[AUTO] Trading Privacy for an Insurance Discount?

I used to have AllState, for years, they offered me one of those and I took it. But in MN, we get snow, if your ABS ever kicks in? That's counted as hard braking. I hated that thing. Next renewal period I moved to USAA and have never looked back, if you're a veteran, you won't find a better company or rates than they offer. Great service too - and no gadgets.

It's hard enough to get insurance companies to pay out without adding to the loopholes. If some unsecured load on the vehicle in front of me decided to strike out on its own and I have to brake hard to avoid it why should that affect my insurance costs negatively? Given the circumstances of the hard braking (which the insurance company will never consider) I should be rewarded with being a good enough driver to avoid an accident rather than penalized for hard braking.
As for the terms, most I've bothered to read through state somewhere that the terms are subject to change without notice and it's my responsibility to stay up on the changes.
That's a hard pass for me.

I probably drive at work at least fifty times the miles I drive socially - I'm a professional driver - so how will any insurer of my car know how badly I drive at work?
These things are known as' black boxes' in the UK, and compulsory for some younger or multi-claim drivers, or they don't get insurance, but for most of us they're an unnecessary and unwelcome intrusion.
There's even a bumper sticker about - "Slow driver - Black Box fitted!"

If you turn off your smartphone, does it actually stop tracking your location, or do you have to remove the SIM card?

Bob - Thanks for another great article

I am less worried about privacy. I am more concerned that an insurance carrier will deny coverage following an accident, based on data provided by the monitoring device. It wouldn't take much, just a determination that you are over the speed limit, and a clause in the policy requiring you to obey all traffic laws and regulations.

For a future article, I am intrigued by the FIXD device. Does it have value for the average car owner, just in helping maintain proper vehicle operation?

A better option is a dash cam, so they can’t track you but you have evidence in case of accidents.

I had one for 3 months an received a 20% discount due to my good driving. I was able to log in and see all data right after returning home. When I saw "hard braking" listed I started noting the time when I braked for lights that turned yellow and I was able to correlate. They taught me to go through lights that I never would have, before. When I brought it to their attention, they called "BS". !

I never would have permanently installed one but a 3 month period seemed OK.

At one point in the '90s, Geico would penalize drivers who owned radar detectors.
A decade later, automotive 'black boxes' were introduced as EventDataRecorders (EDR).
By 2004, around 40 million (?) passenger vehicles were equipped w/EDRs.
Early last decade, Federal law for EDR (data collection) standardization stalled; while GM vehicles were mostly all equipped with OnStar.
The federal Driver Privacy Act of 2015 was enacted on December 4, 2015. It stated that the owner or lessee of a motor vehicle "is" the owner of the data collected by the EDR.
Late last month (that would be June 2020), a new law — the California Consumer Privacy Act, A.B. 375 — affords California residents an array of new rights, starting with the right to be informed about what kinds of personal data companies have collected and why it was collected, etc.
Today, with 82% of Americans owning smartphones; the bread-crumb trails that we leave behind are ginormous and CCPA is not even doing a good job playing catch-up!
Price of "FREE" has never been more expensive and costly.

I did not read all the comments but here is another thought. If you are involved in something requiring police involvement, suppose they notice a device in the OBDC port. They might need a court order but could use the data to charge you; certainly could influence the police report. This is a well known issue for dash cameras.We tend to only think of ways these devices benefit us, not necessarily how they might benefit someone else.

That data is subject to a subpoena in a civil case by a party that wants proof of where (and when) you have been. Your insurer could be subpoenaed for the data (if relevant in the case). It could be in a divorce or an auto accident dispute, or it could be in any other action. How about the case you filed vs. your employer---don't you think they would love to have a record of where you have been during work hours?

If the government did this, all hell would break loose, especially with the Fox so-called "news" crowd. Why is it OK for us all to be a frog in the pot of heating corporate water instead?

"Safe drivers save 40%!, safe drivers save 40%! That's the guy, that's totally him!"

No way!

Gene; Why would a veteran ever buy insurance OTHER than USAA? They're a GREAT company.

Nautilusbaja: Agreed. I had an accident about 3 years ago; a woman ran the stop sign right in front of me, and I hit her. Her insurance company didn't want to pay - until I sent them a Youtube link to my dashboard camera recording. They paid up promptly after that.

No, No and No. The hook right now is you save, but once most people have them or they can convince politicians to make them mandatory, I guarantee they will only be used to raise premiums. Have you ever heard of an insurance company loosing money?

