OT: Car manufacturers are sharing your driving data with insurance companies...

[Louis]

I need to figure out how to turn this off on my Integra... (if that's even possible)


Gift link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/t...smid=url-share

Kenn Dahl says he has always been a careful driver. The owner of a software company near Seattle, he drives a leased Chevrolet Bolt. He’s never been responsible for an accident.

So Mr. Dahl, 65, was surprised in 2022 when the cost of his car insurance jumped by 21 percent. Quotes from other insurance companies were also high. One insurance agent told him his LexisNexis report was a factor.

LexisNexis is a New York-based global data broker with a “Risk Solutions” division that caters to the auto insurance industry and has traditionally kept tabs on car accidents and tickets. Upon Mr. Dahl’s request, LexisNexis sent him a 258-page “consumer disclosure report,” which it must provide per the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

What it contained stunned him: more than 130 pages detailing each time he or his wife had driven the Bolt over the previous six months. It included the dates of 640 trips, their start and end times, the distance driven and an accounting of any speeding, hard braking or sharp accelerations. The only thing it didn’t have is where they had driven the car.

[unterhausen]

USAA has an app that spys on you. It is awful. It apparently detects hard braking/acceleration if you get a gps glitch on the freeway, and I also got an event when I turned right. Uninstalled it after that drive.

[dustyrider]

I had an insurance company send me a device that I plugged into my car for around 2 months. They lowered my rate once I sent the data back to them. Might be a benefit might not be, but if you have a cell phone/computer on the internet are you really not on someone’s data collection radar at this point?

[Louis]

Originally Posted by dustyrider

but if you have a cell phone/computer on the internet are you really not on someone’s data collection radar at this point?

Sure, everything is collecting data on us, but it would be ironic if the company that sold me a car that they market as a performance vehicle would then turn around and share or sell data that might harm me to my insurance company.

[bikinchris]

Oh dear. Insurance companies that want to look over my driving data are going to be BORED TO DEATH.

[Nevets]

My auto insurance (AAA) went up 29% this year, no claims in 25 years, < 5k miles per year.....called several other providers majority refusing to quote new California residents. The CA agency that controls insurance had ~ 60 requests to increase prices from various CA insurance providers (my house insurance only increased 7%....) I dont know if my older vehicles (1999 4 Runner, 2004 Mercedes C320 and 2003 Harley Classic Softail) generate data, I doubt it, perhaps if they did it could aid reducing the increases....

[Mark McM]

Here in the Massachusetts, a Right to Repair law was enacted by the voters in 2020, which allowed independent auto repairers to access electronic data to help them repair cars. The car makers strongly opposed the laws, claiming that allowing access to that data could allow independent operators to violate the car owners' privacy, so it was (somehow) better for the car owners that only the dealers could access that data.

Now we know that what the manufacturers really wanted was a monopoly on violating car owners' privacy for their own profits. Those bastages!

[NHAero]

If we don't have Onstar activated in our Bolt EV does Lexis Nexis still have all this data? What's the deactivation process (at the car, not with the companies, whom I would never trust)?

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

USAA has an app that spys on you. It is awful. It apparently detects hard braking/acceleration if you get a gps glitch on the freeway, and I also got an event when I turned right. Uninstalled it after that drive.

How does this work?

[AngryScientist]

Am am slightly conflicted.

On one hand, as a user of the road for driving, cycling and pedestrian use (including running), incentivizing drivers to behave in a safer manner is probably a good thing. Perhaps if a driver sees his insurance rates skyrocketing, he would think twice and better of road raging and driving dangerously.

On the other hand...

I absolutely think collecting data without a person's consent, and further sharing that data with outside parties is despicable, and should absolutely be fought against. This new world we live in where data is money and companies prey on people's presumed privacy is not good, period.



More incentive for me to keep driving old cars that do not talk to the www.

In recent years, insurance companies have offered incentives to people who install dongles in their cars or download smartphone apps that monitor their driving, including how much they drive, how fast they take corners, how hard they hit the brakes and whether they speed. But “drivers are historically reluctant to participate in these programs,” as Ford Motor put it in a patent application that describes what is happening instead: Car companies are collecting information directly from internet-connected vehicles for use by the insurance industry.

[nortx-Dave]

Originally Posted by charliedid

How does this work?

USAA has an app you download to your smartphone that monitors several aspects of your driving. They sent me an offer for a 10% discount off my premiums if I participated. The discount is a one time thing, but they also offer a potential discount based on safe driving practices. They promised that rates will not go up based on data collected, only potential discounts. I passed.

[Likes2ridefar]

I read this earlier today and was able to turn it off in my car. I want my 1980 Toyota Corolla wagon back.

[wc1934]

Originally Posted by Likes2ridefar

I read this earlier today and was able to turn it off in my car. I want my 1980 Toyota Corolla wagon back.

You were able to disable it - how?

I receive emails from CARFAX (which I never used in my life) informing me of upcoming service needs (oil change, tire rotation, registration, safety inspection, etc.). It must somehow connect to the dealership.

[JMT3]

I too insure with AAA. Two vehicles, Harley and my home. What floors me is how does your credit score have anything to do with your insurance rates? My credit score is very high but I do not think it should have an effect on your insurance rates. Glad mine are high and do!

[Likes2ridefar]

Originally Posted by wc1934

You were able to disable it - how?

I receive emails from CARFAX (which I never used in my life) informing me of upcoming service needs (oil change, tire rotation, registration, safety inspection, etc.). It must somehow connect to the dealership.

It was in system settings on mine to not share data.