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Leave it to data brokers and insurance companies to make the leap "ick" to outrage. On the other hand... to all selfish, unsafe street-racing, road-hogging Cad

Leave it to data brokers and insurance companies to make the leap "ick" to outrage. On the other hand... to all selfish, unsafe street-racing, road-hogging Cadillac XT6 drivers out there: may your insurance rates double and may you swim forever in a sea of adverse underwriting decisions.

afavour 3y ago
I do think there’s an interesting future dilemma here. I’m absolutely against them sharing this data without consent. But if sharing e.g. the number of hard brakes you do was made explicit and led to lower insurance premiums… I’d be tempted. I often feel like there’s little reward for adhering to traffic laws these days.
- GuestHNUser 3y ago
  > led to lower insurance premiums Maybe it would be lower relative to other people's rates, but one must imagine that any insurance prices will only ever cost more to the consumer.
  - smokefoot 3y ago
    This is not how capitalism works. However, if insurance were priced perfectly, it would cease to be useful!
    - dgacmu 3y ago
      Not really. Accidents are a function of driver and environment. You can't control the other drivers. If you think of the primary purpose of insurance as to make sure that the party not at fault is made whole, then perfectly priced insurance becomes like posting a bond in order to drive. Which isn't unreasonable. (Plus uninsured motorist coverage for the other parts you can't control, which really is an insurance function.)
- smokefoot 3y ago
  There used to be opt-in insurance programs with many carriers. They used to send you a device, but I guess that was mooted by secret mass surveillance?
  - ceejayoz 3y ago
    I hear ads regularly for Progressive's version of this. I believe Allstate has one that uses your mobile phone to do it.
- kube-system 3y ago
  And when your mechanic diagnoses a brake problem on an empty road behind their shop, and it raises your rates, how will you feel?
- rockskon 3y ago
  That logic quickly turns into a stupid word game. What's the difference between a reward for sharing data on your hard stops vs a penalty for not sharing data on hard stops?

afavour 3y ago

I do think there’s an interesting future dilemma here. I’m absolutely against them sharing this data without consent. But if sharing e.g. the number of hard brakes you do was made explicit and led to lower insurance premiums… I’d be tempted. I often feel like there’s little reward for adhering to traffic laws these days.

GuestHNUser 3y ago
> led to lower insurance premiums Maybe it would be lower relative to other people's rates, but one must imagine that any insurance prices will only ever cost more to the consumer.
- smokefoot 3y ago
  This is not how capitalism works. However, if insurance were priced perfectly, it would cease to be useful!
  - dgacmu 3y ago
    Not really. Accidents are a function of driver and environment. You can't control the other drivers. If you think of the primary purpose of insurance as to make sure that the party not at fault is made whole, then perfectly priced insurance becomes like posting a bond in order to drive. Which isn't unreasonable. (Plus uninsured motorist coverage for the other parts you can't control, which really is an insurance function.)
smokefoot 3y ago
There used to be opt-in insurance programs with many carriers. They used to send you a device, but I guess that was mooted by secret mass surveillance?
- ceejayoz 3y ago
  I hear ads regularly for Progressive's version of this. I believe Allstate has one that uses your mobile phone to do it.
kube-system 3y ago
And when your mechanic diagnoses a brake problem on an empty road behind their shop, and it raises your rates, how will you feel?
rockskon 3y ago
That logic quickly turns into a stupid word game. What's the difference between a reward for sharing data on your hard stops vs a penalty for not sharing data on hard stops?