Are you paying too much for car insurance? You’re not alone as prices in Connecticut rose 8% last year and 20% since 2018 thanks to inflation, higher repair costs and riskier driving by too many drivers.
But now there’s a way to lower your prices significantly… if you’re willing to let Big Brother monitor your driving habits online via IT. All major insurance companies are now using this technology to better understand their customers’ driving style and reward good drivers.
When it was first launched nearly 20 years ago, this meant you would have to connect a fob to your car’s OBD which would monitor how you drove for a few months. You can send the FOB back to the insurance company who will analyze the data and “evaluate” your policy. How far you drove (distance), how fast you drove and when you drove it will determine your premium.
I think it’s this way:
If you’re shopping for life insurance, you should first get a physical exam. If you are healthy, don’t smoke and take care of yourself, the life insurance company will charge you less. But if you’re overweight, eat a two-a-day habit and have high cholesterol, you’re at greater risk and will be charged more. So you had an incentive to stay healthy, not only to live longer but also to pay less for life insurance.
Now drivers can do the same… not with the old plug-in fob but just by downloading a smartphone app that monitors your driving.
“TrueLane” is just an app used by The Hartford, our hometown insurance company and one of the largest in the state. I’ve been trying the app for a few weeks and love it… but I still have some concerns.
Every time I drive, TrueLane knows where I drove, when and how I drove… and records my braking, acceleration, cornering, speed and phone use while driving. He gives me the score and hits me for fouls.
What’s great is that it shows on the map where I may have braked too hard or turned too quickly, which has taught me what mistakes I’ve made and hopefully improved my skills. My incentive: A premium discount of 12 – 25% if you maintain a score of 90% or better. So far, while driving a Prius where acceleration is really a challenge, I’ve scored around 97%.
But do I want Big Brother to know too much about my leadership? Do I really want an actuary in Hartford to know where I drove and when? Is my data really private?
Most of my driving is short, local trips. But what if I drove into midtown Manhattan during rush hour? Am I being punished for this? Or what if I’m driving at 3 a.m., which is a very risky time when there are a lot of drunks on the road? Am I being punished for this?
Our phones already know a lot of this information and most of us never think twice about it. But if you’re a good driver and want to be rewarded for that behavior with lower premiums, it might be worth checking into one of these programs.