Car Insurance Companies: "We're Watching You"

[bucktalk]

A friend mentioned her State Farm car insurance policy was cheaper as she agreed to allow State Farm to place a GPS chip on her car. With the installed chip, State Farm monitors everything regarding her driving habits/locations, etc. If she braked too quickly -it was a negative mark. If she was speeding -it was a negative mark. How State Farm could distiquish braking quickly to avoid an accident or speeding to pass another vehicle is beyond me.

I hate how quickly our day to day life is being monitored by a form of big brother.

[Pete]

^

I have Allstate and have not agreed to implement this tracker; just seems too weird.

Of course, it's completely optional and you do get a reduced rate if you opt-in.

[Bill Robertson]

We did the tracking thing a few years ago with Progressive. My wife and I agreed that it made both of us less safe because worrying about not braking too hard or cornering too hard took our minds off of just driving. And with a tracker you realize just how often when driving the speed limit and a light turns yellow you have to brake "too hard" to get stopped at the line. Progressive has you do the tracking for I think it was 6 months. We're with State Farm now and theirs is forever. Not going to do it again.

[GaryOKC6]

Another problem is that the insurance companies is now doing is not paying full claims. They want to say we assume 80% of the fault but decided that you have 20% fault. They are just trying to get out of paying.

[BB+1]

UBI (usage based insurance) technology has been around since about 2008. Most companies now have some sort of opt in tech that will record driving habits and generate a customized rate. It works for some but might not for others depending on how you drive. Most newer cars have technology in the black box that is sending driving data back to the manufacturer already so having a device installed by the insurance company to get a discount on rate isn't any more intrusive. Insurance companies are buying the data from the manufacturers for predictive analytics so they can price their product. They have a very good idea how different makes and models are driven. They just need to know how the specific driver drives to narrow in on rate.

[bucktalk]

^

I have Allstate and have not agreed to implement this tracker; just seems too weird.

Of course, it's completely optional and you do get a reduced rate if you opt-in.

But how long until insurance companies will not allow it to be optional....instead....required?

[Boop]

A friend mentioned her State Farm car insurance policy was cheaper as she agreed to allow State Farm to place a GPS chip on her car. With the installed chip, State Farm monitors everything regarding her driving habits/locations, etc. If she braked too quickly -it was a negative mark. If she was speeding -it was a negative mark. How State Farm could distiquish braking quickly to avoid an accident or speeding to pass another vehicle is beyond me.

I hate how quickly our day to day life is being monitored by a form of big brother.

That is honestly creepy and should be illegal

[Pete]

But how long until insurance companies will not allow it to be optional....instead....required?

There seems to be momentum in this direction but at the same time, I would expect the free market to continue to provide alternatives as this is bound to be unpopular with most.

The car insurance market is one of the biggest industries around and I'm sure there will always be other options.

[king183]

My insurance company, which is widely considered one of the best, asked if I wanted to participate in their program like this, but the tracker was on your smart phone, I assume so they could tell if you were texting and driving or talking on the phone non-hands free. My wife would also need to participate, so I asked how their app could tell which one of us was driving. They said the person who wasn't driving would need to go into the app and deactivate it for that trip. In other words, every single time both of us are in the car, one of us has to remember to open an app and tell it we're not the one driving. What an absurd system.

[TheTravellers]

UBI (usage based insurance) technology has been around since about 2008. Most companies now have some sort of opt in tech that will record driving habits and generate a customized rate. It works for some but might not for others depending on how you drive. Most newer cars have technology in the black box that is sending driving data back to the manufacturer already so having a device installed by the insurance company to get a discount on rate isn't any more intrusive. Insurance companies are buying the data from the manufacturers for predictive analytics so they can price their product. They have a very good idea how different makes and models are driven. They just need to know how the specific driver drives to narrow in on rate.

There most likely is a difference between vehicles sending data back to the manufacturer and an insurance-company device in your car sending data to the insurance company, and the insurance-company device *is* more intrusive. The device is *your* data for *your* car, which can affect *your* insurance rates, whereas the data being sent to the manufacturer is most likely aggregated and anonymized.

