Insurance Co. chip that plugs into the OBD port?

[SCcaretaker]

OK, my insurance agent calls and informs me that if I agree to allowing an insurance chip to be plugged in to the OBD ports on my vehicles that a discount will be applied to my premium. This chip collects data on mileage, time of day driven, any speed over 80mph, and braking frequency and deceleration force. Agent says he does not know where this info is stored or shared, and if lost, damaged, stolen, or destroyed in an accident the vehicle owner is required to reimburse the company. Apparently these chips are not inexpensive. So, WTF is going on here? Anyone else have any knowledge or experience with this? I personally declined....

[flatbutt]

No exposure to this yet but I will decline.

[pcardude]

My work truck has one. I get emails abt how long I idle the truck for. They spend money on this garbage and lay people off.

[Chocaholic]

Allstate has an app they want you to run on your smartphone. I have two teenage drivers and won't let them use it. It alters your own decision making while driving. For example, if I break hard for an animal in the road or if I decide not to push a yellow light, I get an e-mail. Complete BS and unnecessary.

And how does it know if I'm driving or a passenger in another car. Agent couldn't answer. I also asked him how Allstate will feel about the results when I'm taking off on a commercial jet. 0-450mph in a few minutes. Again...he had no answer.

I'd rather pay higher premiums...or find a carrier that doesn't attempt to monitor my behavior.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Absolutely, positively hell freekin' no. And while you're at it, cancel my policy. I'm going with your competitor for your wasting my time with such idiocy.

[stomachmonkey]

If anyone thinks an Ins Co spent all that time and effort to create the program for our benefit they should just go check themselves into rehab right now because they are obviously smokin way too much crack.

[Jerome74911S]

It really is a big-brother thing. I will not have one in my car, but a good friend down the road was 'tricked' by the discount thing the insurance company offered, so he put one into his Volvo. He carefully logged his distance, from his odometer, and when the company wanted the gadget back the distance it showed him driving was thousands more than he logged. Then, they sent him a report saying that he stopped to quickly (Really? We are way out in the country and I hit the brakes for wild animals every day.) They made additional claims that seemed bogus, and they enclosed a check for his discount - $14. He is insuring two expensive cars, but they said his (seemingly very inaccurate) driving record only warranted that amount, when they had promised him, "Up to 25%". Right.

Don't put one of those in your car.

[SCcaretaker]

The discount rate I was quoted ranged from 5 to 20% depending on number of miles driven, time of day ( no use between midnight and 4 in the morning), and of course never an indication of over 80mph. Just total BS

[unclebilly]

Only plug it in once in a while.

[TimT]

Sure I'll use it...

Then when I take it out of the OBD port to send back.....

OOOPs I dropped it... damn I looked all over for it.... where could it have gone...(Hammer time) Oh well.... let me be on my way...

Crunch... hmmm I wonder what that was...

Wow.. better send the crunched up Spyware module back to the insurance company....

[Por_sha911]

They are looking for an excuse to hike your rates or deny a claim if you are in an accident. Next they will want the GPS to tell them where you drive since how can they know if you are doing the speed limit in a school zone...
Big brother is watching.

[Norm K]

It's only a matter of time until insurance companies mandate the OBD scanner for their customers: use it or be cancelled.

When that day comes, I'll switch insurers, then I'll switch again, and again until there are none left that don't require it. After that I'll have to hope that switching to a "classic" car that pre-dates OBD technology will keep me off their grid.

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[Gogar]

No thank you

[Arizona_928]

I would throw it in my truck, drive the car, and collect the discount. But on my daily driver... LoL not going to happen. I hear of people having increased premiums due to that little device..

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by AZ_porschekid

I would throw it in my truck, drive the car, and collect the discount. But on my daily driver... LoL not going to happen. I hear of people having increased premiums due to that little device..

Does an OBD know what kind of car it is plugged into? Seems that would throw a wrench in your otherwise good idea.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by Gogar

Does an OBD know what kind of car it is plugged into? Seems that would throw a wrench in your otherwise good idea.

Yes, it can read the VIN

[Gogar]

bummer, man

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by Norm K

It's only a matter of time until insurance companies mandate the OBD scanner for their customers: use it or be cancelled.

I predicted this some time ago; as the cost of the technology drops, it will be too much for the insurance companies to resist. It would be trivial to build a GPS-based one for non OBD-II cars; not sure how they'd enforce that one, but I'm sure they'll figure something out.

As an aside: I have AAA, and every single time I contact them, be it to add a car, drop a car, or ask about the weather, they pry for the current mileage on all my cars.

[Rick Lee]

I'm sure some former VW engineer will design something to defeat these devices and make a gazillion dollars. If these monitors ever become mandatory, I'll spend whatever it takes to defeat it. Eff them.

[Norm K]

I foresee a cottage industry in the making for former VW software engineers ...

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