NbyNW

Read this on another car site. Lots of talk out there about insurance rates going up or flat out canceled with no warning. I read the MercedesMe terms of service and sounds like they can collect and share about everything, Need to read more if they participate, some auto companies are apparently much better than others.

LexisNexis and Verisk collecting info and driving behaviors from auto companies and sharing it with insurance companies.

https://web.archive.org/web/20240311...insurance.html

Tom in Austin

Very interesting, but not surprising ... glad my cars are not "internet connected" but makes me wonder, if you have Car Play or Android Auto does the integration of your fone with the car's electronics make possible this kind of data sharing over the fone's wireless connection?

vincheung

In addition to the above, the companies maintain a large network and database of license plate camera/readers throughout the United States. This data is accessed through their accurint service by law enforcement, private investigators, and insurance companies. On top of that, insurance companies will purchase personal information from lex nex/verisk to determine residency, credit score, etc for their risk assessment. I've used it and its very detailed and comprehensive.

Personally, my car can no longer support mercedes me and for my newer vehicle, never had it registered for the data sharing reasons. At the end of the day though, the companies will get the data one way or another, so I wonder if its even worth the efforts to stay off the radar.

SW20S

I don't make any effort to stay off the radar, it is what it is.

AFAIK Mercedes has no program where they collect driving behavior information and submits it to LexisNexis. This article was about an opt in program from OnStar where people specifically signed up to have this information collected "to improve their driving"

superswiss

It's been a minute since I read the Mercedes me privacy terms, but as far as I remember they only collect anonymized data and there are several privacy options in the app that you can opt out off if you want. I haven't bothered opting out of anything yet. I hear and read that insurance rates are going up, however I haven't seen it personally. My rates went down during the pandemic by several hundred dollars as i think did for pretty much everybody as we all stopped driving, and Geico even sent me a check at one point refunding part of the premium I had already paid. My most recent two renewals are now simply back to what my rate was before the pandemic. Actually, technically the premiums are lower, because I lost the new car discount after three years, so even w/o the discount my rates are actually still slightly lower than what I paid in 2019. So, yes, the rates have technically gone up from the lower rates during the pandemic, but they have simply gone back up to what they were before. I am actually curious, is anybody paying more now than they did before the pandemic?

badq45t

wow eye opening story and I know I just had to dump Farmer's Insurance after 40+ years of using them as they more than doubled my rates, I signed up with Mercury for less than 50% of what I was paying with Farmers and my new agent asked if I wanted to opt into their driver nanny in the ODBII port and/or mileage verification program. I opted into mileage verify (my wife and I have 4 cars and she's retired and i worked 1 day a week in office) but opted out the nanny. I didn't buy an S-Class Mercedes to not have a few times of shall we say spiritied driving, and the 2016 Mercedes Connected features were a joke and I discontinued them the day the free trials ran out

NbyNW

A good update.

GM stops sharing info with data brokers

https://web.archive.org/web/20240322...iver-data.html

MB2timer

This info selling is in for a rocky road. The information begins with the consumer. The consumer owns the information, and is not being compensated for its value. The consumer is not consulted on its use. The consumer is not providing any approval, and the data is used in a way that closely resembles theft. I predict an unhappy ending for these practices.

vinflouen

They cannot link your car to your insurance unless you agree to have them pull data and use it to make up your rates.
Rates are rising because a bumper costs 5-10K now, people are not paying attention and the insurance was priced too cheap to the risk.
They cant give away the shareholders product at a cost below what it costs.
Yes, they make profits, but auto insurance is a bums game as far as the carrier is concerned.
Physical damage claims vastly outweigh liability claims due to frequency...

Sleeper Benz

If y'all think MB is not collecting and selling all the data it can collect on you, including to your insurance company, I have a Bridge I'd like to sell you in Brooklyn

GM relative video, but these practices are not going away anytime soon. Want freedom, buy a pre-OBD vehicle...

braunfels

This guy is right. Car companies are making millions selling your data. When you buy a car, somewhere deep down in all the paperwork you sign is a permission for third parties to have access to your data. If your insurance company is getting this data, you need to know that.

vinflouen

The data cannot go to the insurance company.
how does mercedes know which insurance company you use?
The insurance company you use has to make a direct request to you for your data.
say no and you will pay more because they are not monitoring you.
its not allowed by law guys….rates are not based on data unless you agree with the insurance company, directly.
insurance is between you and the insurance company and is regulated on a state by state basis.

Crito

Government Motors (GM) should have called it OnSpy instead of OnStar. In fact, they really should have gone bankrupt and disappeared but duh gubmint likes corporations who know how to play ball. I mean, whatcha gonna do to GM? There aren't any prisons for corporate entities who break the law. Prisons are only for breathing entities. The only legal remedy is money. And if you get really lucky you might be able to make them pay so much duh gubmint will be forced to bail them out again with your own tax dollars. Yeah, "remedy" my ***-ets. The law is a racket too.

badq45t

I don't know about cars that have a bunch of connect features that are uploading and downloading but I cut off the MB features on my 16' and if I push the SOS button (did it once accidentally) and no a thing happens. Maybe newer models that are connected but that a don't see how any ODB2 car is uploading...for me I could have saved some $$ with Mercury with a little thing in ODB2 reader and for me wife great idea me terrible idea, while I am a older dude now I still drive in a spirited fashion and my old and new insurance company only know I have no accidents or ticketts (know of wood) in many many years.