Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire car insurance gizmo

Got one of those trackers from the insurance company to monitor your driving habits. It supposed to lower your insurance a minimum of 6% and up to 32%. I have an 18 year old so i got it before all this Covid stuff hit cause its costing me a fortune. supposed to be on for 90 days then send it back.

The son had shoulder surgery a week before Covid (football and wrestling injury) and now Covid, so we ain't driving squat. Sure hope I get a big discount.

you can login online and see how many miles you drive and how many acceleration and braking "events" you've had.

The wife is always saying I drive too aggressively, but guess who has the most "events" on their car.

Get another insurance company. No way in hell I'm letting anyone track me or my driving habits. Info. goes directly to your State's Dept. of Public Safety and they can & will use that information against you, should it ever be necessary.

Absolutely no reason in the world to help .gov persecute you.

This. In addition, I have a friend who's a mechanic. He tells me those gizmos eventually screw up the electrical system in your car, necessitating expensive repairs. Don't know whether this is, in fact, true, but he has no reason to lie about it.

I just don't see any upside to using one of those gimmicks.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people willingly give up their private information (DNA, driving habits, fingerprints, medical information, browsing history, etc.) to .gov in the belief that they're receiving some perceived benefits. Now the robotic vacuums are mapping your home's interior, these infernal Alexa gizmos are recording everything you say and Smart Refrigerators keep track of your food intake. Who the Hell needs this crap? This is all about controlling YOU.

THIS DOES NOT BENEFIT YOU - IT ONLY SERVES TO UNDERMINE YOUR LIBERTY!

This is nothing less than Big Brother compiling a dossier on you, which is filed and saved in order to use against you.

Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin

First off, participation with the gizmo is voluntary, keep it installed for the 90 days, or don't, your choice.

2nd, the info does not go to your State's DMV. Government is not involved with this.

High Noon, where did you get your information?

Let me get this right.
I put this on my car, drive 80 mph everywhere.
Take off like Bob Glisten, lock down the brakes every
two miles, and they are going to cut my rates 6%?


Call me skeptical.

They will drop my ass.

And I would love to know what % gets 32%.

If you believe an insurance company,
call me.

I can fix you up with some investment bridges, or a nice waterfront
vacation spot.

Yep, and you voluntarily participated.

I guarantee you that if something happens and you are at fault, once the prosecutor learns your insurance company offers the tracking/recording device, he will compel your insurance company to divulge that information, provided it wasn't already forwarded to them as a matter of course. The information that gizmo compiles will be used against you.

I don't need a source. It's really common sense (no insult meant or implied). DNA from the "Ancestry" services have already been used to prosecute certain individuals. Medical records have already been compromised, etc. We simply cannot trust that companies will safeguard this information, nor can we be assured that the Fed will not abuse their power. There are many, many examples of the Gov't compelling companies, under threat of "law," to release information they had promised to safeguard.

You're obviously capable of making your own decisions, just do so with the knowledge that your private information will not be safeguarded in the manner you expect and it can and will be used against you.

Don't let facts get in the way...

I couldn't possibly agree more.... NO WAY JOSE!!

When those first came out, Flo sent me one of those trackers and promised me I would save a big wad o' cash for safe driving habits. Plugged it in my daily commute vehicle and deliberately babied around for three months.

My daily commute is about three miles total, both ways. Two stoplights. Not exactly the Indy 500.

At the end of three months, Flo told me I qualified for 1% savings.

I mailed Flo her gizmo back and cancelled my policy.

Certainly nothing about it is good for you. Mechanic friend says it causes expensive repairs, he probably read that on Accuratereloading political forum.

Some insurance companies will give you an up-front discount for installing the gizmo, anywhere from 5-10%, and that is just for installing it and keeping it for, usually, 90 days.

Then, the information recorded will be used to calculate a final discount. Most companies will retain at least the initial discount, even if you drive like an Indy racer and don't qualify for better rates.

One company wants you to keep it installed and they use it to review your rates at every renewal, and they will adjust your rates, up or down, based in part, on the gizmo information.

Another company wants the 90 day period, but your rates could go up, or down, based on the gizmo information.

The gizmo records how we drive, i.e. how fast do we take off from stop, how hard, and how often, do we brake, time of day driven, miles, average speeds, etc.

The gizmo does not record a diabetic stopping at the doughnut shop, or your weekly visit to a house of ill repute.

I am not a fan of the gizmo's, but let's not break out the tin foil for this.

However, if you are the parent of a new driver, having a gizmo in their car might be beneficial. If they know, or think, they are being tracked, might they just drive a little bit more carefully?

By the way, do any of you own a smartphone? Do you use the GPS in it?

HighNoon quote"We simply cannot trust that companies will safeguard this information, nor can we be assured that the Fed will not abuse their power."

On that, we can agree!

I did it but instead of 90 days they made me keep it on for 6 months. I'm all about saving money but I was really skeptical of it. I seemed to have more breaking beeps in my commuter car than I did with my good car which was kind of suspicious but it could have been real. Anyway, I think it does make you a better driver as you get good at avoiding any beeps and my insurance did drop a bunch after I sent it back in.

FYI, it monitors how fast you drive, time of day you drive, plus hard breaking. If you drive fast a long ways at night then I wouldn't bother with it.

What are you doing dealing with Flo in the first place? Got any idea what the name "Progressive" stands for? It might be very informative to d a little research on where that company's political contributions go. If you were a chicken, I'll bet you'd vote for Col. Sanders!
Jerry

I ditched Flo years ago, went with the lizard for a long time. Now I'm with the emu.

Flo was actually pretty cheap until she screwed me on the gizmo.

I shop at Walmart too.

I don't need this to share info on my kid driver with the insurance co.
We use an app that tracks her, and her speed. It was her idea.

Sure, someone probably gets the data for some use.
But it's not directly to my in$urance co.

Lets look at it from the other side.
You can lower you "rates" if you drive, smart.
Lets say you drive like you did when you were a teenager.
This gives them grounds and evident s to raise your rates, or drop you all together.

Years ago I handled claims for Progressive when it was a 10% premium, non-standard company. They insured bad guys and strange vehicles for 10% of the coverage amount. The company was started and owned by a Seattle leftist commie-lib, thus the name "Progressive".

Don't be a chump and pay these commies one "red" cent!

Good advice.

Yes. I've always dreamed of paying some company to monitor my habits (Sarcasm font). Maybe the data will stay within corporate grounds, but I bet they'll eventually sell such to other entities.