There have been many articles recently about car companies looking for additional revenue streams using their cars’ data to share individual owners’ driving habits with insurance companies. The car companies sell the data, and insurance companies comb through it to identify their policyholders (to raise rates) Not surprisingly people are shocked when they get notice their rates are changing. My concern is whether Volvo might do the same with apps like the driving journal (or even more generally with all the data an XC60 constantly records). Looking at the US privacy policies there are a few statements about what they can do, but not necessarily about what they won’t do.

Does anyone else have a related concern or have read the policies statements more carefully?

 

I certainly understand your feelings about any company using the data they collect to sell to other companies. As you know many times you can opt out. For me I have chosen 90% of the time to leave it as is. As a risk manager data is the most critical thing a company or person can use to analyze what might happen in the future. know I’m not on the same track as most people are on privacy. Our information is out there in so many places.

I know this not the same as selling my data to another company: I actually use a tracking device from State Farm to help me judge how I drive. Most people I know think I’m nuts to do that but I’m doing it compete against myself to become a better driver. I found out that I do have some areas that do need improvements.

 

Thanks very much for your note. I am generally pretty relaxed about data that I know is being collected. I just wanted to make sure people are aware of something that could have a direct negative financial impact on them. Not sure what Volvo does with the journal data, but raising just in case. Thanks again; appreciate your thoughts and experiences.

 

I know what the word 'assume' means but in this case, I'm also fairly relaxed. Using this word, I assume Volvo does not randomly send info to insurance companies. But just imagine that if you were unfortunate enough to experience an accident and you wanted to prove to your insurance company what your speed was or that you were braking the car, then if Volvo 'could' provide that info to them you might be grateful. That said, I hope if my insurance company ever has to ask Volvo for that info, that I would have been driving in one of my 'usually' responsible modes .

 

I agree but the issue is not the car company not providing the info when requested by a driver; rather it’s the car companies providing the info to 3d parties without drivers’ approval or even knowledge even when there is no incident just to make money. I personally would not assume Volvo is not doing this, but I would “hope” it’s not (which is why I raised the question of whether anyone has looked in more detail at their terms and conditions, for example around using the Journal app). Clearly GM, Ford, and others having been selling such information without their drivers knowing.

A snippet from an article in The NY Times:

”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.

According to the report, the trip details had been provided by General Motors — the manufacturer of the Chevy Bolt. LexisNexis analyzed that driving data to create a risk score “for insurers to use as one factor of many to create more personalized insurance coverage,” according to a LexisNexis spokesman, Dean Carney. Eight insurance companies had requested information about Mr. Dahl from LexisNexis over the previous month.”

 

I have serious concerns about big brother. Of course invasive data is available on all of us but we can choose to minimize the impact. On my XC60 T8 I allow connected safety and the app itself, but have turned off vehicle analytics and the horribly intrusive driving journal. I have not allowed any applications access to my Volvo ID account and data.

If you want everyone in the world to be looking over your shoulder every moment of your life, have at it. I will remove myself from every list in every area of my life that allows removal. It’s why I only use Apple products, wouldn’t own an Android phone if my life depended on it, find all things Windows suspect as well (though manageable now with some effort).

As far as safe driving is concerned, I rely on my experience and ability, not big brother. I have been driving since 1967, my best guess about a million and a half miles, and have never had an at fault accident. It’s been six years since I had a moving violation and have had only a handful of them in my lifetime. When I drive, I drive. That means rarely any music or radio, and allowing limited distractions.

I do see that a lot of people have a low level of basic skill when behind the wheel, and my take is that those who are exceptionally cautious lack confidence and often put me and others at risk. Like the idiots who stop in a merge lane or before entering a traffic circle. OMG!!!