California's Revised Pay-As-You-Drive Insurance Draws Continued Objections

The EFF has restated many of their original privacy objections about California's latest revision to the Pay-As-You-Drive auto insurance proposal. Admitting that the amended bill is an improvement, privacy advocates are still uneasy about the surveillance implications of this program. "The proposal centers on a simple idea: infrequent drivers are less of an insurance risk. By pricing policies according to the mileage driven, insurance companies can offer discounts to lower-risk infrequent drivers, and put an appropriate cost penalty on heavy drivers. The state estimates that 30% adoption of PAYD insurance nationwide would reduce miles driven by at least 10% among subscribers, and save 55 million tons of CO2 over the next ten years. The benefits of such a system could be quite dramatic, as California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is sure to emphasize. Such insurance plans first became available in 2004, and are now available as a limited option in 30 US states from insurance companies like Progressive and Liberty Mutual."

Comments

Re:Not just privacy concerns

[rolfwind]

Quite frankly, if the Government is going to mandate insurance, then it should also offer a base insurance program, at cost.

The government can and should mandate insurance on PUBLIC roads.

But to make travel affordable, it should have more public transit.

Re:Less driving = lower risk?

[zero0ne]

mod parent up.