Aeteocles
jhe888
Dallas239

Are you guys all saying that because the insurance company offers a discount for low mileage that this method of obtaining verification is OK?

jhe888 said it was 'distasteful' but I don't know if that means you think it's a good business practice or not.

I posted this earlier - if this method of obtaining information is OK, then why not for health insurance or life insurance companies?

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:
'Distasteful' or a criminal violation of privacy?

How about grocery stores, no let's say all retail establishments selling your purchasing information to health and life insurance companies?

Nothing to hide, no problem, right? Let's see Mr. Jhe888, it says here that you bought 3 pounds of bacon last month, care to explain? You said that you are a 'moderate' drinker, but in the last 6 months you have purchased 3 cases of Bourbon? What about the pair of skis you purchased? I think we need to adjust your life insurance rates, you liar!

It's a slippery slope and should be terminated with prejudice.

<For the record, I've never claimed low mileage since I have a 90 mile daily commute which I told my agent when I got my vehicle insurance.>

There are a lot of straightforward ways to get this information - simply require people who are claiming a low mileage discount to stop by any office 2 or 3 times a year and have a receptionist run out and look at the odometer. They wouldn't even have to pay any extra and it would be totally above board. If you don't show up or you're over the limit your discount is taken away.

quote:

There are a lot of straightforward ways to get this information

State Farm requires a Vehicle Heath Report run on my Ford. The results go right to them.

About 10 years ago when I retired between my wife and I we had 4 cars. Only two drivers.

I went to my then insurance agent and said "John, we have four cars and only two drivers. There has to be a better rate" Well he laughed and basically said too bad.

I'm with the group that bets no insurance company contacts a customer and reduces the rate due to low miles from what is written in the policy.

BTW I no longer have insurance with "John"

quote:

State Farm requires a Vehicle Heath Report run on my Ford

That's only because you actively elected to participate in their Drive Safe and Save bullshit with SYNC. I looked into this, and the rate difference is 5%. Supposedly never to be an impact upward for driving habits, or used against me in a claim incident.

Riiiiiigggght.

It is distasteful from the consumer's point of view, and I think the oil-change places should consider whether it is a good practice for them as it will clearly annoy customers. Perhaps the price of the data offsets the bad press.

To my knowledge it isn't illegal.

From State Farm's point of view, it is perfectly reasonable.

State Farm could ask customers who want a low mileage discount to send a photo of their odometers once every six months (although that has verification problems), or something, and that would probably be less offensive. Or use one of those little plug-in units. But people would object to that as spying, even though it is a voluntary, private transaction.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Why should age or gender matter? Seems incidental to me. You're either a good driver or not. Same with location. So I live in a "bad" location. If my vehicle's parked in a garage and spends most of its time outside that location, what does my home address matter? Vehicle type: Ditto. My new ride has a Hemi in it. I drive it no more aggressively than I did the old vehicle with a 6-banger in it.

Those are all demonstrably statistically relevant to claims rates.

Of course they are. The questions were rhetorical. My point was so is credit score.

Consider: What would be the point in unnecessarily raising the rates for people with poor credit? People who probably (warning: generalization follows) are less able to pay the increased rate than those with good credit scores. Why not instead arbitrarily raise the rates on people with good credit scores for some entirely made up, but superficially plausible reason? After all: They're probably better able to pay.

Automobile insurance everywhere I've lived is a competitive market. As such: One assumes insurers make every effort to price their products as attractively as possible.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:
Yea, but on the other side of the coin for drivers like me who drive less than 1,000 miles a year..Will they offer me any discount? Bastids!!

Yes.

That's the whole point of this

People are claiming low mileage discounts.

Then, turns out, they aren't actually driving low miles. So now their discount goes away.

When you get insurance, they ask you how many miles you drive. Your rates are based on this.

I'm very clear on the point of this..

In reference to the suggestion of displaying mileage info for the carrier on a time basis, I suppose that if they have a program that can read the metadata with EXIF they could see a time/date stamp, possibly GPS coordinates if enabled, or even take the vehicle in on an annual basis to record the actual mileage. I went out to the garage and snapped an image of my mileage on my 2013 Accord purchased Sept 2013. I guess anybody with an app that reads EXIF can see that this info was just taken. Though it may be more difficult to tell it's my 2013 Accord unless additional images are taken to include the VIN and/or the car itself.

You need gas, brah.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
You need gas, brah.

Yea I do! That said, this amount of gas will carry me about another two weeks or so with my driving habits

Insurance is absolutely a racket. The actuary tables and other nonsense is just to lend it credibility. It's a guaranteed market and their statistical analysis is going to guarantee the company a profit...or else your rates will be summarily increased.

We had a drivers meeting a month ago where I work. Our insurer (Nationwide) said that for every dollar they take in, they spend a dollar and sixteen cents in claims. This is for the commercial vehicles. He also said that in the future personal vehicles would have a monitoring device for driving habits, etc, or they wouldn't insure them. And he said this would be in effect with all insurers.

quote:

Originally posted by tankeryanker:
He also said that in the future personal vehicles would have a monitoring device for driving habits, etc, or they wouldn't insure them. And he said this would be in effect with all insurers.

