Insurance is the application of shared risk. Individuals agree to pay a fee to a company in exchange for the promise that the company will cover a major incident that befalls them. It’s a great idea, even highly profitable, but for it to work, each payment must be commensurate with the payee’s exposure to risk.
Most car insurers assess this exposure by tabulating a driver’s age, location, type of car, and driving history. But modern technology allows much more focused risk assessment by monitoring an individual’s driving habits.
Enter the Snapshot from Progressive Insurance, which plugs into a car’s OBD II (on-board diagnostics, second generation) port. Mandated on all cars since 1996, the OBD II port usually resides in the driver’s footwell and provides access to many parameters of vehicle operation. But the Snapshot, which is no bigger than half a cigarette pack, pays attention to only two things—speed and time.
From these two pieces of information, Progressive determines how many miles you’re driving, when you’re traveling, and how hard you brake. The Snapshot contains an integral cellphone, which continually transmits this data. Progressive takes pains to point out that it does not record cell towers to track your position.
Interestingly enough, Progressive says that it doesn’t care how fast you’re driving; since the Snapshot has no GPS, the company doesn’t know what speed limit applies to your route. The company claims that it doesn’t even care if the Snapshot experiences a speed well beyond any limits—say 150 mph.
What does matter is how much you drive. Progressive would like to see low mileage—less than the 14,000-mile national average, for sure. The company also prefers that you avoid driving between midnight and 4 a.m., prime time for tired and under-the-influence drivers. Nor does it like to see hard braking, which the company defines as more than 7 mph per second. That’s about 0.3 g, only one-third of the average car’s deceleration capability. Progressive says that it has statistics indicating that frequent hard braking is an indicator of risky driving.
SNAPSHOT NO-NOs
• Braking greater than 0.3 g
• Driving during the witching hours: Midnight to 4 A.M.
• Driving too much (Progressive has no hard-and-fast limit but favors drivers who travel less than 30 miles per day)
So why would anyone want a Snapshot snooping on their driving habits? Progressive offers up to a 30-percent discount, if the unit approves of your driving. To give it a go, simply request a Snapshot and plug it into your OBD II port after it arrives in the mail. It beeps when it’s activated—and also beeps whenever you brake too hard.
After a month, you’ll get an early assessment of your driving as well as a preliminary discount. When we installed a Snapshot on a friend’s vehicle, that person quickly received a $23 rebate check.
What we said: The automobile was the ultimate freedom machine; high-speed data is more often like a set of invisible shackles. —C/D, September 2012
The Snapshot must remain installed for about three to six months. When Progressive has gathered enough data, it will reveal its final discount and ask you to return the Snapshot. Sadly, our test driver ended up with no discount, due largely to hard braking. If you’re a driver who usually stays on the gas until you’re within a hundred yards of a red light, Snapshot will hector you. On the other hand, the insurance company claims that it will not raise your rates due to the device.
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Progressive says that some 2 million drivers have tried the Snapshot, and 70 percent earned a discount averaging 15 percent or $150 on their annual bodily-injury, property-damage, and collision premiums.
Progressive has wisely limited the monitoring capabilities of the Snapshot. But even its sparse information could potentially be subpoenaed by an attorney should you be involved in a major accident. Given the vastly more-intrusive capabilities of our modern technologies, we recommend carefully scrutinizing this and similar future devices before exchanging your privacy for a few dollars.
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