YIKES! Talk about Big Brother!

I just opened an email from State Farm which offers me a discount if I install their Safe Drive app on my phone.

It SAYS mynsafe driving habits will earn a discount for me.

I THINK this means it will track my speed, location, etc.

Uh no.

BRAD

YES BRAD.. EXCEPT YOU SEND TO THEM OR GO BY THE OFFICE SO THEY DOWN LOAD, I'V BEEN TOLD

ONE OF THE VERY REASONS I USE THE SIMPLE AND FANCY STRATAGY

WORK: 1950 FORD PICK UP... 25 A YEAR FULL COMP AND COLLISION

FANCY: 1962 CAD.. I'M THE 2ND OWNER LESS THAT 70K MILES

Onstar also tracks your vehicle... even if you don't subscribe. They will hound you to get your oil changed when it is time with calls and emails. According to GM the data is theirs and they can do what they want with it. The only way to stop sending the data is to unplug the unit and that is not in a easily accessible place.

Husband also noticed he got a call to pay for Sirius radio (that he doesn't want) only when he was in the vehicle. Never at any other time and it was not usual traffic hours.

Even if tracking is off on your phone, they can tell where you are. And if the GPS is on, you now get texts advertising the business that you are near.

I bet that is similar to what truck driving companies install on trucks to make sure what the drivers are doing.

It's not just car data that is being tracked. Store loyalty cards are not there for coupons and price reductions. They are tracking purchases. Kroger is a master at this one. Type something in a google search, then notice you'll be seeing ads for that specific searched item for a while. Visit certain websites and you'll see ads for their products later.

The days of privacy are long gone. I can be driving by a business with my phone in the car and it thinks I stopped there and sends me ads.

We recently ate dinner with a friend who works in the technology division of Progressive.

"Technology?" I asked. "I didn't think the insurance industry used a lot of technology."

Boy did I get an education! Look for a shift toward ALL insurers using tracking devices on your cars. It's a way for them to improve their risk assessment beyond the "teen male" premium and "over 65" premium. More data=premiums that are tailored to the individual far beyond gross demographics. Drive like a maniac? Fine, but you'll pay more in insurance premiums for that privilege. Drive like a conservative, middle-aged soccer mom with a van full of kids? Your premiums won't have to subsidize the maniac drivers.

The car tracker not only tracks speed, but tracks how many times and how hard you hit the brakes, and also all the hard swerves--which they assume is last second avoidance of something you are about to hit! Even worse, it tracks simple things like how many tries you take to back into a place, or how many adjustments it takes for the car to swing into a parking place--which they assume means you have poor judgement of either the swing of the wheels or the distance to other objects--like the cars beside you.

How did I find this out?? My friend was teaching her son to drive. As he learned he made all the above actions over time. And her insurance went way up. When she called to question this she was told it was because of her poor driving habits. She insisted to know WHAT "poor habits" those were.

Scary times indeed. They can shut your car off anytime they want to too. I am glad for my old 1997 Chevy pickup. One day while being paranoid, I decided to speak to a friend in the room where computer is just to see if they listen. I told him I would really like to buy a new miter saw. Sure enough I started seeing ads for all types of saws.

Nationwide offered that to us a few years ago. We also passed, not wanting Big Brother watching. I can just see what they'd do with our vehicles backing up trailers!