NYT: Is Your Driving Being Secretly Scored?

[FakeNoose]

The insurance industry, hungry for insights into how people drive, has turned to automakers and smartphone apps like Life360.



Archived link (no paywall): https://archive.ph/pYdtT

You know you have a credit score. Did you know that you might also have a driver score? The score reflects the safety of your driving habits — how often you slam on the brakes, speed, look at your phone or drive late at night.

While you can see your credit score, you will have a harder time finding out what your driving score is. But auto insurance companies can get it — and that could affect the rate you pay.

For the last two decades, auto insurers have been trying to get people to enroll in programs, commonly called usage-based insurance plans, that monitor their day-to-day driving so rates better reflect the actual risk. But privacy-minded consumers have been reluctant to sign up.

So the industry has taken a different tack, getting data about how people drive from automakers or from apps that drivers already have on their phones. Experts say most people have no idea the insurance industry can track them this way.

- more at link -



Beware of cellphone apps like Life360, MyRadar, and GasBuddy. Those apps could be tracking your driving habits and reporting to current or future insurance providers. You may not know that you're opted in. Some of the newer model cars are connected to the internet and they could be recording your driving speeds and braking habits, among other things. Insurance companies use this info to decide whether you're a high-risk driver.

[Bo Zarts]

1. I let USAA track my driving (primarily cell phone usage) with their Safe Pilot app ..

By not using my cell phone while driving, I get up to 30% off my three car insurance premiums every six months. Since switching to USAA from State Farm three years ago, I have qualified for the full 30% discount every six month billing cycle and I have saved a hell of a lot of money.

I didn’t use my phone while driving before I switched to USAA, and now I’m getting paid for that good habit. The drive-route tracking of the Safe Pilot app doesn’t bother me either. If I go missing on one of my many long road trips, it will be one more piece of information to use to track me down.

[stopdiggin]

2. another one of those things, where there are probably two sides to the coin

(and is probably coming whether you like it or not)

Are we saying that dangerous driving habits should become relevant - only after an accident has occurred?
Recognizing of course the tension arising between this and big brother and a police state.

But I'm really not so terribly opposed to that as*hat that is screaming down the road at 105mph, weaving in and out of traffic - maybe finding his car in limp mode somewhere later on in his journey?