So what do you do? If someone wants to call me call me at home, no interest in facebook, twitter, messaging apps or any of that crap.
Insurance companies watching your driving through a smart phone
- Thread starter wheelman
- Start date
If you've ever used google maps, you'll see the app can actually track your rate of speed.
My guess is insurance companie's apps track usage activity and speed. A driver can mess with their phone more reliably when the car is stopped, but a passenger can easily do it whether the car is in motion or not.
In other words, they probably know based on an assumption a safe driver wouldn't drive while using their phone. Coupled with the fact it's possible to track rate of speed from a phone, they know when the car is moving or not.
My guess is insurance companie's apps track usage activity and speed. A driver can mess with their phone more reliably when the car is stopped, but a passenger can easily do it whether the car is in motion or not.
In other words, they probably know based on an assumption a safe driver wouldn't drive while using their phone. Coupled with the fact it's possible to track rate of speed from a phone, they know when the car is moving or not.
Paranoid much? 
So there is usually a dead body in the trunk is what you are saying?
Simple question, simple answer.
The phone has GPS in it. The GPS tells them how fast you are going (as well as where you are, the miles you have traveled, and the speed limit of the road you are on). If the phone is going 50 mph you can't possibly be walking. If you are driving and actively using the phone while it is going 50 mph, you are busted by the insurance company's app (distracted driving). If you let a passenger use your phone while you are going down the road, the app doesn't know this, that is why they tell you not to do this because they think that it is YOU that is using the phone. This would also apply to drivers (or passengers) who are actively using Android Auto or Apple Carplay through their vehicle's infotainment system.
It is a fact that distracted drivers are as dangerous on the road as drunk drivers and your insurance company does not like this. If you don't have your insurance company's app on your phone, or you don't actively use your phone while driving, you have nothing to worry about.
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Ditto.
If somehow, my iphone is being tracked unknowingly by my insurance company, I would be surprised. I certainly would never put an insurance co app on my phone. Who does that?
So WITHOUT the app, is it legal for any company - insurance or otherwise, to track your movements wo your knowledge?
Plus, the iPhone has the settings ability to allow or not allow tracking.
Settings>Privacy and Security>Tracking. The toggle lets the owner decide.
Also, under Privacy and Security scroll down to Safety Check. There is a lot that you can do there.
There are some apps that you will want tracking enabled. Fitness apps for example. If you walk for exercise like I do then you want to know how far and so on. Store apps can track you so they will know which store you are in. That’s handy when you want to find a product.
Just for disclosure I have the State Farm app on my iPhone. It does not track me. I use it to pay my premiums via Apple Pay.
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I think My little ford is tracking me through satellite. Good thing it doesn't handle and I don't commute "rush hour" anymore.
No 80 mph On-ramp blitzes in it's future.
No 80 mph On-ramp blitzes in it's future.
More a matter of privacy.Paranoid much?
On a recent insurance discussion with USAA (switched back from GEICO) they offered a discount on rates if I agreed to install and use their app every time I drove. It would monitor my speed, acceleration/braking, and other, undisclosed, parameters.
I truly don’t want to grant the ability to monitor me 100% of the time I am driving.
Not about being paranoid. It’s about having a right to privacy.
I had to consent to their monitoring. I declined consent.
I believe they sell the tracking data to market research companies.
Can't speak for State Farm, but Erie promoted their "discount" option to us in the past. It was NOT their regular app, one that you can pay your premium through, see your insurance cards, etc, it was a completely separate app.
A few things that would concern me:
1- Is the saving I'm going to get going to be worth it if they use the data to deny a claim or increase my insurance rate down the road?
2- How are they going to know when I'm driving (am I going to get dinged if they see a trend because someone I carpool with likes to speed?).
3- What are they tracking? Are they looking at trends (speeding, etc.) or are they using the data only if you report a collision (were you speeding or writing a text message around the time of the collision).
4- If they're looking at trends are they only dinging you for illegal maneuvers (speeding, not coming to a full stop at stop signs) or are they using the data to decide if spirited but perfectly legal driving is a minus against you?
5- If you forget your phone or the battery dies and you get in a collision is they going to raise suspicion or count against you?
1- Is the saving I'm going to get going to be worth it if they use the data to deny a claim or increase my insurance rate down the road?
2- How are they going to know when I'm driving (am I going to get dinged if they see a trend because someone I carpool with likes to speed?).
3- What are they tracking? Are they looking at trends (speeding, etc.) or are they using the data only if you report a collision (were you speeding or writing a text message around the time of the collision).
4- If they're looking at trends are they only dinging you for illegal maneuvers (speeding, not coming to a full stop at stop signs) or are they using the data to decide if spirited but perfectly legal driving is a minus against you?
5- If you forget your phone or the battery dies and you get in a collision is they going to raise suspicion or count against you?
Having worked in insurance, usually any device that is marketed as saving you money by monitoring your driving is actually a way for them to make more money. The stories I heard about people using Progressives OBD2 device and then calling in to wonder why their rates went through the roof were hilarious. It didn't even seem to really matter if the person was a terrible driver or not, it was just a way for the company to justify their premium increases citing your driving habits as a reason.
It usually hurts you more than helps. In my experience it went as far as the insurance company denying partial coverage because the OBD2 device showed you didn't hit the brakes when the car suddenly pulled out in front of you, so therefore you didn't try to avoid the accident regardless of having little time to react.
Having seen how these devices benefitted the companies first hand, I would always tell people to avoid them at all costs.
Correct.
Those devices are dumb.... Using your example, when that car pulled out in front of you and you DID brake hard enough to avoid an accident, it knows nothing about that other car but it will "ding" you for a "hard braking event".
Exactly. The only people who didn't really get hit by this were owners of older vehicles, assuming since they had such basic data from the brake light switches as being "on or off".
Same here. actually today I answered 2 calls (at home) but it had been a week or 2 since I even touched the thing. My wife charges it occasionally or I wouldn't have answered those calls either.
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