A quote from the Slashdot summary:
"Kenn Dahl says he has always been a careful driver. The owner of a software company near Seattle, he drives a leased Chevrolet Bolt. He's never been responsible for an accident. So Mr. Dahl, 65, was surprised in 2022 when the cost of his car insurance jumped by 21 percent. Quotes from other insurance companies were also high. One insurance agent told him his LexisNexis report was a factor. LexisNexis is a New York-based global data broker with a "Risk Solutions" division that caters to the auto insurance industry and has traditionally kept tabs on car accidents and tickets. Upon Mr. Dahl's request, LexisNexis sent him a 258-page "consumer disclosure report," which it must provide per the Fair Credit Reporting Act. What it contained stunned him: more than 130 pages detailing each time he or his wife had driven the Bolt over the previous six months. It included the dates of 640 trips, their start and end times, the distance driven and an accounting of any speeding, hard braking or sharp accelerations. The only thing it didn't have is where they had driven the car. On a Thursday morning in June for example, the car had been driven 7.33 miles in 18 minutes; there had been two rapid accelerations and two incidents of hard braking."
So now it doesn't matter that you're accident-free, it matters what an algorithm thinks of your driving patterns.
The one thing that is certain is that data brokers have far too much power, and I want to make sure that I can disconnect any cellular connection on my next car!
At this time, the article is not behind a paywall, though that could change:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/technology/carmakers-driver-tracking-insurance.html
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/03/11/2342228/automakers-are-sharing-consumers-driving-behavior-with-insurance-companies
"Kenn Dahl says he has always been a careful driver. The owner of a software company near Seattle, he drives a leased Chevrolet Bolt. He's never been responsible for an accident. So Mr. Dahl, 65, was surprised in 2022 when the cost of his car insurance jumped by 21 percent. Quotes from other insurance companies were also high. One insurance agent told him his LexisNexis report was a factor. LexisNexis is a New York-based global data broker with a "Risk Solutions" division that caters to the auto insurance industry and has traditionally kept tabs on car accidents and tickets. Upon Mr. Dahl's request, LexisNexis sent him a 258-page "consumer disclosure report," which it must provide per the Fair Credit Reporting Act. What it contained stunned him: more than 130 pages detailing each time he or his wife had driven the Bolt over the previous six months. It included the dates of 640 trips, their start and end times, the distance driven and an accounting of any speeding, hard braking or sharp accelerations. The only thing it didn't have is where they had driven the car. On a Thursday morning in June for example, the car had been driven 7.33 miles in 18 minutes; there had been two rapid accelerations and two incidents of hard braking."
So now it doesn't matter that you're accident-free, it matters what an algorithm thinks of your driving patterns.
The one thing that is certain is that data brokers have far too much power, and I want to make sure that I can disconnect any cellular connection on my next car!
At this time, the article is not behind a paywall, though that could change:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/technology/carmakers-driver-tracking-insurance.html
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/03/11/2342228/automakers-are-sharing-consumers-driving-behavior-with-insurance-companies
no subject
Date: 2024-03-13 07:07 pm (UTC)My wife's is an Outback. I don't know if my '15 Crosstrek it was standard, it was a dealer service lend vehicle, so it was somewhat spiffed up. I do absolutely love the system, though! It's wonderful when stuck on a slow freeway! Though I had to have the camera replaced once: had a windshield replaced and when the guy came out to recalibrate the system, one of the cameras failed. That was a $2500ish sticker shock! I kept the failed unit, I intend to connect a RaspberryPi to it some day and see if I can do anything with it.