Posted on 07/09/2014 12:11:09 PM PDT by PoloSec
The proposition is simple: Install a device in your car and allow your insurance company to monitor your driving—how fast you drive, how hard you brake, how sharply you corner, and so on. In exchange, it will give you a discount on your premiums.
That might sound alarming, but it shouldn’t be surprising. Considering internet users already happily trade data on every online move they make in exchange for free services, the only surprise is tracking-based insurance isn’t already more widespread. Progressive Insurance, the biggest such insurer in the United States, says it found that
After analysis of billions of miles in driving data, Progressive has found that key driving behaviors—like actual miles driven, braking, and time of day of driving—carry more than twice the predictive power of traditional insurance rating variables, like a driver’s age, gender and the year, make and model of the insured vehicle.
The average discount on premiums for a Progressive customer who agrees to be tracked is between 10% and 15%.
In future, if you don’t agree to be tracked, you may not only pay higher premiums; perhaps you won’t even be eligible for insurance from most companies. It could be like having a shady credit history, or failing to provide the basic “know-your-customer” information required to open a bank account. “In the end, serving the ‘naysayers’ may become a specialty market niche for some carriers,” suggests a recent report (pdf) on usage-base insurance programs from Deloitte.
I've noticed a few more drivers taking longer to get up to speed when entering interstate highways. These devices might explain some of that behavior.
Oh, now you deny it....
When you prove someone’s second hand smoke causes cancer in a third party, come back and discuss it with me, until then let’s stick with the discussion at hand......how you refuse to take any financial responsibility for damage you cause.
Driving is a privilege, not a right..........
The last time I spoke with an Allstate agent, about my homeowners policy, they tried to hard sell me on this new program that would lower my rates. All I had to do was plug this thingy into my car to track my driving habits.
Told her no thanks ... my driving record speaks for itself. But she was pushing as hard as a time share salesman. Told her to mail me details on the program so I could study it; I never buy anything over the phone.
Never heard back but I expect to down the road. I also expect to be insurance shopping if this is forced on me.
I am NOT okay with anyone having any additional information about me or my driving habits. My lack of tickets or accidents should be enough. IMNSHO, once you start down the road of “I have nothing to hide so go ahead and look”, you give up essential freedom that you will never get back ... people become normalized to letting others peek into their lives.
YMMV.
My husband got that for our vehicles and I hate it. It beeps at the slightest movement of the car and I don’t drive crazily at all. I also don’t hit the brakes hard and creep up to a red light or stop sign. I think it’s more of a mode to raise our rates. I wish he would get rid of it.
Are any other insurance companies doing this? Progressive has had the program in place for years and I haven’t heard a peep from any of the others. I don’t think it’s a popular program, and don’t see anybody bandwagoning it.
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Progressive insurance is a leftist pit and would have no problem using fascist methods.
What does it signal when you drag race with soccer moms in SUVs?
In Texas, if you can tuck away $50k into a bank account, you don’t need insurance, as the $50k satisfies “proof of financial responsibility”. In other words, you can self-insure.
Now tying up $50k is a decent amount of money, but if you own a bunch of cars, and if you don’t want to be tracked and/or have a less-than-perfect driving/accident record, it might make sense.
The risk, though, is that if you do get sued, you’ll have to hire an attorney out of pocket, and pay some big bucks (of course)...but the alternative is often worse - and from what I’ve seen, other attorneys are not in a big hurry to go after someone that doesn’t have a big insurance company behind them.
“Any pre-OBDII system vehicle owner should be able to sue the pants off them for discriminatory practice.”
If your car is pre-OBDII, the tracking system won’t work. They’d have to use something else.
“There are already stand-alone instruments that measure braking, cornering and accelleration forces. The car magazines used to use them to measure performance, perhaps they still do. I’m sure that the insurance companies will be quick to adapt that hardware to their system, so the pre-OBD car owners can get the lower rates, too. “
The insurance companies won’t bother - too much work for them, for so few cars.
“Took him to task about Texas passing the black box law and asked why our law didn’t stipulate who could access the info and for what purposes.”
The problem here in Texas is that people DON’T GIVE A DAMN about privacy. I asked about transponders for the toll roads. They told me they knew NOTHING about privacy protections and if I didn’t like that answer, then don’t get one.
Washington State, on the other hand passed privacy protections before ANYONE had a transponder. They knew what was coming and they planned for it.
AAA had it too. Not sure if they are still doing it.
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