Kenn Dahl says he has always been a careful driver. The owner of a software company near Seattle, he drives a leased Chevrolet Bolt. He’s never been responsible for an accident.
So Mr. Dahl, 65, was surprised in 2022 when the cost of his car insurance jumped by 21 percent. Quotes from other insurance companies were also high. One insurance agent told him his LexisNexis report was a factor.
LexisNexis is a New York-based global data broker with a “Risk Solutions” division that caters to the auto insurance industry and has traditionally kept tabs on car accidents and tickets. Upon Mr. Dahl’s request, LexisNexis sent him a 258-page “consumer disclosure report,” which it must provide per the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
What it contained stunned him: more than 130 pages detailing each time he or his wife had driven the Bolt over the previous six months. It included the dates of 640 trips, their start and end times, the distance driven and an accounting of any speeding, hard braking or sharp accelerations. The only thing it didn’t have is where they had driven the car.
On a Thursday morning in June for example, the car had been driven 7.33 miles in 18 minutes; there had been two rapid accelerations and two incidents of hard braking.
Car companies are directly sending this data to the brokers in exchange for “low millions of dollars.” Imagine destroying all consumer trust in a multi-billion dollar brand for so little. I would never even consider buying a GM or any brand involved in this.
EVERY brand is involved in this. Mozilla org investigated literally every car manufacturer available in the United States last year and gave them all an F for privacy.
I dunno if motorcycles have the infrastructure. I guess if you were willing to ride a motorcycle, that might avoid it.
Obviously it’s possible to stick telemetry on even small vehicles like that, given that the e-bike and e-scooter rental companies rely on it.
I love riding motorcycles. Unfortunately I doubt that motorcycle manufacturers are missing out on that sweet, sweet data money. I don’t need to worry about it with my bike though, considering it’s from the 90’s and was originally a dirt bike
Yeah, I had thought about buying a Bolt because they’re reasonably inexpensive EVs, but this is a definite nope from me.