Progressive Insurance and its Big Brother policy

[jilln]

I was just informed by Progressive Insurance that they could offer me a 5% discount on car insurance if I agreed to strap their monitor onto my car's engine and have my driving habits monitored. There would be "no penalties for bad driving" and at the end of the month I'd connect the monitor to the computer and send Progressive the data.

It is a VOLUNTARY program, but I find it despicable that they're offering people money to allow themselves to be monitored and I told the woman that.

I wonder how long it will be before some unsuspecting mechanic alerts the police to the strange device he finds under the hood.

[annabanana]

1. for 5 fricken percent??

They want that info on me they will give me FREE car insurance on all the cars in our family in perpetuity.. and pay me a stiff royalty everytime they sell the info to anyone. . .

[jilln]

5. Yeah, unfortunately 5% is a lot to some people

[MadHound]

2. I wonder how long before such practices become mandatory

Modern cars are now chock full of electronics that record what you do and where you go. How long before these voluntary programs become mandatory, and all of our driving history and habits becomes known.

[AX10]

3. Peter Lewis-D is the founder and largest stockholder in the firm.

Just saying. He has raised a ton of cash for the Democrats.

[jilln]

7. I know Progressive is supposed to be a "good" company

But this shit still makes me queasy.

[AX10]

13. I agree too.

It's wrong.
I am not going to defend the company just because of where they send their money to.

[ellenfl]

14. at least they are ASKING! do you think bushco asks? eom

[Kingshakabobo]

4. Yikes. My experience with these types of "discounts" is they somehow become mandatory.

Sounds like a trial balloon to me.

Yikes. My partner just switched to progressive......he's 'screwn' if they monitor HIS habits.

[jilln]

6. I believe it's only in certain states.

So far.

[deadmessengers]

8. I can see where this is going

Fast forward 10 years: When you go in for your annual emissions inspection, the device, now GPS integrated, will be uploaded to a government agency. That agency will perform a computer analysis of where you were and how fast you were going, and send you tickets for each infraction. Since it's a "civil administrative penalty" and not criminal charges, you don't get the same right of due process, and all you can do is bend over and take it.

[jilln]

9. I think tickets are the least of our worries

Just wait til the monitor tells them you were near the scene of a crime.

[kurth]

10. Is that what makes them 'progressive'?

Don't they also have a habit of forcing claimants to reveal their Social Security number and other irrelevant information?

[Donnachaidh]

11. I would love to know how they pick people to offer these discounts to

I have Progressive, and while they've seemed to clean up their act in the past year or so -- what is the point of doing this? It can only be to raise rates eventually, using a database taken from these sort of monitoring programs.

5 per cent is NOTHING. And it's none of their damned business where people drive. And WTF constitutes *bad driving*?

[The Straight Story]

12. I find it appalling as well that bad credit = higher rates

Never had a ticket, and I am 41. No accidents either.

But my rates were higher because of my credit score. So I end up paying more for car insurance and have less to spend on bills...

Go figure. Screw the poor seems to be the mantra.

[Nite Owl]

15. It isn't just the credit score that is

available to us. They use a special credit rating that is secret to the industry and they don't have to tell us how they come up with it either. My 'credit score' is good but Amica said that they couldn't give me their lowest pricing because I did not apply for new credit in the past year. Whether you pay your bills on time or not they will find a way to raise those rates.

[Donnachaidh]

16. the refused you credit because you DIDN'T apply for credit?

Now how assinine can they get?

[Nite Owl]

18. No the insurance premium was not

their lowest price because I didn't apply for any new credit cards. I was under the foolish impression that you shouldn't have more cards than you need and you should pay your bills on time. It isn't just Amica it's all of them that use this credit rating and we have no right to know just what it is they look for. The explanation went along the lines of since I didn't get new credit cards it was likely to mean that I would have a claim in the next year or so. This was for homeowners insurance though they seem to use this for everything. I wrote to them and sent a letter to the NYS Insurance Board but what they are doing is perfectly legal.

[jilln]

19. that happens to me too

"lack of revolving credit" or something - means I don't have "enough" credit cards. Apparently I'm not smart enough to determine how many is the correct amount for me.

[ikojo]

17. Just like drug testing in the 1980s...they will offer

incentives and say it's for safety. They will then lobby polticians who have already been bought and voila a new law mandating such devices in every vehicle. Of course it will be sold to us as "for our own good."

Fascism...goes down smoothly.