2 ms·

The car situation is at the unholy nexus of bad behavior, money, and privacy. My insurance company would dearly love to have access to the existing telemetry in

The car situation is at the unholy nexus of bad behavior, money, and privacy. My insurance company would dearly love to have access to the existing telemetry in my vehicle. As an alternative, they continually beg me to install a telemetry device in the OBD port in exchange for lower premiums. But their incentive is so obviously to use the data against me in the event of a claim ("ohho! 31 in a 30 zone! Denied!") that I see no reason to do so. Dashcams, by contrast, provide the operator with reasonable evidence of other drivers' behavior, and consequently are popular - people pay out of pocket to install them. I suspect that if laws were passed requiring use of telemetry and dashcams all over, all that would really happen is that rates would rise to reflect new data on how badly most of us drive, and claim denials would skyrocket.

ashoeafoot 2y ago
be certain it does at the moment of claim denial. parallel construction for the win
lotsofpulp 2y ago
> As an alternative, they continually beg me to install a telemetry device in the OBD port in exchange for lower premiums. But their incentive is so obviously to use the data against me in the event of a claim ("ohho! 31 in a 30 zone! Denied!") that I see no reason to do so. So your incentive is to pay less money, and their incentive is to pay less money. They figured out a way to do that and still be in business. Obviously, some people might value driving over the speed limit more than the lower premium. > I suspect that if laws were passed requiring use of telemetry and dashcams all over, all that would really happen is that rates would rise to reflect new data on how badly most of us drive, and claim denials would skyrocket. You don’t think people would change their behavior if their actions were likelier to result in consequences to their bank account and/or prison time? Almost everyone is distracted driving to the point that personal motor vehicles are, by far, the leading morbidity and mortality risk for people, especially children. We go scorched earth when kids are kidnapped or otherwise at risk, but for personal cars, we explicitly look the other way when we have a way to make kids safer. Quite the double standard people have when they want to break the rules themselves.
Over2Chars 2y ago
It may be relevant that the dash cam is owned by the driver and not the insurance company, and can be selectively used to prove others' fault, but ahem forgotten about if it shows otherwise.

ashoeafoot 2y ago

be certain it does at the moment of claim denial. parallel construction for the win

lotsofpulp 2y ago

> As an alternative, they continually beg me to install a telemetry device in the OBD port in exchange for lower premiums. But their incentive is so obviously to use the data against me in the event of a claim ("ohho! 31 in a 30 zone! Denied!") that I see no reason to do so. So your incentive is to pay less money, and their incentive is to pay less money. They figured out a way to do that and still be in business. Obviously, some people might value driving over the speed limit more than the lower premium. > I suspect that if laws were passed requiring use of telemetry and dashcams all over, all that would really happen is that rates would rise to reflect new data on how badly most of us drive, and claim denials would skyrocket. You don’t think people would change their behavior if their actions were likelier to result in consequences to their bank account and/or prison time? Almost everyone is distracted driving to the point that personal motor vehicles are, by far, the leading morbidity and mortality risk for people, especially children. We go scorched earth when kids are kidnapped or otherwise at risk, but for personal cars, we explicitly look the other way when we have a way to make kids safer. Quite the double standard people have when they want to break the rules themselves.

Over2Chars 2y ago

It may be relevant that the dash cam is owned by the driver and not the insurance company, and can be selectively used to prove others' fault, but ahem forgotten about if it shows otherwise.