Your 'Connected' Car May Be Transmitting Your Driving Data to Insurance Companies

[TomB985]

You can’t seem to connect how your driving habits such as how hard you are accelerate or brake, where you park, where or when you drive might some how be used by an insurance company to raise your premiums?
Screen touches while in motion, seat belt engaged while in motion, number of individuals in the car while in motion, frequency of alerts for objects nearby. The list goes on. Insurance companies have zero incentive to lower your rates, and data brokers such as LexisNexis will follow you to whatever company you swap to.

it’s not that I don’t connect, it’s that I don’t care. I already let USAA see how I drive, and I don’t care if they get data from the truck.

Accident-prone drivers have always paid higher rates to account for the higher risk of loss. Why should I pay the same rate as somebody who is constantly texting and driving?

I don’t have a problem with any of this. My ex-wife constantly looks at her phone and tailgates. She should pay more than I do because she’s more likely to require them to pay for a claim.

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[hturnerfamily]

There's no doubt that the insurance industry, and some of their 'third party' data integrators, like LexisNexis, are compiling overall data to better pinpoint their 'risk' within each subset of policy groupings.
One thing to note, though, is that this data is not specific to a driver, but rather overall captures the 'average' risk of the 'average' driver... meaning that if you are in a group of policyholders, within a certain insurance company's policy type, your 'overall' rate may rise depending on the group's average, as a whole. This can not single out drivers or vehicles.
Yes, your own MVR data, Violations, Accidents, etc will certainly move you into a higher rate bracket, whether at the start of your policy, or at the next renewal, etc. Yes, it could even lead to a non-renewal, very infrequently.

What we all need to realize, though, is that 'good driving' behaviors are not going to do us any disservice ... it will actually behove the insurer to KEEP you. I've seen some of my own customer's premiums/rates be LOWERED, when others are being increased. There are MANY MANY variables to auto insurance rating and brackets, and overall premium, so, any discussion here is really just 'general information'. We are ALL so different, whether we think so or not, so insurance premiums will NEVER be the same for who you might expect to be just like 'yours'... or vice versa.

My thoughts about anyone who post that their premium 'doubled' is purely fictional. There are way too many variables, yes, including personal driving history/data/MVR/violations, etc., that play into any premium increase. Yes, it 'could' be some personal driving data that might escalate the premium increase because it moves a driver, or vehicle, into a higher 'bracket' within that company's policy premium rating, but it could ALSO be that EVERYONE in that policy or company had a rate increase at the same 'time'(their next RENEWAL timeframe). Receiving info about LexisNexis 'data info' may have had little bearing on the overall increase, and is just as much about the company's legal obligation to provide you information about 'how' they obtained certain data, but not that's it's the ONLY Data any rate change was predicated on.

some info from their website, for insurance companies:
LEXISNEXIS® TELEMATICS EXCHANGE
Helping you access more driving behavior data to better assess risk
Our source-agnostic telematics exchange can receive and manage data from connected vehicles, mobile apps and third-party services. The driving behavior data received is normalized and used to generate scores and attributes that are more easily ingested into insurance carrier workflows to help better assess risk.

 

[3rdgenfan]

Wouldn't this be covered by the "insurance Related Data" slider further down the menu rather than driving data?

 

[Maxx]

If I don’t like how my insurance company uses data, I’ll go with someone else. If this really bothered me, I’d probably turn things off or buy another brand.

After your info is out there switching companies or turning off the sharing does not erase existing data. Your old insurance company has multiple incentives to sell or share your data. One is to make you look bad to competitors so you don’t get lower rates and stay,

 

[Maineiac12]

All 2021+ F-150’s (including ICE) have the same telematics and data sharing. This isn’t just a Lightning problem. Funny that we haven’t heard any stories about people’s premiums “doubling” until this NYT article was published. You’d think it would have come up sooner than this…

 

[hturnerfamily]

while most any of us don't want intrusion, or higher-than-adequate insurance rates, there's little way for any insurer to provide a 'specific-to-driver' rate if we are not willing to EXPOSE our driving characteristics, mileage, speed, braking, hours of driving, commuting miles per day, etc.

I have insurers who will provide an up-front PERMANENT percentage discount just for implementing their 'driver data app' for as little as 90 days of 'tracking', or a minimum of 200 miles. The final DISCOUNT may be much much greater for 'good' drivers. It will never be 'less' even for BAD drivers.
I have other insurers who don't provide ANY discount implement their device or app, but only with the initial premium discount, included, but which can be taken away if the data shows poor driving.
Every insurer wants to have the 'best' drivers - that means 'less' claims. Poor drivers have to pay 'more' to offset the difference.

I would suspect that if you feel you have a 'good' premium, and you find that your vehicle's data has been provided to your insurer, and it results in a 'higher' premium, you would be aggravated, as though your OWN driving shouldn't have anything to do with your premium.

I also suspect that if a driver TOTALED your vehicle, and was totally at-fault, you would 'assume' that their PREMIUM would increase dramatically, right? I suspect we all understand that, but we suddenly don't want our 'own' data to drive up our 'own' rate, though we do EXPECT it to happen for others.