A few years ago I was always annoyed that I was paying more for my insurance than a friend.

I had full no claims bonus and drove carefully. He had numerous claims and drove like a lunatic. My car was a compact 1000cc and his a 2000cc. I drove less than 5000 miles a year and he traveled back and fall from Germany to Wales every two weeks.

I was self employed and disabled. He was an NCO in a Guards Regiment.

If I was still driving I would install one of these gadgets like a flash.

I can't really see any profit in anyone but my insurers knowing the details outlined.

They made it illegal in the UK to load disabled people's car insurance a few years ago. BUT the army discount would still apply as would the self-employed loading.

Thanks for the info. I will look for an older model vehicle in the future. With out the black box or edr in a vehicles now. Everybody is spying on and want your personal info. No thanks to the insurance spy network.

re FIXD device: for the $20 US I paid, it does have some value --as a toy during covid lockdown. It did report error codes but may not recognize specific error codes set by your car's manufacturer. Does not report live data. Be prepared for endless emails encouraging upgrade to the next level recommending service shops etc. I shelved it.

The device is an option that must be requested with Safeco and gets a minimum discount of 5%. Users say that if you brake for a light, you will be dinged for excessive braking. To avoid this you must run the yellow/red. If you accelerate to merge or enter traffic, you will be dinged for excessive acceleration. If you drive after midnight you will be time dinged. Difficult for safe drivers to approach the maximum discount. GPS and other data deleted 60 days after the 90 day monitoring they say.

The auto insurance agent talked up a potentially hefty discount, if we plugged their device into our vehicle, to get a short term sample, of our driving routine. There was no app involved and it sounded benign, so we agreed to using it. Overnight, our local drive of less than 10 miles, became an incredibly stressful ordeal.

Longterm, ongoing road construction (that had previously just been annoying), became a nightmare of challenges. Workers often stepped into traffic or drove their equipment out in front of vehicles with minimal warning. Now, just stepping on our brakes moderately, elicited a warning tone from the under-dash device. Pressing any harder, especially while trying to avoid hitting the rear of bad drivers, (usually slapping on their brakes unexpectedly while texting), caused a highly-disconcerting dual-tone. The same was true, when trying to stop suddenly, when encountering several notoriously short yellow lights - mostly at intersections with photo cameras, of course. Accelerating too quickly from stop signs and red lights, was sure to add "an event" to the log. More stress came in the form of the idiots suddenly deciding to turn in front of us, along with the ever-present pedestrians just waiting to step in front of any driver they think they can get a quick settlement from.

You can bet that checking the insurance site record and seeing it littered with numerous line-item "events", was very upsetting. We phoned the insurance company on several occasions, to contest unavoidable hard-braking situations and complained about the system being stacked against anyone navigating the perils of construction-zone mayhem. We asked why we incurred these negatives, when in fact, we had AVOIDED potential accidents? Of course each call, ended up with a different warm, calm voice, assuring us that those "common issues", were ALL factored into consideration, before determining our final rate. Saying that we were NOT HAPPY, would be a major understatement...

As the weeks dragged on, we found ourselves adapting and just as Will did, we too began speeding up to go through yellow lights. We also, became very quick to lean on the horn, at the slightest possibility of someone creating a situation, where we would have to touch the right or left pedal with anything more than prozac-induced lethargy. We re-routed ourselves through side streets and looked to avoid other vehicles, pedestrians, stop signs and intersections with fast-changing traffic lights. Our errands quickly started to take twice as long, so we decided to only drive every other day, to compensate for the additional stress.

The day came none too soon... NOT several weeks down the road, but SIX MONTHS LATER, when we received a box to return the device to the company. The following month, we received a massively underwhelming discount on our policy. In retrospect, had it been four times greater, we would NEVER AGAIN, allow ourselves to be put through that. The thing was VERY distracting, causing us to develop negative attitudes and habits. Our advice? Unless you want to be miserable the whole time, be strong. JUST SAY NO!

We use Metromile. You get better than a discount - they charge you BY THE MILE so you really only pay for what you drive. Saves us 50% and there is a daily charge cap of 250 miles if you are on a road trip. And when we are out of town or in lockdown we pay only the minimum to cover Comprehensive. Also - you can find the location of your car on your app as well - great if it gets stolen. Privacy? Really?? When I am running drugs or visiting the mistress I unplug the ODB gadget :-)