Business

Allstate's Parking Reminder tool helps navigate crowded parking lots

Posted December 11, 2014 12:01 am

By Anna Marie Kukec

This is a screen image from the Parking Reminder tool on the Allstate mobile app. The feature helps you find your parked car in a crowded lot. COURTESY OF ALLSTATE

Northbrook-based Allstate relaunched its mobile app and added a new Parking Reminder tool to help you find your car in a crowded parking lot.

The Parking Reminder tool debuted in early November to help customers during the stressful holiday season and beyond, said company spokesman Justin Herndon.

The free mobile app has reached about 1 million downloads, but the Parking Reminder indicates about 100 hits a day, he said.

"We decided to include it because we're trying to provide more benefits to keep our customers," he said.

While the app is not just for Allstate policy holders, it is part of a mobile program that launched in 2010 and continues to provide features where customers can pay their insurance bill, check policy information, request roadside assistance, file a claim and other functions. The Parking Reminder is found in the Roadside support section and, like the rest of the app, works nationwide.

This is how it works: When you park your car, press the "park here" button. The app drops a pin at that exact location. After you're done shopping, just tap the "find car" button and the app shows where the car was parked on a map. The app also shows the distance to the parked car from where you are.

Also, if a friend or family member needs to run back to the car while shopping, the app allows you to text or email the location of the car to someone else.

In addition, if you parked at a meter, you can start a timer when you leave the car and track how much time is left before you need to pay the meter again.

The app can be downloaded at iTunes App store or Google Play, or by going to www.allstate.com/mobile.

Surfing: T-Mobile now offers a family plan with unlimited 4G LTE data. The new Simple Choice family plan, starting at $100 per month for two people, goes up to 10 people for $40 more per line. Once you sign up, there is no planned expiration date. So you can keep the plan even after the offer is no longer available. All lines on your account must have unlimited 4G LTE data to continue to qualify.

• Glenbrook North alum Louis Foreman has founded Edison Nation, an online community for innovators that helps bring both seasoned and amateur inventor-driven ideas to market. It offers people the chance to turn ideas into products.

• Follow Anna Marie Kukec on LinkedIn and Facebook and as AMKukec on Twitter. Write to her at akukec@dailyherald.com.

This is a screen image from the Parking Reminder tool on the Allstate mobile app. The feature helps you find your parked car in a crowded lot. COURTESY OF ALLSTATE

A screen image from the Parking Reminder tool on the Allstate mobile app. The feature helps you find your parked car in a crowded lot. COURTESY OF ALLSTATE

Allstate's Parking Reminder tool helps navigate crowded parking lots and helps shoppers find where they parked. Daily Herald file photo

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