When using insurance telematics products, what's the catch?

While most drivers we talk to are enthusiastic about telematics insurance or behavior-based insurance products, we often encounter significant concerns about personal data privacy. When you drill down into what these privacy concerns are, it is possible to summarize them into three general questions:

1. What data are you collecting, and who are you sharing it with?
2. How are you using this data?
3. How are you using this data against me, or what’s the catch?

Nothing is surprising here, and in our view, these are legitimate privacy concerns. As people become more aware of how companies are using  their data to make a buck, some are concerned about the consequences of how that data is used. While the first two questions can easily be addressed as part of a standard privacy policy (e.g. data is anonymized, never shared with 3rd parties), a discussion about the consequences of the use of personal data needs to happen out in the open.

So, this means that we have to answer the third question raised by drivers above. That is, how is the data that Allegory collects from a driver going to be used against them? Or simply put, what’s the catch?

So, what's the catch?

The obvious answer is that Allegory never shares your personal data with any third party unless you give us specific permission, as stated in our Privacy Policy. Aside from your account data, such as your name or email address, we collect GPS coordinates and data from your mobile phone’s sensors, but only when the app detects that you’re in a moving car or you start a trip manually. After you complete your trip, we send this data to our servers, analyze it, anonymize it, and then calculate your driving score. This includes risky events that were detected during the trip. All of this information is then accessible to you in the app on the Trips page.

However, what if your driving score determines that you should be potentially charged more for insurance or that you’re not eligible for certain rewards? This is a fair question, but we’re willing to let you in on a secret: Allegory’s ultimate goal as a business is to help incentivize people to become safer drivers, so that they can then become the most profitable auto insurance customers. Time and again, the research has proven that even though they pay the lowest premiums, the safest drivers are the best insurance customers.

Also, in order to use the mobile application, you need to be able to drive, so you already need to have insurance. This means that it’s not possible for us to affect your current insurance. When we do offer telematics insurance or a usage-based insurance policy, and you see a policy that doesn’t make sense to you, you can simply keep your existing policy. However, you can always improve your driving score and prevent accidents with the Allegory app, unlocking better offers for insurance, and of course, special offers from our partners without sharing any of your personal information.

At Allegory, we’re committed to making everyone a safer driver, with focused, non-judgmental coaching and personalized incentives to ensure that your hard work is worth the effort.

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