For me in South Africa:

- Waze is a bit more dynamic/aggressive in finding me alternatives when traffic patterns can change due to accidents - "speed trap reported ahead" - the "turn left" direction is better timed than Google, Google will tell you to turn while your turn's still a bit far off, sometimes you'd turn into the street before. - loyalty, Waze was great before Google bought it and used its reports and traffic data, and it's still great even now.

I agree with your Kleenex sentiment, quite a number of people who know their way home, still use Waze for the alerts and reports.