Lemonade car insurance is principally sold online through its website or mobile app. Drivers are required to download the app to manage their policies, get help from Lemonade or file a claim. The app also uses location-based technology (also known as telematics or usage-based auto insurance) to price your policy based on how much you drive and your driving behavior.

When drivers sign up with Lemonade, car insurance rates are calculated based on standard factors, such as your driving record, claims history, credit, location and driving experience. Once the app is downloaded and location services are enabled, drivers are eligible for an immediate participation discount.

The Lemonade app’s location-based technology allows it to monitor your specific driving habits. At renewal time, your driving score and other factors, such as your claims record, are used to price the policy. A good, safe-driving score should result in lower premiums.

Claims are filed through the Lemonade app. You may need to send a video describing the incident as part of the claims process. Once a claim is approved, payment is deposited directly into your bank account (minus any applicable deductible).

Lemonade believes basing rates on your driving behavior will result in more fairly priced coverage. You download the Lemonade app and provide permission for it to track your driving, which is used to determine rates at your first renewal and moving forward.

The telematics program monitors where and how you drive to build a driver safety score. Items taken into account for a score include:

• Total mileage
• Time of day that you drive
• Weather conditions
• Roads
• Braking
• Smoothness in acceleration and braking
• Cornering
• Phone use while driving

Like other auto insurance companies, Lemonade offers the following typical car insurance coverages:

Liability insurance: Bodily injury and property damage liability auto insurance pays for injuries and damage to others if you’re at fault for an auto accident. Liability insurance also pays for lawyer fees, court settlements and judgments related to auto accidents you caused.

Underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage: Uninsured motorist coverage pays for medical expenses if you or your passengers are injured in an auto accident caused by a driver who is without insurance or doesn’t have enough coverage to pay for your bills. It is required in 22 states and optional in others.

Personal injury protection (PIP): PIP coverage pays for your medical expenses as well as lost wages and replacement services, such as child care, if you‘re unable to perform the task. Personal injury protection (PIP) is required in 15 states.

Medical payments coverage: Helps pay for medical expenses for injuries to you and your passengers resulting from an auto accident, regardless of fault. It’s required in some states and optional in others.

Collision and comprehensive insurance: Collision car insurance pays to repair or replace your car if it’s damaged in an auto accident, regardless of fault. It also pays if you hit an object, like a guardrail or fence. Comprehensive car insurance covers theft and damage to your car from vandalism, fire, floods, hail, falling objects or striking an animal.

Collision and comprehensive coverage pay out the actual cash value of your vehicle if it’s declared a total loss, minus your deductible. Both are optional, but if you have a lease or loan, your lender or leasing company will likely require you to have collision and comprehensive coverage.

If you have comprehensive and collision coverage, Lemonade provides these benefits for free, as long as you have location tracking enabled in the app:

Emergency crash assistance: Lemonade is alerted if you’re in an accident and can contact you to see if you’re injured or if they should dispatch emergency services to the accident scene. The accident location is pinpointed by the Lemonade app.

Roadside assistance: If your car breaks down, you can use the Lemonade app to call for roadside assistance. This service helps with towing, battery jump starts, flat tires, fuel delivery and more.

You are eligible for up to three free services for each car listed on your policy during a six-month term. After that, you can still request help, but you have to pay for it.

A few optional coverages you can choose for a Lemonade car insurance policy include:

Temporary transportation coverage

If you have comprehensive and collision coverage and add this to your policy, it reimburses rental, public transportation or rideshare costs for up to 30 days if you can’t drive your vehicle due to a problem covered by your policy, such as an auto accident. (This coverage is often called rental car reimbursement coverage.) You can sign up for daily reimbursal limits of $40, $50 or $60.

Extended glass and windshield coverage

If you have comprehensive insurance, it covers you if glass (such as your windows or windshield) is damaged or broken. If you have comprehensive and collision coverage, this “extended” coverage allows you to choose a lower deductible or no deductible for glass or windshield claims.

Gap insurance

Gap insurance can help you pay off your car loan or lease if your car is totaled or stolen and you owe more than the vehicle is worth.

