Car Insurance In-Car Monitor

[NewGuy2005 51]

I received an invitation to have a monitor installed in my car in order to determine my driving habits. If they deem me to be safe, I'll get a discount. As I understand it, the main thing it monitors is quick acceleration / deceleration.

Does anyone here have one installed and has it saved you money?

[oldwomanc6 38]

No amount of money would persuade me to have one of those installed in one of my vehicles.

Insurance companies have always assigned risk/cost according to past performance, and I'll be damned if I voluntarily give them a way to track me. And then hold something against me.

It's also a very short slippery slope before the government somehow gets a hold of those recordings to bring charges against someone.

BTW, I don't know why you posted this in the BF. If I didn't say it first, someone else would toot-sweet. There is only one way this conversation can go.

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[CSpenceFLY 1]

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I received an invitation to have a monitor installed in my car in order to determine my driving habits. If they deem me to be safe, I'll get a discount. As I understand it, the main thing it monitors is quick acceleration / deceleration.

Does anyone here have one installed and has it saved you money?

Insurance in it's current for is legalized fraud. The insurance companies, like the government, are not looking for ways to "help" you.

[quade 3]

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It's also a very short slippery slope before the government somehow gets a hold of those recordings to bring charges against someone.

There is no "slippery slope" here. It's coming to all newly manufactured cars in the US. Hell, it's already IN a lot of them.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[baronn 111]

Geez everyone, he asked if anyone has done this yet. If you have, relate the experience. If not, don't bother. I will be getting one and will let you know the results. Gonna be a tuffy as the Vette is getting a lot of new upgrades. Only gonna last 6 months

[coconutmonkey 0]

John Spartan, you have been fined one credit for violation of the verbal morality code...

Hearts & Minds
2 to the Heart-
1 to the Mind-
Home of the Coconut Lounge, Spa, & Artillery Range

[NewGuy2005 51]

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It's also a very short slippery slope before the government somehow gets a hold of those recordings to bring charges against someone.

There is no "slippery slope" here. It's coming to all newly manufactured cars in the US. Hell, it's already IN a lot of them.

Correct. It started a few years ago, as I understand it.

[NewGuy2005 51]

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Insurance companies have always assigned risk/cost according to past performance, and I'll be damned if I voluntarily give them a way to track me. And then hold something against me.

They do that and the past performance they have on me is my accident and traffic ticket free driving record. (almost 20 years) However, if they are creating a new category of even lower risk drivers based on current monitored performance, I am tempted to try it.

All kinds of companies, airlines for example, are moving towards a pricing model of charging incremental amounts for what each individual customer actually uses. I suspect that I may "use" less insurance than I am actually paying for.

[MikeJD 0]

Happening over here, too. My nephew's just had one installed, so I'll feed back his experience if he has anything to say about it. He's only just started driving - I'd assumed it was a young driver thing.

It's not for me though - I feel enough like a lab rat these days as it is!

[Divalent 89]

Think of it as like a complete medical exam to potentially get lower priced medical or life insurance. Since it's optional, if you think you drive substantially safer than normal, consider going for it.

(However, also make sure you don't drive many more miles than average: if you drive much safer than the average driver but rack up substantially more miles, you may not get the big discount you expect.)

[wmw999 2,123]

This is establishing the individual value of privacy. For younger drivers the potential reward is far greater than for older ones (my insurance isn't all that high anyway).

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[NewGuy2005 51]

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This is establishing the individual value of privacy. For younger drivers the potential reward is far greater than for older ones (my insurance isn't all that high anyway).

Wendy P.

Good point. Neither is mine. However, I did not mention earlier that I also have two 18 year old daughters that are on my insurance. Even though they are in a high risk group, I suspect that they are safer than average within their group, and therefore, "use" less insurance than we are paying for. They drive like little old ladies.

Another thing that may put us in a lower risk group is that we don't drive a lot at night.

[wmw999 2,123]

18-year-olds make a big difference. I covered my son's insurance for several years with the understanding that if he did anything to make it go up, the responsibility would be his to cover not only the increased cost, but the cost of taking over his own insurance entirely (i.e. not even giving him a family discount).

It worked. Not that he never got tickets, but he just never got them often enough to not be able to take defensive driving.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[oldwomanc6 38]

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Think of it as like a complete medical exam to potentially get lower priced medical or life insurance. Since it's optional, if you think you drive substantially safer than normal, consider going for it.

(However, also make sure you don't drive many more miles than average: if you drive much safer than the average driver but rack up substantially more miles, you may not get the big discount you expect.)

That's just it. They already know your state of "health" based on past record and age group you fall in. It's more like having an implant surgically inserted under the skin to track your behavior in order to guess how healthy you might be in the future.

About the milage thing, they already have a pretty good idea how much you drive those cars. You tell them, so unless you lie (commit fraud), they don't need to track that physically.

As Wendy said, maybe it's a generational thing. The younger generation is so used to having every little detail of their lives, which in the past was private, in the public eye, this might just seem like more of the same. A sort of automatic Tweet to the insurance company as it were.

