connection. There are some instances in which trips can take up to 24 hours to process. Trips that are too short, or those in which no distance was driven, will be ignored by the system. Additionally, multiple short trips that occur within 15 minutes of each other will be merged into one trip. If you are still not seeing any recorded trips please try the following:

Make sure you have an active internet connection on your mobile device. Select “My Trips”. If you have any trips that have not been sent to the server yet, you will see a message letting you know that they are being synced.

If the trip is too short, or you didn’t drive any distance, it will be ignored.- Make sure the trip hasn’t been merged with a different trip on the same day because they occurred within 15 minutes of each other.