Trade Your Driving Privacy for a Free TomTom GPS

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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TomTom is partnering with Motoquote, a UK based insurance company to provide the company with your personal driving habits. TomTom will provide free GPS units with specialized software to record your driving habits and provide the insurance company with the results. Small start to what may become a trend.

It’s an interesting step, and one that the bigger insurance players are no doubt very hesitant to try. But it could be a sign of things to come.
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Lol, who says they don't already do this?

I have GPS, but I don't need it 99% of the time I'm driving, so any of those companies know no more than they need to.:)
 
Interesting thing here. If this could be considered "legal", would this not allow medical insurance companies to do the same thing? In short, it is not the first step to complete discrimination based upon habits. So, who determines what is safe? Oh noes, you bought a 4lb bag of sugar...j00 diab3t1c! +$10000 insurance nowz.

Yep...fun times ahead. Our kids won't know the difference, but some of us will.
 
I'm a Progressive customer and I was reading about their similar program (sans GPS device - it's just a thing you plug into your dashboard), They made it very clear that your rates will not increase because of this, that they can only decrease. As long as that policy never changes, I'd be happy to have something monitor my driving. Even better with a free gps device.
 
While I'm not big on being monitored in everything I do... on the other hand I can see the side of the insurance companies. Why should an medical insurance company not charge more for covering a user that eats at McDonalds 4 times a week.. or an auto insurance company charge someone more for erratic driving (always speeding, running red lights, etc.)...
 
FndTheRver said:
I'm a Progressive customer and I was reading about their similar program (sans GPS device - it's just a thing you plug into your dashboard), They made it very clear that your rates will not increase because of this, that they can only decrease. As long as that policy never changes, I'd be happy to have something monitor my driving. Even better with a free gps device.
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Except what ends up happening is as the adoption rate increases they just start making the base rate higher, and then saying 'if you agree to this device your rate will be what the base rate used to be'. You end up not coming out ahead at all. Kind of like when service providers would say 'Sign up for our e-billing to save us printing and postage and save $5 a month! Note: Your bill is going up $5 next month as part of our yearly price increase for giving you the exact same service.'
 
FndTheRver said:
...As long as that policy never changes, I'd be happy to have something monitor my driving...
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That policy WILL change. Maybe all of the folks in favor of this would like to volunteer to have a police officer ride with them everywhere they go. Every time you make a mistake, you get tazered... :eek:
 
To me, the real issue here is rather obvious. When, at present, I enter into a contract with an insurance company for my truck, Both sides are taking a chance on the other. In other words, the insurance company trusts that I'll drive safely and obey the law, and I trust that they'll take care of me if something happens.

With the GPS on the side of the insurance company, The chance (unknown) part of the equation is lessened. All of a sudden, I'm still taking a chance, but they aren't. At this point, it doesn't seem like a well balanced contract to me.

My next argument would be that the insurance companies eventually would find its way to charging me the same rates as I was already paying, and for what? Also, anyone that believes they won't use the GPS tracker info to cancel policies due to "high risk" is living in a fantasy world.
 
MajorDomo said:
TomTom is partnering with Motoquote, a UK based insurance company to provide the company with your personal driving habits. TomTom will provide free GPS units with specialized software to record your driving habits and provide the insurance company with the results. Small start to what may become a trend.
Click to expand...

We already have something similar in the US. Except it's just enticement based on "savings" for safe driving. Progressive is the insurance company if I remember correctly, with their "snap shot" tool which just plugs into your OBDII port I would assume from looking at it.
 
They do it here in Japan with video. It's an option for insurance companies. Some cars already have it as a built-in option at the dealer.
 
As mentioned progressive over here does something similar. Either way you would have to be REALLY desperate and or just dumb for the few measly $ you save to be considered a good idea.

No thanks big brother monitoring. A simple trinket isn't going to buy my freedom.
 
Lamont said:
They do it here in Japan with video. It's an option for insurance companies. Some cars already have it as a built-in option at the dealer.
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Does Japan also require all cars be electronically limited to a certain speed, on "public" roads?
 
bastage said:
I dont drive like a fucktard so I am all for it..
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Exactly. When I was 20 something, thank you no. Now in my middle 30's I drive normal, all the time because I don't want a ticket. So if I could save a few bucks then sure.
 
xxEIEIOxx said:
That policy WILL change. Maybe all of the folks in favor of this would like to volunteer to have a police officer ride with them everywhere they go. Every time you make a mistake, you get tazered... :eek:
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I want to get tazered!! No really I do. My friend from TN was suppose to buy and bring a tazer here to MI when he moved and never did....
 
Damn no edit...