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[NewGuy2005 51]

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As Wendy said, maybe it's a generational thing. The younger generation is so used to having every little detail of their lives, which in the past was private, in the public eye, this might just seem like more of the same. A sort of automatic Tweet to the insurance company as it were.

True. There are some aspects of modern technology that I adopt early and some that I refuse to adopt. For example: I will not use Facebook.

[airtwardo 6]

My mom had done it at my suggestion about a year ago.

Even as an elderly driver, I thought she was gettin' raked on insurance costs.

From what I understand they monitor 30 days worth of 'tendencies' and go from there...

Speed, number of miles driven & when.

They thought it wasn't working when they downloaded the info from mom's caddy...I assured the agent that yes she only drives about 20 miles a week!

Premiums were cut almost in half,


I would be tempted to do it myself...we have 3 cars that don't get driven much, maybe 100 miles a week total.
But we have a really old Allstate policy that's not even offered anymore, very high coverage at a reasonable price and full coverage on ANY car I drive, anywhere in the world.

...good thing speeding tickets on rental cars in Europe just go on the credit card and not to the local DMV! ~got THREE in France last month alone!!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[jackwallace 3]

Disclaimer: I am not sticking up for insurance companies.
From what I understand, right now they set your insurance rates by your credit rating. Its cheap and easy way for them to group people. Maybe they're getting grief for it and looking for a new way. No matter what, they won't loose money. Ever notice who owns the tallest buildings in any city?

U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

[DougH 270]

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They do that and the past performance they have on me is my accident and traffic ticket free driving record. (almost 20 years) However, if they are creating a new category of even lower risk drivers based on current monitored performance, I am tempted to try it.

Never in a million years would I put one of those on my car.

They are worlds different from the manufacturer installed "black boxes" that record only a minimal amount of input before and after an accident.

For me the upside can't outweigh the possible downside.

If your drive well with the device you can get a savings, but how big could it be. Even if you were the safer driver in the world a big part of your insurance cost is associated with uninsured drivers and other idiots around you. I doubt it offers a significant savings. What is the benchmark, do you need to speed never, do you need to avoid all high risk areas?

On the other hand if you have no accidents, no tickets, but you aren't always a by the books driver, you could totally out yourself. What type of behavior, and what amount, raises a red flag on to the insurance company? One time speeding?

Screw that... way to many unknowns!

Edit: I guess one exception could be Twardo's story, but an average Jo still driving an average amount, 30 days is a large window time for an average person to screw up!

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[JohnMitchell 14]

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Disclaimer: I am not sticking up for insurance companies.
From what I understand, right now they set your insurance rates by your credit rating. Its cheap and easy way for them to group people. Maybe they're getting grief for it and looking for a new way. No matter what, they won't loose money. Ever notice who owns the tallest buildings in any city?

The credit rating is a big factor in your insurance rates. Many people don't know that. They discovered a good correlation between bad credit risk and claims risk, so they use that to fine tune their rate structure. That way they can lure the lowest risk drivers in with the best rates and still, hopefully, make money. This "black box" thing is just another way to improve their rate tables.

I drive an economy car on my daily commute, always aiming for good mileage. I accelerate smoothly, coast and brake gently. If they don't look at speeding on the freeway, I could probably do pretty well with one of those.

Not too long ago my car insurance company sent me a refund for over $1000. They said my credit score had gone above a certain benchmark some time previously and I qualified for a lower rate. Not bad.

[billvon 2,402]

>Insurance in it's current for is legalized fraud.

Fortunately you don't have to get it if you don't want it.

[airtwardo 6]

Edit: I guess one exception could be Twardo's story, but an average Jo still driving an average amount, 30 days is a large window time for an average person to screw up!

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It is indeed, and that's what they are looking for...IMO.

All of our driving is pretty much 'off peak hours' for short distances around town...pretty tame stuff that I wouldn't mind anyone looking at.

But now & then... coming back from the DZ in the Z4 wouldn't be something I'd like ANYBODY to have a 'hard-copy' of regarding numbers!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[regulator 0]

Must not be in my car. I drive like a bat out of hell all day every day. No increases for me as of yet.

[MikeJD 0]

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>Insurance in it's current for is legalized fraud.

Fortunately you don't have to get it if you don't want it.

Agreed in most cases, and where I don't think the loss of something would be a disaster I prefer to put away the money that I would have spent on insurance premiums.

However (at least in the UK) you must have motoring insurance to drive, and you must have building insurance to get a property mortgage.

[billvon 2,402]

>However (at least in the UK) you must have motoring insurance to drive

In California you can either get insurance or post a bond.

[faulknerwn 36]

I had snapshot for about 2 months and then they had me send it back. They cut 30 percent off of my insurance costs. I didn't drive much and not much late at night so it saved me quite a bit. And it doesn't stay there permanently - just a month or two and then you ship it back.