[traxx]

I wish I had thought of the idea of insurance. It's brilliant. Force someone to pay for something they hope they never have to use but when they actually do need to use it, either deny the claim, shortchange them, or jack up their rates. Or a combination therof.

[FighttheGoodFight]

It is just another revenue stream for them. They are 100% selling that data. If you are saving money or not paying for a product, you are the product.

[Ward]

I'm not joking, but I think the next step is to start charging you by the mile instead of a fixed rate per month.

[unfundedrick]

I'm not joking, but I think the next step is to start charging you by the mile instead of a fixed rate per month.

I actually signed up for a program exactly like that over a year ago with Allstate. Due to the relatively low number of miles I drive, it has reduced my premium by about one half. I'm really glad I did that. It's called their Milewise plan.

https://www.allstate.com/auto-insurance/milewise

[catch22]

I refuse to install any app or device to track my driving usage for insurance purposes.

I never want a dollar sign to be in the back of my mind when faced with a split second decision to break the law in order to save my life. I never want it to be a consideration, I don’t need an algorithm or someone in a cubicle to decide my rates need to be increased for avoiding an accident or other unsafe situation,

[unfundedrick]

I refuse to install any app or device to track my driving usage for insurance purposes.

I never want a dollar sign to be in the back of my mind when faced with a split second decision to break the law in order to save my life. I never want it to be a consideration, I don’t need an algorithm or someone in a cubicle to decide my rates need to be increased for avoiding an accident or other unsafe situation,

That's certainly your decision to make but a situation like you describe would have almost zero affect on your rate. You would have to be a regular offender for that to happen. I used that kind of monitoring system before changing to "Milewise". I had a few situations where I had to make "unsafe" driving decisions. My rate was totally unaffected.

[gjl]

When I switched to AAA auto insurance from Liberty Mutual probably 8 years ago I had the option to plug their device into the ALDL port under the dash on each vehicle I insured. 3 at the time. So those devices have been around for quite a while. I think I had them plugged in for 3 months then mailed them back to them. I or my wife didn't change any of our driving habits the whole time they were plugged in. Just drove like we normally do. I think we got a something like 10% discount on our rates at the time. Was never asked to use them again after that initial period of using them.

[Mballard85]

That is honestly creepy and should be illegal

They insure your risk, if there is tech that allows them to track and make better decisions about that, they have that right. You also don't have to sign up for it. I'm not sure why it would be illegal.

[OKCRealtor]

Yea, hard pass. I like driving what I do the way I do. I live my life a quarter mile at a time between appointments

[jerrywall]

A friend mentioned her State Farm car insurance policy was cheaper as she agreed to allow State Farm to place a GPS chip on her car. With the installed chip, State Farm monitors everything regarding her driving habits/locations, etc. If she braked too quickly -it was a negative mark. If she was speeding -it was a negative mark. How State Farm could distiquish braking quickly to avoid an accident or speeding to pass another vehicle is beyond me.

I hate how quickly our day to day life is being monitored by a form of big brother.

I did this at state farm and only stopped because the effort wasn't worth my savings (it had to be setup again all the time, I had to regularly send in pictures of my odometer, etc). That being said, when we were on it, we were guaranteed a small discount regardless of the driving pattern, and were promised that it could not be used to raise our rates - that it would only be used to offer discounts/lower my rates based on safe driving. We were saving like $15 a month on it, which isn't nothing but also isn't very much compensation for sharing all that information.

[jerrywall]

I actually signed up for a program exactly like that over a year ago with Allstate. Due to the relatively low number of miles I drive, it has reduced my premium by about one half. I'm really glad I did that. It's called their Milewise plan.

https://www.allstate.com/auto-insurance/milewise

That's something I might want to look at. We're still paying insurance rates like we are working out of the home, but we're both in permanent remote positions and we drive about 100 miles a month total between our two cars.

[Midtowner]

This is only the beginning. Expect in 10-20 years to pay a high premium if you have a car with a working steering wheel. There is SO much liability which could be avoided by AI drivers.

[Bill Robertson]

Yea, hard pass. I like driving what I do the way I do. I live my life a quarter mile at a time between appointments

Well said. I sure don't want a tracking device in my Miata!

[Cocaine]

Like Nancy Reagan said Just say no.