Big Brother Brand Car Insurance Appears To Be Working

from the what-people-will-do-for-cheaper-rates dept

The idea of car insurance that offers discounts if the insurance company can monitor your driving habits (and you don't drive like a maniac) isn't new. However, it appears that some of the early tests of such systems now have results -- and they won't make you happy if you're worried about companies spying on your every move. It turns out that many people using such systems seem to like them, mainly because of the discounts they receive. On top of that, the early results show that those who have such systems tend to adjust their own driving habits, making themselves much safer drivers. The article describes two systems. The one in the US requires the driver to attach a device to a computer and send in the data -- but has one interesting catch. It lets you see the data first -- and if you don't like what you see, you don't have to send it in. You won't get a discount, of course, but if the data was that bad, you wouldn't have received it anyway. The other one, taking place in the UK, we wrote about before. It's a bit more intrusive -- using GPS data to not only spy on how you drive, but where you drive. Plus, it sends that data back automatically. No choice there. However, the article about it notes that such a solution could be reasonable for good drivers lumped into a bad demographic. Teenagers cost a lot to insure -- but if they can prove they're a much better driver than others their age, then should they receive a discount? Is it worth giving up the privacy to do so? Either way, based on these early tests it seems likely that we'll be seeing a lot more plans like this.