• RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Our insurance company offered a rate reduction if we installed a device on the cars to monitor how we drove. It we met whatever metric they set we’d get a discount for “safe driving”.

    Hell no. I’m paying full price to not have them looking over my shoulder while driving.

    Because you know that the data will be sold, or even used to classify your risk as a driver and potentially raise your rates. There’s nothing altruistic about these companies.

    • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      I tried it once. Installed the app on my phone. The error rate in the data they collected was ridiculously high. Get a phone call while driving? Welp, now it says you were on the phone for 45 seconds. Playing music through the stereo? No, you were clearly using your phone the entire time. Phone slides around on the console? You clearly must have mashed the brakes.

      I decided that the best way for them to determine I was a safe driver was the fact that I haven’t had an accident claim in years.

    • the_third@feddit.de
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      5 months ago

      I drive an electric vehicle and the unfortunate reality is, that brakes that are large enough for an emergency stop get underutilized during everyday, regenerative braking. So they rust.

      My solution is: Every time I get back to our village in wet weather, I accelerate hard on the last long straight and brake hard to almost a standstill once. No more brake trouble, all four rotors squeaky clean, but any measuring device would write me up as the biggest idiot on the roads out there.

        • the_third@feddit.de
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          5 months ago

          The severity of the problem depends on external factors:

          • do you live in a dry and salt-free environment? No problem.
          • did the maker of your car implement disc wiping as a precaution? No problem.
          • did the maker of your car implement intermittent brake blending during recuperation? No problem.
          • is your car less driven in wet and salty conditions and then always store in a dry, warm garage? No problem.
          • does your car have drumsin the rear and near-undersized discs in the front? Less of a problem.
    • Quack@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      It’s a scam, anyway. I did it once with Progressive when I got my first car. Had good ratings, was promised a solid discount. Next bill comes and it’s the same amount as the previous bill. I call them and they say that the rate went up but with the discount it conveniently went back to the old rate.

    • radicalautonomy@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      To anyone who doesn’t believe you and thinks they might actually he able to get better rates through an app like that…

      You know how health insurance companies charge hefty premiums with ridiculously high copays, but you figure “If I really need something covered, though, they’ll pay it and I won’t go bankrupt”, but yet they still find a way to have so few scruples that they’ll fight you on the services you have them billed for because they are a corporation beholden to shareholders and will do everything in their power to hang onto every single dollar possible?

      Your car insurance is provided by a corporation.