An Intriguing Insurance Option

[chevy]

I just got a mailer this week from OnStar, stating that they now selling insurance.
If you own a GM vehicle, add OnStar to the list of tracking devices already on your vehicle. They can track you even if you do not subscribe.

 

[Hay Dude]

I guess Sirius can, too?

 

[mrmikey]

Any cell phone made in the last 10 or more years has a built in GPS......

I was reminded of that just last week. I have a GMail account which I don't use other than setting up my Android phone, computer and a couple of other things. I'll occasionally get a popup saying something to the effect, "click her to see you last months visits/ trips" or something. I usually just ignore it, one day I clicked on it and my previous months trips were all laid out for me on a map, dates, times, even the stops and stores I had visited. Holy he77, why does a phone need to do this.
My daughter and I were texting back and forth about a shower enclosure, lo and behold if we both didn't start getting popups for enclosures on our computers. And someone asks me to put a tracking device on my car??? Not a chance..........Mike

 

[Tinhack]

Yeah, Google Maps tracks you even when you don't have it on screen. If it's on your phone, it's tracking you. It shows a history of every place I've gone with my phone in my pocket.

How do they know you're speeding? There's highways down here with 75 and 85mph speed limits. The 2-lane state road in front of my property used to be 70. They widened it, leveled it and paved it then lowered it to 60mph.

I sometimes stomp down on it to merge in with traffic on the Interstate. 14,000 trucks, alone, pass this way EVERY DAY. If I don't get on it, I may sitting on the side of the ramp for several hours. I might go from 20mph on the entrance ramp to 75mph and merge in. Getty Up! I wonder if it thinks I'm racing?

 

[zzvyb6]

Here's my take on it. If you are involved in a crash and your data recorder indicates excessive speeding, sleeping at the wheel, or failure to brake. No coverage for the event. Plus LEOs can look at it and gauge your driving habits. BTW: most cars an trucks have recorders built into them anyways, but it takes a subpoena to get the data and only for just-cause. Around here, driving 80 mph on I-96, US-23, I-275, and I-94 will get you blown off the road by those doing 90 and above. Troopers in the median don't want to stop anyone because their presence causes immense traffic jams and even crashes into their own vehicles at the roadside!

 

[drssg]

^^^^
I disagree with just part of this statement; the insurance companies are looking for any excuse to raise your rates.

Yes. The distinction between "getting a discount" and "getting screwed if you don't comply" is based on the percentage of people who accept this level of intrusion.

FWIW, I turn off the GPS on my phone, except for when I specifically need it. It still tracks general location, based on the connected cell phone tower and who know what else, but it makes me feel a little better.

Apple added a privacy feature to disable cross-app tracking. It must be doing something, because I've had apps requesting me to enable it. S

 

[MoKelly]

Remember the Tiger Woods crash? The car had some sort of black box even without a phone. They could tell his speed and braking.

It’s hard to hide.

MoKelly

 

[kenmbz]

Many cars have GPS and systems that record all the data the insurance dongles use.
Hmmm, left a bar and got into an accident. While stopped at a red light and rear ended.
So does bar come up first in the causality even though you may have not had a drink and were not moving at a red light?