Most people feel a sense of safety and privacy in their vehicle and don’t give a second thought to the type of information your car retains. But what if you learned that everything you do in your new car can be recorded, stored, and shared with data brokers, who, in turn, sell that data to third parties, including your car insurance company?
Big Data is nothing new, and these days, everything from TVs, fridges, and even baby monitors can collect data about us. But did you know that one of the biggest collectors of data are our cars? Cars do more than just get you from Point A to Point B nowadays. Newer models have advanced GPS, sophisticated sensors, and integrated computers that may also connect to the internet. Navigation systems, vehicle location, roadside assistance, remote unlocking, and a suite of infotainment options, many of which can be accessed through the manufacturers phone app or by simply pairing your own phone with the system, make our cars some of the most connected devices we own.
According to the Mozilla Foundation, which put together a scathing report about privacy in cars, car manufacturers “collect personal information from how you interact with your car, the connected services you use in your car, the car’s app (which provides a gateway to information on your phone), and can gather even more information about you from third party sources like Sirius XM or Google Maps.” The car’s cameras, too, are recording activities both inside and outside the vehicle.
What Type of Data Does Your Car Collect?
Most of us are aware that companies are collecting data about us on a daily basis through everything from our credit cards to our phone usage and internet behavior. But the reality is our cars are monitoring us too, and car manufacturers seem to be gathering whatever they can, whenever they can, and monetizing this information.
Perhaps most surprising is the amount of personal data collected through the car’s infotainment system. Whenever your phone, or even your passenger’s phone, is paired with the car for, say, hands-free calling or bluetooth music, or if you use the car’s phone app for things like remote unlocking, you have opened up your entire phone’s data for use by the car company. Buried deep within their privacy policies (that you need to consent to in order to use these features) is the fact that they collect everything from your phone contacts, voice data, and text messages, to social media use, your internet history, and navigation destinations, and can share all of it with third parties.
Your car can also collect data from the telematics system, including things like:
- Speed
- Steering
- Deceleration
- Acceleration
- Seat belt use
- Turn-by-turn navigation
- When and where lights were switched on
- When doors were opened
- Airbag deployment
Insurance Companies Are Using This Data To Hike Your Rates
Whether you know it or not, insurance companies are increasingly using information such as how fast you drive, how hard you hit the brakes, how hard you accelerate, how fast you take corners, and other metrics to determine the rate they will charge you for auto insurance. Of the 25 car brands reviewed by the Mozilla Foundation, 84 percent of them sell – or just give – user data to outside parties, like LexisNexis and Verisk, two data brokers that in turn, sell this information to the insurance industry.
Some car companies offer so-called driver feedback programs that give drivers insights into their driving habits, ostensibly to help people become better drivers. Insurance companies, too, offer things like “usage-based premiums” and “safe driver discounts.” Most people don’t realize that by taking advantage of these seemingly useful apps, you are actually giving away your driving habits and patterns. But, sometimes this data is collected and shared without a driver’s knowledge or consent.
Take the example of Kenn Dahl, who was recently profiled in The New York Times. Mr. Dahl’s insurance premium suddenly jumped 21% in one year. Always a safe driver, Dahl questioned the rate hike and was shown a 130-page LexisNexis report of more than 600 drives he and his wife had taken within the past six month period, detailing their start and end times, the distance driven and an account of any speeding, hard braking, or sharp accelerations. The data came from General Motors based on his enrollment in OnStar Smart Driver and were interpreted as grounds for putting him in a higher insurance risk category. “It felt like a betrayal,” Mr. Dahl said. “They’re taking information that I didn’t realize was going to be shared and screwing with our insurance.”
Another GM owner, who had no record of ever signing up for Smart Driver, said he was denied insurance altogether by seven insurance companies before he found one willing to underwrite his policy at more than twice his usual rate because of some instances of hard acceleration, hard braking, and speeding. And it’s not just GM owners who should be concerned; most of the big automakers are engaged in these same practices.
What Can You Do About it?
Car makers are quick to point out that you can opt out of or disable these “features” but it’s not always easy and sometimes means that you lose navigation, roadside assistance and other desired benefits that you’ve paid good money for. Tesla, for example, says that if you turn connectivity off, it might make the car inoperable. Before downloading the carmaker’s app for your vehicle or signing up for connected services, make sure you understand what your options are for opting out.
While lawmakers, including those in Massachusetts and the Southern District of Florida, are starting to look into these egregious breaches of privacy, no guidelines or regulations currently exist to prevent car companies from sharing your personal and driving data. To find out what data your car is able to collect, use this Vehicle Privacy Report tool.
At Parker Scheer we know how important it is to have the highest level of automobile insurance coverage you can afford and encourage you to make sure that your driving data is not being collected and shared with insurance companies. Purchasing as much auto insurance as your budget allows can also protect you when you’re injured in a motor vehicle accident. Fill out the form below for a free case evaluation.
