Paul's Day Job

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

Many of you will know that I have a day job as well as running MoDaCo, fewer of you will know what it is ;-)

Well, I work in a Technology Leadership (read R&D) team for Norwich Union, the UK's largest insurer, and I am currently a consultant taking a technical lead role on a project called 'Pay As You Drive'.

Today is a very exciting day for us, as we have brought our first product to market!

Info:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4167347.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0...1388623,00.html

Pretty cool eh?

I also drove 7 hours today with a 4 hour meeting in the middle, and i'm knackered ;-)

P

[Guest Gorskar]

It makes sense though - thats when the young boy-racers think that roads revert from public thoughafare to private rally tracks (+ when drink related accidents are more likely to occur)

The GPS I assume is used for tracking the amount of miles done.

Tracking stolen cars with it I guess is a useful side-benefit.

Very Cool

It is however rediculously big-brother-ish :shock:

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

Exactly, it's the perfect application of the Pay-As-You-Drive concept! :D

Yeah, the GPS does exactly that.

I'm interested in people's perceptions of the 'big brother' element... what makes it 'big brother'?

P

[Guest beersoft]

does it have bluetooth, and can we run $gpsnavsoftwre with it :D

it is cool tho, some of the kids on the road today need some looking after

/me gets back to grumbling about how much his insurance is, and why isn't there a modaco plus discount from NU

later

Owen

[Guest Gorskar]

Well, the GPS (tied in with a street map) could be used to get an exact picture of ALL your movements.

It COULD use that information to see if you drive on high accident roads, how often, and how far by you exceed the speed limits etc.

Then of course you have to be very VERY careful about who has access to this data.

[Guest furby]

Looks really impressive, premiums when you're young are so high.If wasn't 22 I'd definately give this a go cos it always amusing when your insurance costs more than your car :D

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

No it doesn't have Bluetooth :D

The data COULD be used in that way, but, of course, it won't!

P

[Guest Gorskar]

Well I guess you'd probably know, so I'll take your word on that.

Question is though whether potential customers would think this?

And wouldnt it be tempting for the Insurance company to gather the data, even if they dont use it to offset premiums...

Probably however, if people see that its going to save them a lot of money they'll think what the hey, and use it anyway.

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

Exactly... i'm pretty sure when I was a young-er driver I would have jumped at this, and I think that you can be pretty sure that the UK's largest insurer isn't going to start misusing your data :D

Privacy is a big concern for the customer though, and something that needs to be overcome when using a product as new as this.

I personally just think the technology is damn cool :D

P

[Guest chucky.egg]

Not sure I like the idea of tracking

Nothing to hide (honest :D ) but ... don't ban me Paul! ... insurance companies will always find a way to screw you out of money (either in premiums or "we're not paying because you said your car was blue" sort of things)

Having said that I used to pay £1000/year for insurance, so if it lowers the price for my son (in 15 years time!) then it has potential

[Guest chucky.egg]

I think that you can be pretty sure that the UK's largest insurer isn't going to start misusing your data :D

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hmmmm.

Define "misuse"

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

What would you define as misuse?

P

[Guest florin_m]

AAA a new "work" for me www.car-check.co.uk unlock(reset) your car in less then 5 minutes :D

Edited January 12, 2005 by florin_m

[Guest beersoft]

my view on the 'tracking' is

its ok to log how many miles i do, and when i do them

taking average speed is ok, but i dont want a nasty letter from nu or the law saying "ok Mr Smith, lets have 3 Points and £60 for going 3 miles an hour over the speedlimit on the such and such date, on the whatever road" but a nice cheque at the end of the year saying "Mr Smith, congratulations on doing 20,000 miles without crashing, or driving like you stole it" would rock :D

i quite like the "blackbox" feature that you could have if your in a crash, knowing how you where driving , ie like a good boy or girl, before some insane salesrep rear ends you.

how long they keep the data for might be a concern, would it be data protection style 2 years or financial style 5 years or lazy server admin style few months untill i run out of drive space on the server for storing mp3s

im kinda for this, but the evil uses of the data scare me a bit

later

Owen

[Guest chucky.egg]

What would you define as misuse?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry, I was in a bad mood last night!

For me misuse might be simply using it to send me "special offers I may be interested in", but for NU "misuse" might be selling it openly on the Internet to some guy whose avatar is him and his mates showing off their new kalashnikovs.

I can't believe they won't use the data to some advantage, but that might just be charging you an extra £n every time you drive near an accident blackspot or a pub... or maybe not covering you if you're driving home from a pub, just in case you've had a drink?

But then again us drink-driving, joy-riding ex-cons always have been paranoid!

[Guest philgriffiths]

I think its a prety good idea as it offers a very personal policy, plus it might also stop people lieing on policies regarding things like how many miles they drive. But I think the tarrif is also a little unfair on drivers who have to work unsociable hours, since it will penalise these people who will be forced to pay peak tarrif rates just to commute to work.

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

Not so much unfair, as simply not the policy for them!

P

I think its a prety good idea as it offers a very personal policy, plus it might also stop people lieing on policies regarding things like how many miles they drive. But I think the tarrif is also a little unfair on drivers who have to work unsociable hours, since it will penalise these people who will be forced to pay peak tarrif rates just to commute to work.

[Guest chucky.egg]

I see what you mean.

I only work nights very rarely now, but if it was me it would cost me £60 to get to work and back - which is most of what I'd get in overtime in the first place.

Even the Off Peak prices mount up quickly. It would cost me £3.60 to get to work in normal office hours, the train is £5.30 so if you factor in petrol costs etc there won't be much in it

Maybe it's aimed at reducing car use

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

Exactly that... the whole point is you discourage these drivers from driving at what are the highest risk times.

I mean, £1 a mile, might as well take a Taxi right?

P

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

I'd do it, if i had a car.. :D

What data specifically is logged?

Eg, say someone saw your car parked outside the bank 10 mins before it was robbed. Would the data recorded allow police to confirm or deny this?

[Guest Dr_StrangeTrick]

Hi Paul, this is probably not the right place to ask this and I don’t know if you will be able to answer the question.

Do you know if this will be offered to drivers over the age of 21?

[Guest Confucious]

He he - just think of all thos speeding tickets when the police get their hands on the data.

If florin doesn't hack it then how long before someone else does - will NU pay out to people that have done "negative" miles? :D

I think a simpler answer would be to just ban anyone under the age of 40 from driving - it would make the roads clearer for us oldies :D

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

Not at the current time :D

P

Hi Paul, this is probably not the right place to ask this and I don’t know if you will be able to answer the question.

Do you know if this will be offered to drivers over the age of 21?

[Guest ian_dazookeeper]

I do not like this idea at all, i pay road tax to use the roads when ever i want, i pay insurance so i am covered in case i have an accident, i pay fuel for the amount i drive, now i am going to pay more for diffrent times of day, upto £1 per mile!?

lets say i pay £50 per month insurance i got out just 5 times in that month after 11pm do ten miles thats the same price, not included the amont in the day time.

i do 80 miles per day to work and back, 100 miles per month free?!?! not too good at all.

very bad idea for me.

as for driving after 11pm and having a accident, i have now been driving since i was 17 and are out most nights, yet i have never had a accident, nor have i been pulled for speeding.

why punish the normal humans among us, why not just the n*bs

[Guest Pondrew]

ian_dazookeeper, you did notice that it was only 18-20 years old and OPTIONAL?

Chill mate, no ones gonna make you use this scheme, it's a trial and even if it was succesful I doubt many insurance companies will take it on in the immediate future.