Tracking Your Driving Behaviors May Help Save You Save Some Money
“My car windshield broke. Cause unknown. Probably Voodoo…”
I wanted to kick-off this morning’s article, by sharing some jokes that I found on the web. What you’ll find below is a list of actual car insurance claim quotes, that real people have put on their insurance claims:
Insurance Claim Quote 01
A pedestrian hit me and went under my car.
Insurance Claim Quote 02
An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished.
Insurance Claim Quote 03
When I saw I could not avoid a collision I stepped on the gas and crashed into the other car.
Insurance Claim Quote 04
I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way.
Insurance Claim Quote 05
I didn’t think the speed limit applied after midnight.
Insurance Claim Quote 06
The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intention.
Insurance Claim Quote 07
I left for work this morning at 7am as usual when I collided straight into a bus. The bus was 5 minutes early.
Insurance Claim Quote 08
I started to slow down but the traffic was more stationary than I thought.
Insurance Claim Quote 09
No one was to blame for the accident but it would never have happened if the other driver had been alert.
Insurance Claim Quote 10
The accident happened because I had one eye on the truck in front, one eye on the pedestrian, and the other on the car behind.
Well, I hope that brought some of you a little laughter on this Friday morning. Now, while these quotes may seem almost too ridiculous to be true, the unfortunate reality is that we’ve all been involved some form of car related accident or traffic violation.
And what it makes the situation even more difficult is the fact that you have to deal with your insurance provider right after the unfortunate event, and chances are your premiums will most likely increase as a result.
Potential New Insurance Program May Help Save You Money
But what if you could save over $1,300 on your annual car insurance by letting your provider track your driving, would you let them? That’s the precisely the question U.K. drivers are considering this morning, as the country’s Automobile Association (AA) is set to launch a new insurance policy that would place a “black box” into a car, allowing the organization to track the driving behaviors of its insured drivers on the road.
According to the BBC, which first reported on the new incentive program, the tracking technology will monitor speed, braking severity, and the roads drivers are travelling on. The data collected from the black box could also be used to determine who’s at fault in an accident. This data, however, can only be requested by a court order.
In addition, AA told the BBC that if a driver is traveling at unsafe speeds, they will receive a “stern e-mail” from the organization informing them to slow down.
Although there are obvious privacy implications to adding a black box to a car that tracks nearly everything a driver is doing, this new plan is something that drivers will have to opt into. The AA says that it will not be installing these black boxes into cars without the owner’s consent.
The AA also told the BBC that drivers who choose to have the black box installed and adhere to safe driving practices could save as much as 850 British pounds, which equals about US $1,343 each year – an incentive that may be especially attractive for younger drivers who pay higher premiums because of their age.
This new incentive program comes at an opportune time, as the U.S. Supreme Court recently made a decision that requires law enforcement officials to obtain an official court-issued warrant before placing surveillance devices, such as GPS trackers, onto the vehicles of suspected criminals. Should the U.S. adopt this new insurance program, it would raise privacy concerns, especially if law enforcement were able to leverage the data against drivers.
However, some drivers may be willing to give up a little bit of their privacy to save some money, especially in time where everyone’s looking to save a little extra cash each month.
It will be interesting to see how this new program develops in the U.K.
What do you think about this new program?
Source: CNET
Tags: Government, GPS, GPS Device, GPS Technology, GPS Tracker, Law Enforcement, prevention, Privacy, Safety, Teen Driving, Vehicle Tracking, warrant
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