Comments on: MyRate by Progressive – installing big brother on your car.

By: darknote

darknote — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:33:52 +0000

i’m still thinking about it. what i worry about is what the implications could be in the future, but as Andrew points out, if i stay on top of any privacy changes, i could always just switch insurers.

but i trust your research to be more accurate than my own (which is none given that this was just an initial reaction post).

thanks for the insight.

By: Bennie F

Bennie F — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:10:31 +0000

Take a look at Progressive’s MyRate Privacy Policy. It points out that they cannot refuse to turn over data they collect if required by law, but that they will not otherwise provide your data to anyone else except for privacy-protected research purposes.

That is about as strong a commitment to privacy protection that a company can make. You may still be uncomfortable providing Progressive the driving data, in which case MyRate is not for you. Some percentage of the population feels that way, but I believe most do not.

I don’t work for Progressive, by the way. However, I do have a company involved with this type of insurance, which is why I have already researched these details.

By: Andrew S

Andrew S — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 20:03:29 +0000

They can raise future rates, but you can shop around and find a new insurer.

They’re unlikely to raise rates for people who use the device–the only people who would get higher rates would be people who they no longer want as customers…these higher risk drivers would then switch to an insurer that doesn’t know about their high risk habits.

“mere savings of $30/month”…half of the world lives on less than that.