Car Insurance Companies doing it Big Brother Style!

Posted by Arutha

August 5, 2008

If it was not already hard enough to get your car insurance down every year, Progressive Insurance may have just made things that a little bit more difficult with the introduction of their new ’spy like’ gadget.

The gadget is installed into a customer’s car and assesses how many times you slam on the brakes to how quickly you speed up. Now, before you start worrying, this gadget is not compulsory amongst all their customers but is actually something that people choose to sign up when they take out the insurance.

However, if you live around a dangerous area where kids run out onto the road like a game of Frogger or if you have a ‘heavy foot’ then I wouldn’t even bother applying. Instead it is likely to be more advantageous for those either living in the quite countryside or in the middle of no-where (…and no, we’re not talking about cows and sheep!).

The benefits to this service is that customers get a 10% discount on their next renewal before the gadget starts collecting information on their driving and a possibility of a further 60% reduction in their insurance. I am sure that people who are willing to comply with Progressive’s ‘Big Brother’ style rules may find this gadget beneficial. But personally I just think this is just another tactic to be used in the future by those greedy insurance companies, which can only mean one thing…a higher price for most of the drivers out there.

Thankfully it is only available in the US but I wonder how long it will take for it to pick up in the UK?

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