Fighting Terrorism With Car Insurance

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Since the 9/11 attacks, it seems that personal privacy is fair game for businesses now. A few years ago, getting a car insurance quote was not a big deal, especially if you had a clean driving record. Now, it's not how well you drive but how well you live your life.

It's all about the background checks. Do you have less-than-perfect credit because of how you control your money? Well, obviously you can't control the gas and brake pedals very well either. Your dedicated insurance company will have to adjust your payments accordingly. Do you have a ticket for jay-walking? Well, if you can't move your legs properly to steer your body, how can you move your arms to steer your car? Another payment adjustment. Even if you have a spotless record, you're probably hiding some secret, un-America thought that makes you a hazard on the road -- that's the surcharge on your bill that your agent can't explain but 'has to be there'.

I don't know if the terrorists won. But I bet they're the ones driving without insurance...

Lady Luck Cracked A Smile and My Windshield

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After 180,000 miles of travel, my car had more tiny pits in its windshield than there are in a miniature cherry orchard. I tend to think of these marks as tiny love scars from all the miles I've driven to take care of my family and friends. My pitted windshield provides a relatively clear view, until I drive facing the sun. Then it becomes a very sparkly blast of glare and star patterns. Until last week, I had to endure this since my car insurance didn't cover its replacement. What a pane! And then, Lady Luck cracked a smile. While I was driving and wondering how much longer I would have to put up with this, a rock came out of no where and began a glass fracture that quickly meandered across the windshield. Ta-Da! My insurance covered that and with no deductible. Now I can see clearly! It's amazing how we don't realize how much we are compensating for inconveniences and aggravations in our lives until they are removed.

Trends in Automotive Insurance

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My auto insurance company questions everything. I think I have a $100 debatable policy. Regardless, the auto insurance business will have another excuse to raise your rates as high-tech comes to the industry.

Ideally, the insurance business would like to charge you by the exact mileage that you drive. To this end, several experimental programs have been started in the European Union, North America and Japan. On some of their customers' vehicles, automobile insurance businesses have installed devices that read speed and mileage from the car's OnBoard diagnostic port. Other customers have GPS systems that relay their driving habits back to the insurance company. (One East European country is relying on a low tech method of Nagging-Mother-In-Law-in-the-Backseat.)

Of course, some people are questioning the privacy aspects of these pilot programs. I don't know why. If you've ever applied for auto insurance, they end up knowing more about you than the NSA. So what if a business records your travel history? As long as they don't share it with the taxman, what's the worry? We know that will never happen {wink}{wink}.

What's not clear is whether this will lower rates for safe drivers or raise premiums for everyone because of the fancy new gadgets. At least, we won't need a bigger car with Big Brother driving with us. Let's see what the next five years bring.