 

[Maxx]

Common sense approach to this is we all should have easy access to our own data whether it is tied to our specific vehicle or recorded as a group. We should have easy access with whomever it has been shared and have ability to delete it. It should be treated like art; the source of data (us) should retain copy rights.

I have no confidence turning off sharing data in vehicle will actually stops sharing data. The only way to be sure is having access to data that has been collected on me. Not by requesting, but by simply logging to my account. This should be a right not a privilege.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

Wouldn't this be covered by the "insurance Related Data" slider further down the menu rather than driving data?

No. This is specifically for a Ford provided insurance coverage thing.

 

[25Mattman]

"...Have you all seen the Reddit user that is reporting that is insurance went from 1k for six months to over 5k for six months? He posted pictures from Liberty Mutual. No accidents, no tickets, and no idea his information was being shared...."

Do you really BELIEVE anyone on 'reddit'?? That is just a site to 'vent', without regards to facts and true information. No more believable than folks who spout "my premium DOUBLED!"... which is not factual, and they don't provide any proof of such.. Anytime our cost or premiums go 'up', we tend to over-exaggerate the real numbers.
There are MANY reasons a premium can 'change', but that's hardly a reason to 'assume' that it's just because of 'data' being derived from driving a 'connected car'... I'm highly suspicious and would doubt that the driver/owner/family is 'perfect'... their driving history, adding a new teenage driver, and other factors, are far MOST likely to be any culprit of 'increases'... Insurance Companies also periodically have premium increases, across the board, to ALL customers, at any given time, and has NOTHING to do whatsoever with data or driving history.

Many customers in my agency's past have 'sworn' that they had 'NO' driving history records... their own driver license MVR Report proves much different.

I've had customers who 'swore' their premiums doubled, for NO reason. When I investigate their policy, and what changes have been made during the policy timeframe, we find that they conveniently 'forgot' that they traded their old car for a BRAND NEW one several months back. Their 'old' car had only Liability. Their new car, with financing, requires FULL COVERAGE...a LOT more premium to boot, although the 'base rate' on their policy, overall, has not changed one ioda...

perspective, and memory, have a lot to do with 'assuming' things...

Found the insurance agent. No, you do not have any rights to MY driving data. GM and LexisNexis had a class action filed against them because it is illegal and immoral to collect this kind of data on your users unscrupulously, even with the USA's ancient data laws.

Just because for-profit spying agencies have been allowed to operate and collect for the past few years does not mean they are endorsed or that their activity is legal.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

Illegal and undesired are not the same thing. There are no laws being broken and there is no "right" being violated. Also, you consented to it in the fine print nobody reads just like everyone else. It can be disabled if you want. Or you can drive an unconnected vehicle if you want. Ford, Lexis-Nexis, and the insurance companies have more attorneys than there are members of this forum. They're going to do what ever they can do right up the legal line.

I don't like it either. Awful but lawful.

 

[25Mattman]

Illegal and undesired are not the same thing. There are no laws being broken and there is no "right" being violated. Also, you consented to it in the fine print nobody reads just like everyone else. It can be disabled if you want. Or you can drive an unconnected vehicle if you want. Ford, Lexis-Nexis, and the insurance companies have more attorneys than there are members of this forum. They're going to do what ever they can do right up the legal line.

I don't like it either. Awful but lawful.

An enabled feature by default is not an opt in.
As the lawsuit against GM alleges, reporting hard braking incidents with no context can be considered slander. It is not lawful to violate the requirements set forth by the fair credit reporting act, 15 U.S.C. §1681 et seq 28 U.S.C. §1331
Many states have consumer protections which also make deceptive business practices such as invasion of privacy laws which make this kind of hidden data collection illegal.

Don't give up your legal rights and protections. Contact your representatives.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

If you believe three of the largest industries and corporations on the planet are in such flagrant violation of the law, by all means take legal action. Let us know how that goes. Those who are more realistic will do what we can to meet our needs here in reality.

 

[25Mattman]

If you believe three of the largest industries and corporations on the planet are in such flagrant violation of the law, by all means take legal action. Let us know how that goes. Those who are more realistic will do what we can to meet our needs here in reality.

As I advised people to do in my post, request your LexisNexis report as you will need it to join the inevitable class action. GM, one of the "largest industries and corporations on the planet" is already being hit by one for the same shilling. https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/0a813fc8e0ac1b6c/6c03d310-full.pdf

 

[Oneand0]

unfortunately you disabled your ability to see the charge and set departure times in your Ford app as well doing that.

I’m okay with that. I actually have an account with Lexus Nexus as a digital investigator paid for by my employer and I can live without that feature. If I put my vehicle in drive and it goes that’s good enough for me. You’re talking to someone who puts tape on my mobile device cameras and carries a faraday bag when I want to detach, when I’m not working.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

I have no faith that lawsuit will result in change. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for it to go away and not be sharing every detail of my life with anyone that wants to pay for it. But I also believe their attorneys are smarter and know what they can legally get away with.

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