Progressive insurance tracking device

I have been watching the roll out of this device for some time now. It started out slowly and a bit under the radar. Almost as if Progressive was testing the waters to see if there would be any backlash. Now after sensing no real outrage from their clients they have become bold enough to put it out as a positive reason to purchase their products.

If the government were to require everyone to carry a tracking device there would (hopefully) be a huge outcry about privacy rights and government abuse of power. Why then is there not an outcry about this? The government has made it illegal to drive without insurance so in effect they are forcing you to accept whatever the insurance companies wish to impose on you. The government is not forcing you to carry a tracking device but they are forcing you to buy a product that comes with its own tracker.

Michael

 

Go to a different insurance company? At least in the US you can. In British Columbia Canada here we are FORCED to goto ICBC. They are the ONLY insurance company here. Basically meaning we don't have any competition at all. If this happened here we would be screwed.

 

There's more than one way to deal with that. Accept the tracker, then subject it to a high voltage surge. Drive as normal. Repeat as necessary.

 

You mean they put a tracker on your car or what? Just trying to understand what they are exactly doing... my daughter has them.

 

Thats when they sue you for damaging "their" "legal" equipment I think it's time we go incognito

 

According to Progressive's FAQ, its Snapshot device doesn't track (via GPS, at least). It logs vehicle number, time and speed from the diagnostic port, and presumably uploads by radio. Good behavior gives lower insurance premiums. But it's self installed. Maybe there's a market for devices that falsify data reported.

 

My main issue is that the government here in the U.S. is linked to this behavior by Progressive. The fact that our government mandates that we purchase a product that is collecting data on us should bother everyone.

Michael

 

From the FAQ

Nothing about that looks "mandatory", so I'm not sure why some of you are disturbed by this. If you don't like it, it looks like you can opt out any time.

The "comply with the law" bit isn't surprising, but that "perform research" part alone would be enough to make me opt out. Who's research? What kind of research? Marketing research by a 3rd party? That looks like an escape clause that allows them to share the info with anyone they want whenever they feel like it. Doesn't say it is anonymous (but I didn't read the whole FAQ either.

 

But that's not the case. True, your government mandates that you purchase some form of vehicular insurance, but it doesn't mean you have to purchase said insurance from Progressive... and you certainly aren't required to install a data collector on your car (from any company)--it is purely optional.

Having said that, I can't imagine why anyone would trust this tracker/data collector to correctly and reliably judge whether or not that person is actually a good driver. I can think of numerous real-world situations that could lead to false positives and erroneously flag your driving behavior as "bad". For example, accelerating at an "unacceptably" rapid rate in order to avoid an imminent collision.

 

Thank you sir.

 

I have been seeing the commercials for this. I can't understand why anybody would willing go for this. Time to buy an old classic car with no electronics in it.

 

Or drop an older engine/trans in a newer car and rip out the electronics.

 

Or even easier buy a gps jammer and drop it in the car There are some that emit no further than the car itself. I saw one that plugs in to the cigarette lighter and covers the radious of an averge car. Legality may very but it would prevent this.

Or if you know what you are doing you can disable the cars computer for recording info

 

mlr1m, thanks for the heads up.

"You can track your driving by logging in to your policy."
I would love to see a sample screenshot of the log they display to you, but couldn't find one.

"It also doesn't track whether you're exceeding the speed limit."
Yeah, and we should trust that it doesn't tattle to OnStar either. Hey, pass them magic beans...