Also I would be screwed like many other FireFighters.
me: *Beep,Beep,beep,beep,beep,beep,beep* A run!!Lights siren, 65 in 55(legal for Emergency services here) to respond quickly.
Insurance co: Oh we see 12 instances of speeding. Rate hike 100 dollars!
 
Even if I wasn't a fan of going 5 over the limit, I'd still refuse this device.

More monitoring does not make for safer driving. There's tons of red light cameras across the US now. Wasn't it something like accidents at intersections have only gone up since their usage became widespread, or something to that effect?
 
so if they found out i was driving fast and 50 drivers ahed me and behind me will i they sell that information for certain price to get me bigger ticket. (considering cops can give me let's say $100 ticket, and of that $10 goes to insurance company for selling that information)
 
Do you guys think they would let you sit in their passenger seat while they drive around? They aren't that stupid... why would you be?
 
I've actually found myself wishing that I had something like this recently. Someone collided with my vehicle in an intersection recently when I had a green light, and the other driver claimed that I was running a red, and he was trying to clear the intersection. With a monitoring device, it would be possible to demonstrate that I was not at fault. Without proof of fault, the insurance company will not help me at all.
 
Trepidati0n said:
Interesting thing here. If this could be considered "legal", would this not allow medical insurance companies to do the same thing? In short, it is not the first step to complete discrimination based upon habits. So, who determines what is safe? Oh noes, you bought a 4lb bag of sugar...j00 diab3t1c! +$10000 insurance nowz.

Yep...fun times ahead. Our kids won't know the difference, but some of us will.
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My kids have been well trained by my wife and me to be paranoid about this stuff. :D
 
I wouldn't even consider this until the USA adopts some realistic speed limits and gets rid of all ignorant red lights and stop signs and replaces them all with truly smart lights and roundabouts.
 
No thanks big brother. All those tin foil hat people afraid they were being watched don't seem so crazy now.
 
No thanks. Do not like being monitored. They could give me a million dollars and I still wouldn't take it.
 
FndTheRver said:
I'm a Progressive customer and I was reading about their similar program (sans GPS device - it's just a thing you plug into your dashboard), They made it very clear that your rates will not increase because of this, that they can only decrease. As long as that policy never changes, I'd be happy to have something monitor my driving. Even better with a free gps device.
Click to expand...

You believed the insurance company that said your rates would not go up based on that data?

They said the same shit when they were "just correlating credit scores". Next is health records, because lets face it, once everyone is on the public medical option, your records are now owned by the public, free to be sold, and used, by any resources that want to acquire them.

Tinfoil hat me if you want, but in a few years I'll be able to do a See I told ya so.
 
gsilver said:
I've actually found myself wishing that I had something like this recently. Someone collided with my vehicle in an intersection recently when I had a green light, and the other driver claimed that I was running a red, and he was trying to clear the intersection. With a monitoring device, it would be possible to demonstrate that I was not at fault. Without proof of fault, the insurance company will not help me at all.
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That happenned to me once. This is why it's important for a witness to stick around. On the other hand, a gps that monitors driving doesn't have a clue if the light is red or not.
 
FndTheRver said:
Exactly. When I was 20 something, thank you no. Now in my middle 30's I drive normal, all the time because I don't want a ticket. So if I could save a few bucks then sure.
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I'd bet my house that "driving normal" is still not legal.

Or maybe you are Jesus returned, and have never failed to stop COMPLETELY, stopped over the line, drove 1mph over the posted limit, followed too closely, or any of a hundred other scenarios where you have broken the driving laws. A little white lie is still a lie to bean counters looking for justification of rate hikes in data.

Just waiting for the day GPS is mandatory for the "safety" of the masses, and tickets print right out of your dashboard the second you make a mistake like the ones for swearing in Demolition Man.
 
BBA said:
That happenned to me once. This is why it's important for a witness to stick around. On the other hand, a gps that monitors driving doesn't have a clue if the light is red or not.
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This.

The GPS wouldn't have helped in this case. Now I have always thought about having a dash cam similar to police, just have it hooked to a hard drive or SSD and have it continuously rerecording unless you press a button then the last 20 minutes gets saved. But still that kind of stuff is prohibitively expensive for the average person.
 
Monkey34 said:
Just waiting for the day GPS is mandatory for the "safety" of the masses, and tickets print right out of your dashboard the second you make a mistake like the ones for swearing in Demolition Man.
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Man speaks the truth.

Hell, in this city they have cameras on all the buses too, so if you're caught on camera driving in a bus only lane (which some are admittedly very confusing, especially if it's a recent change over), they'll simply mail you a ticket similar to a traffic cam. No more needing police, simply have electronic devices give you a ticket.
 
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