This is what comes of people becoming increasingly sanguine about privacy incursions.

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:

...That said, this amount of gas will carry me about another two weeks or so with my driving habits

Do those habits include very little driving? 3689 is real low mileage for a 2013 car you've had four years and two months.

Get ready for your first oil change next year!

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
I've changed my own oil for 17 years. I do it myself for a variety of reasons, this is more justification to me.

We're using State Farm now. A 2014 Kia Sportage is $114 a month and a 2003 Honda Civic is $104 a month. Really? The Civic has 171,000 miles on it , it's fully paid off and I only have liability on it.

Looks like we'll be switching soon.

Something is not right there I have State Farm and my 2002 Explorer was $82 a month full coverage and got rid of it for a 2014 Sienna full coverage is $102.

It's wrong no more!

I called and canceled my State Farm insurance today. Got quotes from Progressive. State Farm had high coverages for me on the 2003 Honda Civic, more coverage than a car with 170,000 miles would need. Even dropping the high coverages didn't get them close enough to Progressive.

I just paid 6 months for the Kia and Honda. Bill came out to $664. Kia has full coverage while the Honda is liability only. Honda doesn't get driven much, it's only a 9 mile drive to work for me, all local. Kia gets driven when we go out as a family as it's more comfortable than the Honda. That $664 included a discount for paying 6 months in advance.

Despite State Farm having been so high, they were lower than USAA who had raised rates every year for a few years.

Even with State Farm dropping their prices, they were still about $700 more annually than Progressive. We're a little older, 38 and 41, have good credit and clean driving records. State Farm was a rip, I wish I would've looked into ditching them earlier.

I dislike State Farm. Wife got hit by a driver with State Farm, and SF said the policy holder lied on the application and shouldn't have been sold the policy, therefore they weren't going to honor the claim. We had to contact the Utah State insurance regulator before State Farm found religion.

Also, selling your info without your knowledge is uncool. Put black electrical tape over your odo before your oil change.

I wonder what my insurance would pay me if I sent them the mileage for both of my cars after I change the oil?? Hmmm

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:
Aeteocles
jhe888
Dallas239

Are you guys all saying that because the insurance company offers a discount for low mileage that this method of obtaining verification is OK?

If the info is for sale, I don't have an issue with SF buying it. I have an issue with the oil-change place selling it. I suspect that if they are disclosing it, they are doing it in a very abstruse manner, and if they offered an opt-out option, most customers would take it. I doubt it violates any data-privacy laws if the companies are merely reporting VINs and mileage.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:

...That said, this amount of gas will carry me about another two weeks or so with my driving habits

Do those habits include very little driving? 3689 is real low mileage for a 2013 car you've had four years and two months.

Get ready for your first oil change next year!

Yes, I had a traumatic brain injury that had me stroking on the OR table due to a brain hemorrhage a few years back which left me having to leave my job of 25yrs, and as of late I'm mostly homebound due to mobility and health issues. I wish I were healthier to at least enjoy a bit of retirement but it just wasn't in the cards for me. I'm just thankful to still be above ground, so the Honda doesn't get out hardly at all but it's there in any emergency if I need it.

I've changed oil twice as per the manual if you don't drive normal amounts, I change the oil usually around a year or so give or take. It's due for another actually. The whole car looks like off the showroom floor, both inside and out. My very first experience with a Honda and certainly will be my last vehicle no question. It's a great little car and the V6 is a fine engine. Somebody will get a great low mileage well taken care of car. My wife has a SUV that she is happy with and doesn't really care for the smaller Honda.

if the government was doing it, i would be against it. For the insurance company, there's a clear demonstrable connection between risk and mileage.

For those who think that increased rates due to mileage are permanent, you can always report a lower mileage when your circumstances change.

I don't mind having the insurance company get the info from my dealer or mechanic. I've had to fill in mileage forms anyway for both Farmers and USAAA. Somewhere in the insurance contract, there's probably a clause allowing the insurance company to verify or acquire information through means that include getting it from auto shops.

I think it's a case of the barn door being open. People have been used to having shops record their mileage.

If the companies start putting speed sensors and such to monitor my driving habits, that would be a different story.

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
So people were lying about their mileage to their insurance companies and got caught, and people are upset? And they say insurance companies are loathsome. Pay for what you get, when you don't we all get hit with more charges.

No, people are upset because companies are selling their personal data without disclosing it.

What if you had a sick relative who lived out of state and had to travel there a couple of weekends a month for a couple of months and then the insurance company jacked your rates up for driving more than your average? Do you think they would reverse that after you are done caring for your relative?

It's like the .gov collecting and reading your emails and phone conversations - it's OK if you have nothing to hide?

And people are also upset that the results of this spying is a one way street. As one poster said, the insurance companies never send you a rebate check because you have driven too little.

The insurance industry is for profit, and they don't care a bit who, or which of their own consumers that they have to screw over to make that profit. All the while, they have convinced the lawmakers that everyone has to have car insurance, and the or else is the government. They can do what they want, charge what they want, drop you for any reason, give you pennies on the dollar for your injury or loss, and it is all good.

It is a one way street and this data breach does nothing but profit them.