It's optional. If you fit one and if you drive at off-peak times and stuff like that then you get much cheaper insurance (because you're a good risk). Completely optional. Depends on how much you want to save money.

 

Yes its optional, for now, but i can imagine that one day it'll be an option nobody can afford to refuse...

 

I can imagine many things but that's about as unlikely as they get! Don't hold your breath.

 

Aviva Insurance in the UK tried to sell the Telematics "Pay As You Drive" thing a few years ago back when I worked for them, it was a total disaster as (shockingly) hardly anyone wanted to buy it. They lost a fortune on the whole deal as the IT setup costs were massive.

 

Long ago and far away I was a commercial insurance broker primarily concerned with buildings and contents but occasionally helped out with personal auto and home ins. for existing customers. It always amazed me how many customers lied on their policy applications as to how many KMs they drove the cars per year, where, when, who etc. etc. all in an effort to save a few bucks per year- but at the risk of having a claim denied.

We were always suspicious of someone stating that they only drove on weekends, never to work, etc.

I have collector car insurance on my Corvette and although there's no mileage cap, I am required to report the speedometer reading each year at renewal. An evaluator come by once every five years and takes a picture of the reading which is forwarded to the insurance people.

Although I see and despise the big brother aspect of these monitoring devices, I also understand the ins. co's point of view.

 

In the not too distant future, when insurance on an average nice car is £5000 a year, and you get a 50% discount if you fit a black box...not that crazy!

 

I will never agree to having one of those in my car.

 

Are aware that your car already has devices that record this info (and more) and that it may be used in post incident investigations by the authorities?

 

That may be so, but it also includes a whole host of accident-avoidance technology to keep me safe.

 

You appear to be rather wide of the mark. My STR is quite a nice car and I'm not even paying 10% of that figure nor do I expect to in (say) the next 20 years.

 

...and it's not just insurance.

I remember a TV show about a family in New Jersey that rented a car for a 1-week holiday in Miami. Upon arrival at the motel, his credit card was declined because there was no money in the account, even though he had set it up before leaving.

Apparently the vehicle was fitted with a GPS which tracked the car from 3 different satellites and thus was able to determine the speed at all times. Then, actual speed was compared with the speed limits along the route. Fine print on the back page of the rental agreement stated that there would be a $100 fine every time the speed limit was exceeded. Although never stopped by police, his credit card had accumulated over 40 debit charges of $100 each, courtesy of the car rental's computer system.

From that time on, whenever I rent a car, I ask whether or not such a clause exists in the agreement. Who has time to read all that fine print?

 

Wow, first time I heard of such a thing. Would be unenforceable here under several laws (such as Unfair Contract Terms Act, and in any case a "fine" cannot be levied by anyone but the state). I reckon it'd make the main news and all the papers, then be dropped like a hot potato.

 

I can find no source of such a thing ever happening. There some discussion of geographical trackers that allow rental companies to assess higher rates when cars go outside of pre-agreed state boundaries, but nothing to do with breaking speed limits.

 

How hard are you looking?

It was several years ago, on TV, the rental company was not one of the big three and did reduce the charges after media intervention. A check made of the big three showed that a similar clause DID exist in one of the rental contracts at that time.

It does seem today that car rental companies are no longer allowed to fine customers in this way. Stand by for government action in the future.

 

Yeah, put the boxes into one designated 'good driver' car -that will provide the safe trip information for multiple drivers!

 

Really? This means you actually PLAN and not following the traffic laws. I hope you never kill a little kid trying to save 30 seconds getting to your coffee house!

 

And the name of the rental company?

 

I took up the challenge of tracking down this story. The ONLY evidence was this:

In a case that could help set the bar for the amount of privacy drivers of rental cars can expect, a Connecticut man is suing a local rental company, Acme Rent-a-Car, after it used GPS (Global Positioning System) technology to track him and then fined him $450 for speeding three times.

Rental-car firm exceeding the privacy limit? - CNET News

Problem is I cannot find any trace of an 'Acme Rent-a-Car Company' and calls to it supposed president, a Wile E. Coyote, are not being returned.

 

and later... Amazing what a simple Google search will reveal! If anyone is interested, here is an extract from the Internet posting:

The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the findings of the state Department of Consumer Protection that the car agency, owned by American Car Rental Inc., could not justify the $150 penalty – sometimes levied multiple times against the same driver – as legitimate damages for the additional wear and tear high speeds cause on the car.

The global position systems installed in all of Acme’s rental cars were programmed to fax the agency notice any time a car was driven at 80 mph or more for two minutes or longer. For each occurrence, the car agency charged
the patron $150, usually levied immediately against whatever credit or debit card they had used to secure the rental.

Court documents indicate Acme began using GPS to track speeding by drivers of its rental cars in October 2000. From October to December of 2000, those who rented cars in 32 of 400 contracts written were charged the speeding fee. In all, 76 Acme patrons paid in excess of $22,000 in fees...

Here's another posting which i think was dated June 2012:
iMotorTimes - Car Renters, Watch the GPS. It Could Be Watching You. - iMotor Times

Rental car companies have been keeping tabs on how you drive. For the last ten years or so, they have reportedly been checking on how fast you drive, how far and where you go. Not so amazing. But wait. Insurance companies are beginning to take a peep too. "Now insurance companies are beginning to tap into the information that GPS units can reveal about drivers," according reports in the news and at ConsumerTraveler.Com.

And bring your magnifying glass to read all that horrible fine print before you sign the rent-car- agreements to use their GPS system.

 

That's the same company I found and mentioned above, 'Acme' in Rhode Island back in year 2000. That's 12 years ago, from some long defunct fly by night outfit that was ordered to return the money.

The other link makes only vague references but has no specifics. This sentence just kills me:

'A rental company may actually be able disable the automobile from the main office, if the agency doesn't like the way, or where, the car is being driven.'