State Farm In-Drive program

big brother is watching you...

 

State Farm isn't the only insurer to begin to offer a similar program.
I believe Progressive has a similar option.

I don't really "get" them charging you a fee for the privilege of them having computerized access to your driving habits. I would expect everyone would only be doing this, for the potential benefit of getting cheaper insurance, so charging a fee up front sorta negates at least a portion of the advantage.

I just don't like it.
I don't like the idea of my "Driving Habits" being reported to anyone. Even IF a good report might lower my rates. I don't care if it would save me some money, until or unless "Big Brother" makes something like this mandatory for all drivers, I'm willing to pay more, to NOT have a foreign data collector plugged into my OBD port.

I'll pass.

 

Might not be able to stop Big Brother from peering in your window...but I have no desire to open the shades and clean that window for him.

A certain "unreported" privacy about my driving habits is valuable to me.

But these programs seem to be growing in popularity....I hope I never see the day where this "benefit" is made mandatory for everyone.

 

I have a 98 Dodge Ram 2500 that I rarely drive. They sent me a monitor for it

 

We have State Farm so could consider. However, just got a scan guage so conflict there.

 

I thought I had read somewhere that Progressive didn't work with the Prius because they were counting the number of times the engine started as a trip and the Prius messes up their numbers. Maybe they have gotten more sophisticated.

 

At least this one is:

* disclosed;
* optional;
* opt-in, not opt-out;
* from a watcher that will still provide other desired services if I don't opt in;
* from a watcher that can be fired, allowing me to take my business elsewhere.

 

How much is your privacy worth? What is the worst case scenario with the use of any info that can be collected on you? Our minds cannot fathom the depths. We have less privacy than at any time in history yet we have and still do surrender our privacy for gain.

 

Strange that they charge you for the device after the first year. I'd do this if it was totally free and the cost savings were enough. In fact I have Progressive and they offer it.

I'm not a person to be too concerned with privacy in this regard. I'd sell myself to Google if they had some experiment they could use me for!

 

I'll stick with USAA for now.
Their rates are pretty competitive and I can't see PAYING somebody to monitor my driving habits, when the government already does this.
No....
Not the NSA, the DMV.

I can see giving a substantial discount to somebody that would allow this type of monitoring, since most of the bad actors on the road would never EVER allow their speed, miles driven, seat-belt use, destinations etc. to be monitored by an insurance company.
If I had a chance to cut my insurance by half by doing this?
I'd be alllllllll over it like a bum on a bologna sandwich!

 

$72/year? That's from the Time Warner Cable school of rip-off.

 

The website is: inDrive. I hadn't heard about it before this thread, and have not made an election.

To try to justify the cost, they are including numerous other features I don't need:

You also get:
Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance

• Maintenance and Service Reminders
• Recall Information
• Eco-Drive Data
• Risk Category Comparison
• Driver Behavior Tips
• Geobloc™ Display
• Miles Per Gallon Status
• Vehicle X-Ray Diagnostics
• Hands-Free Integration with Mobile Phone
• Smartphone mobile application
• Monthly vehicle health report sent via email

The only potential penalty mentioned is that policies currently getting a discount for under 7500 miles per year will lose that discount if the monitor shows greater distance.

 

My wife was able to sign up with the OBD-II port module thing, saving her a small amount on our overall coverage. It is in her car now and reports its findings every day, and she is able to log on to a site that we and the company can view. This is through Allstate. When I asked about the program for my car, they said they don't offer it for any hybrids, and the device isn't compatible. I have no idea how they come to that conclusion since the OBD design should be universal for most of its pins, shouldn't it?

The first day's data on my wife's car stated that she used excessive braking force while pulling into a parking space, beyond the 8 miles per second speed reduction threshold. I was in the car when that happened, and it was perfectly nice and easy, so I now distrust the things.

 

It won't be a pin issue. Hybrids require ScanGauge-II users to select a certain option to deal with fact that the engine frequently shuts down during normal operation. Perhaps the insurance company's device is not similarly programmed or flexible.

 

Yeah, same here... but seems like the saving are minimal compared to the tradeoff of personal privacy.

Maybe if it was mandatory (and un-defeatable) for every vehicle it would help reduce some of the worse offenses we see on a daily basis simply because the driver knows they're not anonymous any longer? Kind of like how (almost) everybody drives at the speed limit when there's a cop around....

 

Probably that. Yet State Farm has one that seems to work, or they have software that interprets each trip.

 

So IABoy987, what is your backup plan in case they decide that you have one or more habits similar to undesirable customers, and raise your rates?

 

I think a black box should be mandatory, for traffic-law enforcement, and I'd vote for it, but I won't get one by choice. There's no presumption of privacy when you are on the public streets, and your behavior there can KILL innocent people. We need better traffic enforcement.

I agree with those who think that $72/year is excessive.