How much will you sell your driving habits for?

How much will you sell your driving habits for?

• Would you let your auto insurer track your driving habits via your smartphone?- Sun Sentinel

Excerpt:The auto insurance arm of travel club wants customers to download a smartphone app and let the company track their driving habits.

The app will rate drivers based on smoothness, speed, distraction, time of day and fatigue by capturing the start and end times of each journey, acceleration rates, and GPS location information, according to the company, which markets insurance in Florida under the name Auto Club South Insurance Company.

Highest-rated drivers can earn discounts of up to 30 percent off of their auto insurance premiums, the company says.

AAA says its program, called AAADrive, is one of the first smartphone-based driver monitoring products approved by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.

Bottom Line: Ok, first question. Are you ok with allowing AAA, and anyone they potentially partner with, to have comprehensive data about what’s happening when you’re behind the wheel? If it saved you about $330 per year would you feel differently?

First here are the five things that AAA’s new Drive app tracks:

1. Stay smooth. AAADrivecan detect harsh braking and erratic speed changes. Keeping it calm and steady behind the wheel will help improve your driving score.
2. Don’t speed. AAADrivemeasures how well you drive at certain speeds. Tip: Exceeding 80 mph will reduce your score no matter how smoothly you’re driving.
3. Avoid distractions. AAADrivecan tell how long you’re on a call when driving and can detect movement of your phone to tell if you’re using it for texting, dialing or emailing. Your best bet? Put it down.
4. Watch the clock. Some timesof day are more dangerous for drivers than others (such as rush hour). If it’s possible to avoid driving during those times of day, it can help your score.
5. Rest up. AAADrivecalculates the time you spend driving on long journeys, when you could become fatigued. Take breaks often to stay refreshed—and to up your score.

Some of that info really could be beneficial to you – the biggest question is how much you care about it being out there for others to use. Clearly, it’s highly valuable data to them. The average Florida auto insurance premium is $1,098. The potential for a max savings is $329. They wouldn’t be providing that type of a discount opportunity just for the heck of it. So back to the question. How much do you want for your info behind the wheel?