Insurers May Open ‘Black Box’ Telematics to Escape Gender Ban

By | December 21, 2011

  • December 22, 2011 at 11:04 am
    Waterbug says:
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    Sure, let’s put electronic bugs in our cars so Big Brother can se where and when we go. Progressive is already doing this in the U.S.

    Male drivers (of which I am one) are more aggressive drivers and have more accidents so we pay more for auto insurance. Teens have more stupid accidents than middle age drivers so they pay more. Drivers with DUI’s on their records get higher rates. So why shouldn’t male drivers pay extra???

  • December 22, 2011 at 12:51 pm
    Dot Hemath says:
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    Male drivers TEND TO BE more aggressive drivers and have more accidents. Teens TEND TO have more stupid accidents than middle age drivers. There lies the difference. SOME men are better drivers than SOME women. Why should they pay more?

  • December 22, 2011 at 1:36 pm
    BeemerH8tr says:
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    This is by far the best, most reliable way to determine risk and rates. I suspect it will take a while before the actuaries collect enough data to get it right. If you drive like a maniac you should avoid the companies that use telematics. If you are a driver with “safe” driving characteristics you should be paying lower rates. Big Brother or not, this is the wave of the future.

    • December 22, 2011 at 2:45 pm
      SWFL Agent says:
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      How many times have we had an insured, when faced with high insurance rates for teens, etc, say “but my child isn’t like other teens” or “I’m not the one driving badly”. Well, now we’ll know. I can’t think of better way to rate auto insurance than measuring (accurately) actual driving behavior.

  • December 22, 2011 at 2:10 pm
    Sue Smith says:
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    These new technologies ALMOST make me wish I was back in the rate making business. I would love to see the correlations between Credit Based Insurance Scores and the Telematic based scores/rates. I would bet they both end up in the same rate for most people.
    However, I am firmly retired and enjoying life and will let the younger set fight over these new, likely more accurate, yet controversial methods of pricing risk.
    Happy Holidays all from retirement land.

  • December 23, 2011 at 1:31 pm
    T Dubya B says:
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    At what point does this make underwriting moot. And, at what point does this become a savings plan based on individual needs and profile, instead of risk pooling that relys on the law of large numbers? No answers here, just a thought.



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