Big daddy State Farm is watching

[Sunset]

I use the tracking device in both cars.
It only works in the USA, so when I drive out of the country, they have no idea where I am located...
If my car is ever stolen, I can tell the cops where it's located and the route it took, plus the speed they drove.

 

[Amethyst]

How does the app work? Does it go on your phone, or on the car itself?

I don't always (GASP!) have my phone with me.

These days they let you choose to use their app that tracks your driving distance for a 10-15% discount, s.

 

[Amethyst]

Oh, OK, it's a device that goes on the car - similar, I suppose, to a turnpike transponder. Question answered.

I use the tracking device in both cars.
It only works in the USA, so when I drive out of the country, they have no idea where I am located...
If my car is ever stolen, I can tell the cops where it's located and the route it took, plus the speed they drove.

 

[Amethyst]

A real disadvantage of living in Florida is that I can't bundle home and car insurance (major home insurers shy away from Florida).

GEICO raised my rates almost 30% when certain "qualifying life events" [translation: completely out of my control] occurred, but I'm afraid to change because I've been with them 5 years, long enough to earn first-accident forgiveness.

Possibly. I have combined house, car umbrella etc., with them and new house insurance is sometimes tough to get. But indeed worth checking,

 

[DrRoy]

We get requests for odometer checks.

 

[old medic]

They would have loved seeing my driving yesterday. Had to take my son to the ER. Due to the situation he needed to go back to a distant hospital nearly 2 hours away. Once on the intestate, maintained 85-90 MPH most the way.

 

[db79]

Insurance carriers purchase information about the vehicle and driver(s) from various sources. With the increase of "smart" vehicles even the manufacture OEMs are selling data.

 

[Alan]

OMG.... Sorry but this is to funny not to share....

Picture this... You get your insurance bill and it jumps thru the roof... I'm talking triples.... You call and try to figure out WTF happened... They turn around and tell you that since you signed up on such and such program...
THEY TRACK YOUR CELL PHONE!!!!!!
You have been consistently speeding, running redlights, driving on the wrong side of the road!!!!!

This is a true store from an EMS coworker... Her phone was in her pocket so BOOM any time she was in the truck, driving or not... ... It took her several months to get it fixed.

I don't believe this can be done just using your cell phone. How can they tell you have been running red lights or driving on the wrong side of the road unless your phone's camera is on and pointing out the window?

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

If you're lying or are way off, I wouldn't find it legally or morally wrong for them to deny a claim if, for instance, you claimed you drive 10K a year and in year two of owning your new car, it had 60K on it when involved in an incident. I've tried to always be accurate in my expected mileage for that reason. Last thing I need is for my insurance to not be valid when I actually need it! I've always been surprised they don't ask for mileage at renewal.



My USAA pilot tracks miles driven (consensually using the app) and time of day plays a factor too. I've noticed if I drive more in a particular week or have the occasional "higher risk" timed drive, my score drops a point or two and then with time of less driving goes back up. Heck, they could set up an network of plate readers and be able to estimate your driving by where you car is seen. Publicly visible so no expectation of privacy! Maybe the "road warrior" assistance trucks they have on the highways are reading plates while on patrol.



Anonymity is an illusion these days... it's really hard to hide with modern technology and sensors and digital data everywhere.

 

[NW-Bound]

OMG.... Sorry but this is to funny not to share....

Picture this... You get your insurance bill and it jumps thru the roof... I'm talking triples.... You call and try to figure out WTF happened... They turn around and tell you that since you signed up on such and such program...
THEY TRACK YOUR CELL PHONE!!!!!!
You have been consistently speeding, running redlights, driving on the wrong side of the road!!!!!

This is a true store from an EMS coworker... Her phone was in her pocket so BOOM any time she was in the truck, driving or not... ... It took her several months to get it fixed.

So funny. I imagine the insurer telling the EMS worker: "You are lucky we even offer coverage. In fact, you should be in jail".

 

[Surewhitey]

You guys made me do a deep dive into our car insurance. We switched to Milewise (Allstate) and they put a bug in the car to monitor the mileage, quick stops, over 80 mph & after 11pm driving.

My original policy was costing us $2160/yr for 2 cars, full coverage circa mid-2021.

Milewise started with a an excellent deal, they charged a daily and per mile rate. The first 6 months was a freebie in that they had no data on our driving habits. We also went to liability coverage for 1 car.

Fast forward to 2023, it looks like we are really close to the original policy cost with 1 car liability only... Per mile / day has increased appx 50% in 18 months. Some of that due to DW lead foot braking.

Positive... DW always called me the "bad, aggressive driver". Now I have proof that she's the pot...

103 vs 15 hard brakes in the past 7 months...

 

[marko]

Tracking devices and incorrect inferences aside, I think we all underestimate the amount of data that is collected about our everyday lives.

Most companies know as much about us as we do about ourselves, IMO.

"Hello, Mr Marko, this is your friendly life insurance company. Your Amex charges show a lot of purchases of red meat/cigarettes/liquor/whatever. And it also shows that you buy these things in a part of town with a lot of armed robberies. And we see that you are a skier, a scuba diver and...(oh my!) sky diving lessons??.
We're going to have to raise your premiums. Any more of this kind of nonsense and we'll discontinue your policy.
Have a nice day"

It's almost impossible to live in today's world and not leave a digital trail.

And let's not get into the whole DNA aspect of 'surveillance'. ("are you related to a sketchy guy who lives in Idaho? He might be involved in a horrific crime. Do you know where he might be?")

