In this week's Legally Speaking with Ken Denos, Attorney with Acadia Law Group, we're talking about how your insurance company profits off spying on you.
You've probably seen the pitch. Download an app, plug in a little dongle, get a 'safe driver' discount. It's appealing — who doesn't want to save money? You're probably thinking, I'm an excellent driver, I've never had an accident in my life. But 'safe driving' isn't your call to make. The insurance company sets the standard — not you. You have no idea what they're actually measuring, or what they might use against you down the road. And make no mistake about what they're looking for: they're in the business of charging you more, not less.
Ken says once you say yes to allowing them to track your driving, you're not just getting monitored — you're handing over unlimited data, letting them study your driving trends over time, and giving them the material to later decide that what you thought was completely normal, completely safe, doesn't meet their definition of either. What they don't tell you is that once you let that thing in, it doesn't just watch your driving — it can be used to raise your rate, deny your claim, or get sold off to a company you've never even heard of.
But, the good news — they can't just barge into your life and start feeding on your information. They need an invitation. And that invitation is you downloading an app, clicking 'allow' and handing over permission to track your every stop, every hard brake and every 2pm drive to the fast food restaurant.
Ken says most insurance companies have apps, but a lot of tracking happens through apps that have nothing to do with insurance at all. If you hit "agree" on an app, you may be giving them permission for your location and driving behavior to be collected and sold to a data broker, who then turns around and sells it to insurance companies.
The best bet is to avoid downloading these apps altogether if you can. But, at a minimum, take a look at what's actually on your phone and check what permissions you've given it, and whether you can turn off the data-sharing part without deleting the whole app.
Before you sign up for any usage-based discount, ask your agent in writing exactly what's collected, how long they keep it, and who it gets shared with. If they can't give you a straight answer, that tells you everything.
And if your premium jumps for no clear reason, ask why. Insurers using outside data to price your policy generally have to tell you where that data came from — exercise that right.
The bottom line: a safe-driver discount sounds like a reward. Too often it's a data-collection agreement wearing a discount's clothing.
You can get more from Ken by calling 801-816-2525 24/7 or visiting acadialawgroup.com.
