23 January 2013

Auto insurance adjusted for driving habits

Since early December, State Farm Insurance has been offering Wisconsin residents the chance for deep discounts on their auto coverage, if they agree to let the company, in effect, ride shotgun.

State Farm says the program, dubbed Drive Safe and Save, allows for a more accurate calculation of risk, by way of a small device added to a vehicle’s diagnostic port that tracks real-time driver behavior. Factors such as speed, mileage, lane changes, location, time of day and braking urgency are measured.

Drivers who participate in the program get a 5 percent discount immediately, and then are eligible for further cuts of up to 50 percent after six months of monitoring, depending on what the record shows...

This is just a way for us to set better rates for customers who are good drivers,” said Missy Dundov, spokeswoman for the Bloomington, Ill.-based insurer. “This program is a chance to get discounts.”..

Other insurance companies, including Progressive and Allstate, offer similar versions of driver-monitoring programs in at least some states...

Erpenbach said he wasn’t surprised to see insurance companies trying to monitor people’s driving practices, but he questioned where it would all end.

“If I’m State Farm, sure, I want to know about any driving habit of my policyholders,” he said. “I would also love to know, if I’m State Farm, what everybody does in their houses (for home insurance purposes). And I’m sure health companies would love to see people’s grocery lists.”
I have heard concern expressed that if the insurance company has access to detailed information on your driving, they might deny a claim based on data they extract.

13 comments:

  1. Am I right in assuming that this can also be used to prosocute in the courts?

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  2. You always think of freedom as something that's taken away. It's pretty disconcerting to think of it as something that's cheerfully sold to the highest bidder. Anyone who signs up for this should also agree to have a microchip shoved up his rectum to monitor brain activity.

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    1. If it happens that lots of the "safe" drivers sign up for the program, and if they do get lower rates, then the other drivers who have policies with the company will then get higher rates, because in a "mutual" insurance setup, total rate collections equal total expenditures.

      I suppose one idea would be that higher rates for those who don't sign up will gradually persuade them to go to other insurance companies, while safe drivers from other companies will tend to graduate to those who offer the discounts.

      We haven't signed up, even though we are safe drivers. Waiting to see how it all pans out.

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  3. I got a newer car before Christmas and my insurance doubled. This car doesn't get the excellent gas mileage my old car did. I would be VERY tempted to try this program.

    It might also serve to validate my opinion that I am an excellent driver. Conversely, it may show me otherwise and I could learn from that, too.

    I understand the intrusion and loss of privacy. Unfortunately, I can't really afford privacy anymore.

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    1. "I can't really afford privacy anymore"

      That's a sad commentary on the way things are now.

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  4. Yeah. This is so they can deny payout later in court by implicating fault.

    Don't.

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  5. Being monitored with an incentive to drive more safely might just be good thing. In addition it just might implicate who was at fault in an accident which would be helpful, unless one wants to avoid responsibility. As for privacy? Forget about it . By reading this on the internet you have already compromised your privacy.

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    1. Sounds like you're ready for that television delivery from Big Brother.

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    2. No. Just able to see multiple sides of an issue. You should try.

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  6. Some auto manufacturers already collect information, at least that relating to crashes, using "event data recorders." http://www.harristechnical.com/mediaQ&A.htm

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    1. Last month the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register, proposing that as of Sept. 1, 2014, all cars must have black boxes, which they call "event data recorders". It's already hard to find a car without one: they are in approximately 92% of cars on the road (not mine!). At this point, the bill states that the information will belong to the owner of the car, although it is subject to a warrant in a criminal investigation. Additionally, many insurance contracts have clauses in them that say that if you are in an accident, you are required to turn the recorded information over to the insurance company.

      The difference between the manufacturer-installed EDR and the one your insurance company wants you to install is frequency of reporting. The information from the manufacturer's box is generally only used in the case of an accident. The insurance company's presumably reports on the habits of all drivers of your car frequently. Whether or not you're comfortable with that will depend on how much you value your privacy, how reliably you think the technology will get the data right 100% of the time, and how much you trust your insurance company.

      Since I have a 20-year record of never having received a ticket for anything, I am in the enviable position of being able to tell Progressive to kiss my shiny metal...

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  7. All I want is to not be charged for vehicles I own that are not on the road.
    Apparently, if you have enough cash laying around, you can secure a bond and never pay car insurance again.
    As for me? I am unemployed but insured and am in the process of selling my two children (motorcycles) because I can't afford to insure them for the few thousand miles of joy they bring me a year (costs to insure are just under $100 a month)and I can't afford to have them stolen. Sure I can store them uninsured but what is the joy in that?
    Insurance companies... I think people were more careful when crashing meant consequences instead of a fat check towards getting a new car.

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