Just now, a local guy has made National news by allegedly killing his wife and then Googling "how to dispose of a body", along with his phone tracking his every move (to dumpsters), security camera footage (at dumpsters) and credit card purchases of 'cleaning supplies'. (what an idiot)

 

[brett]

Shop.

Then vote with your feet and your wallet.

 

[freedomatlast]

I just got my auto insurance bill which had a decent increase. I discovered that they believe I’m driving 19300 miles a year. Actually it’s about 5000 or 6000. So I called and asked them how they figured the 19,300? They said that they didn’t know in my particular case but told me it was from things like oil changes and smog checks etc. so apparently they have access to this data. I was amazed. My guess is that since the last two oil changes were pretty close together as I drove across country, they extrapolated that into me driving a couple thousand miles a month. The local agent is going to submit my version to see what happens.

Guilty until proven innocent. That alone would be enough for me to dump Snake Farm immediately.

 

[freedomatlast]

There's not a chance of snowball in hell that I ever put a tracking device on any of my cars. Or put an app on a phone that tracks. We have enough big brother over reach already without me voluntarily subjecting myself to more.

Agreed. All they need to know is that my driving record over the last 47 years is flawless. No accidents, no violations. And as far as the speed restrictions go, around here you create much more of a hazard on the highway chugging along at 55 MPH vs. keeping up with the majority of the traffic flow at 80 MPH plus.

 

[OldShooter]

The thing to understand is that the insurance companies have no idea what behavior or combination of behaviors is correlated with risk. This is data that they do not have. All of the current monitoring and rate adjustments is pure guesswork. What they are doing is building a database from which, eventually, they might be able to tease some correlations. In the mean time, expect arbitrary and clueless behavior as they conduct their experiments. They are running on gut feel and unvalidated heuristics.

 

[ivinsfan]

I get the smog check as that is in the government data base. But how exactly did they know you got your oil changed?

 

[audreyh1]

The thing to understand is that the insurance companies have no idea what behavior or combination of behaviors is correlated with risk. This is data that they do not have. All of the current monitoring and rate adjustments is pure guesswork. What they are doing is building a database from which, eventually, they might be able to tease some correlations. In the mean time, expect arbitrary and clueless behavior as they conduct their experiments. They are running on gut feel and unvalidated heuristics.

Yep, pretty much!

Which is better - breaking a little harder for that stoplight? Or running the light but no breaking? Endless stuff like this!

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

The thing to understand is that the insurance companies have no idea what behavior or combination of behaviors is correlated with risk. This is data that they do not have. All of the current monitoring and rate adjustments is pure guesswork. What they are doing is building a database from which, eventually, they might be able to tease some correlations. In the mean time, expect arbitrary and clueless behavior as they conduct their experiments. They are running on gut feel and unvalidated heuristics.

They are not going broke with car insurance so I think they do have an idea. Certainly it will get more granular and more accurate but number of miles driven and time of day do correlate with accidents and that's enough, no need to know the cause to isolate variables. Even if you are a good driver, a drunk unavoidably slamming into you is still higher at certain times.


Rapid acceleration and braking -especially braking hard frequently pretty logically indicate excessive speeds/following distances too close for conditions or perhaps just that you drive a lot where everyone else is an idiot which still increases your odds of a claim. I'm sure they've already got a pretty good data. They have been doing these programs for quite a while and should have a lot of data points.


Insurance is always a bit weird depending on the risk pool you get put into. USAA willing to insure a 1980's condo on the beach but not willing to insure my 2000's townhouse (condo policy within a month of each inquiry) 70' above sea level is burned in my anecdotal memory. 3 months later, they were ok insuring this place.

 

[djsander]

I get the smog check as that is in the government data base. But how exactly did they know you got your oil changed?

A wild guess on the oil change is the place puts the info in their computer then sells the data to the insurance companies.

 

[Sunset]

Oh, OK, it's a device that goes on the car - similar, I suppose, to a turnpike transponder. Question answered.

It's a little thing the plugs into the car under the dash. Same place where you plug in a device to read error codes on the car, or the pollution test places plug in to read what the car says about it's pollution monitor/system.

 

[CaptTom]

...Fast forward to 2023, it looks like we are really close to the original policy cost with 1 car liability only...

I've heard that it's normal for insurance companies to offer low rates initially, then slowly raise them over time, knowing most people don't take the time to shop around.

This is why all the ads say "people who switched to us save x%." People who switch to any other company always save. And start the cycle of raising rates all over again.

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

Rapid acceleration and braking -especially braking hard frequently pretty logically indicate excessive speeds/following distances too close for conditions or perhaps just that you drive a lot where everyone else is an idiot which still increases your odds of a claim. I'm sure they've already got a pretty good data. They have been doing these programs for quite a while and should have a lot of data points.

+1

The State Farm app also tracks aggressive cornering and distracted driving (i.e., using your phone while driving, though it doesn't penalize for using navigation apps). I am pleasantly surprised my 2 sons are using the app, given that they're part of the text all the time generation. Discouraging texting while driving is a very good thing.

 

[ls99]

I get the smog check as that is in the government data base. But how exactly did they know you got your oil changed?

In PA if oil change is at dealer, or any other work, they send info to carfax, probably also to most auto check outfits. Or they buy the info from dealers. Am sure Insurance companies gather data from these outfits.

 

[brett]

Three years ago our home policy increased our premium by 25 percent.

We shopped around. We also got a quote (on line) from the very same insurer as a 'new customer' vs a policy renewal.

The 'new customer' price essentially eliminated that increase. The insurer was hoping we would simply renew.

We stayed with the carrier....but we took the 'new customer' quote. The carrier was not thrilled about it. Caught at their own game so to speak.