Emergency charging: If your electric vehicle (EV) is stuck with a drained battery, Lemonade will send a charging truck to you.

Charger coverage: If your wall or portable charger is harmed, this coverage will help replace it.

Lemonade offers a variety of discounts to help drivers save money on car insurance.

• Bundling (multi-policy) discount. Save if you have a Lemonade car insurance policy and bundle it with any of its other products, including homeowners, renters, life or Lemonade pet insurance.
• EV/Hybrid discount. Drivers of environmentally friendly cars such as electric vehicles or hybrids receive a reduction in their rates.
• Low mileage discount. You’ll receive lower rates if you drive less.
• Accident-free discount. If none of the drivers on your policy have had an accident or claim in the last five years, you can obtain a discount.
• Three-year safe driving discount. You can earn a Lemonade auto insurance discount if you have no auto accidents and traffic violations for at least the past three years.
• Senior driver discount. Also known as a mature driver discount, you can save if you’re age 55 or older and have completed an approved defensive driving course within the last three years.
• Teen driver discount. If you have a licensed driver under age 19 and your policy also qualifies for the “continuous insurance” discount you can see savings.
• Multi-car discount. If you insure more than one car on your Lemonade auto insurance policy, you can receive a discount.
• Anti-theft discount. If your car has anti-theft features, either permanently installed original or aftermarket equipment, you can receive a discount.
• Smart technology discount. You may earn this discount if your car is equipped with factory-installed automatic emergency braking or blind-spot warning safety features.
• Paid in full discount. If you choose Lemonade’s one-pay bill plan (pay the entire premium up front) a discount will be applied.
• Continuous insurance discount. You can save if you’ve been continually covered by car insurance with no gaps in coverage.
• Telematics participation discount. A discount is applied if the Lemonade app is continually engaged for the telematics program.

Founded in 2015 by Daniel Schreiber and Shai Wininger, Lemonade is based in New York. It started by selling Lemonade home insurance and renters insurance and expanded to include car insurance in 2021.

Lemonade prides itself on a business model that’s different from other car insurance companies. Typically, car insurance companies generate a profit by keeping whatever money is left after they pay claims and business expenses. Lemonade takes out a set amount (or what it calls a flat fee) from premiums for its profit, pays claims and expenses, and donates what’s left to charities on an annual basis.

Lemonade Inc. is a public benefit corporation, which means it is a for-profit company that must take into account the interests of its workers, customers and communities—and not just interests of owners and investors—when making business decisions. Public benefit companies also identify public causes they support, and every two years must report on progress made.

Lemonade also was awarded a B Corp certification, which is given to companies that meet criteria for social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.

Lemonade Giveback

Lemonade’s business model was built with charitable causes in mind. After taking out their flat fee and paying claims and expenses, whatever money may be left (unclaimed money they call it) is given to charities under the Lemonade Giveback plan.

When you buy a Lemonade car insurance policy, you select a nonprofit you have interest in helping. Then once a year Lemonade determines how much money is left and gives up to 40% of revenue to the nonprofits.

In 2021, Lemonade’s Giveback program gave over $2 million dollars to more than 65 nonprofit organizations, including:

• ACLU
• American Forest
• CARE
• Charity: Water
• Citymeals on Wheels
• CURE Childhood Cancer
• Feeding America
• Habitat for Humanity
• Humane Society
• Malala Fund
• March For Our Lives
• Shatterproof
• The Ali Forney Center
• The American Red Cross
• The Born This Way Foundation
• Thorn
• Together We Rise
• Women in Need

Lemonade’s Tree Planting Program

Using the information from the app, Lemonade calculates the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from your car each year from the miles driven and other factors and determines how many trees they need to plant in order to shrink your carbon footprint. For example, the company estimates that four trees would need to be planted for every 10,000 miles driven in a gas-powered car that gets 25 mpg.

The company’s reforestation efforts primarily take place in the redwood forests of California, the Oregon Santiam State Forest and in watershed areas throughout the Pacific Northwest.