Wednesday, August 01, 2018

In which I tell people to get off my lawn, and out of my car...

...and generally out of my business.

After agents changed three times in as many years, I figured it was time to explore a different insurance agency for the annual renewal of auto and condo policies. To be honest, other than yelling at them to stop trying to sneak coverage in for things I didn't want, I'd pretty much let the insurance go by on auto-pilot since the big changes when I bought the condo almost seven years ago. An in-depth review seemed overdue.

In the end, I changed agencies, ending up with increased and strengthened coverage on the condo and comparable auto coverage for quite a bit less than the old policy cost. Everything was hunky-dory until this last Saturday.

A letter arrived from the new insurance company, telling me in no uncertain terms what I needed to do for the "Drive Safe and Let Big Brother Track Your Every Move" coverage I had signed up for.

Oh, heck NO.

They required download of an app, insertion of a bluetooth device, logging into the app when you drive and basic "we want to know everything you do" access whenever I am in the car, or I WILL NO LONGER BE ELIGIBLE!!@@!!

Given I'd never consented to this in the first place, ineligibility didn't bother me. But receiving this letter did.

I emailed the new agent, telling her in no uncertain terms I would not be inserting anything anywhere, that this "feature" had never been discussed and that I'd happily pay any difference in premium arising from telling the insurance company to insert their little bluetooth device...someplace other than my car.

Naturally, she insists we discussed it. She's most likely relying on the fact that there are checklists agents use to make sure they present everything to a customer, but I can state definitively this subject was never broached. I would have had exactly the same reaction in a conversation as I did at home when I received the letter:

Do you think I'm so stupid I'm going to willingly let you track me all over the place and dictate my driving? Go Big Brother someone else.

Truth to tell, I never have the bluetooth or the location apps enabled on my phone. Where I am and what I am doing is no one's business but my own. Besides, it's not like big business has a great track record of keeping people's data secure.

More and more often, businesses are touting their intrusion into our lives as a convenience for us. Oooo, just connect to this app and see all you can do! Never mentioning they are tracking your movements both online and in the real world, constantly collecting data. We assume that data will always be used for good.

Do you really believe that?

Anyway, the day after the response from the agent, that she would remove that "coverage", I got the actual bluetooth unit in the mail, along with another letter telling me to %#$%& put it in and follow the directions to activate it.

I wonder if I have to return it, since I won't be using it, or if I can just take a hammer to it?

1 comment:

melissa said...
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