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sachilles
sachilles SuperDork
10/10/12 3:47 p.m.

Who knows about this progressive snapshot thing? Looks like it's a obd2 device, is it some sort of datalogger. IE, might it be a cheap way to get myself a datalogger if I have no intention to use Progressive insurance? What info is it recording?

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill HalfDork
10/10/12 3:50 p.m.

I wonder how you would get the information off such a thing?

fidelity101
fidelity101 Reader
10/10/12 4:02 p.m.

Probably ABS and and traction control events or other misc module monitored info.

midknight
midknight Reader
10/10/12 4:02 p.m.

Don't know if they will give it to you if you don't buy the insurance. Can't believe that folks who buy the insurance are falling for this crap. It's like inviting the fox into the hen house. And remember, if you move on to another insurance, they do share information. First it was your credit as a reason to raise your rates, then oh looky, he went over 70 overtaking that semi- adjust that rate!! It's not just the government that's taking big brother to a whole 'nother level. Just pay attention to Flo over there while we ease these dollars out your wallet. Ok, rant off.

mndsm
mndsm PowerDork
10/10/12 4:03 p.m.

AFAIK, all it really does is record braking instances. I know a friend of mine had one, TC kicked on in a snow storm, and it showed something like 200 abnormal braking events, in like 300 feet.

92CelicaHalfTrac
92CelicaHalfTrac MegaDork
10/10/12 4:04 p.m.

I have one i can send to you i think if you want to dissect it. Pulled it out of a Disco in a junkyard that had rear ended somebody quite hard.

ST_ZX2
ST_ZX2 HalfDork
10/10/12 4:13 p.m.
midknight wrote: Don't know if they will give it to you if you don't buy the insurance. Can't believe that folks who buy the insurance are falling for this crap. It's like inviting the fox into the hen house. And remember, if you move on to another insurance, they do share information. First it was your credit as a reason to raise your rates, then oh looky, he went over 70 overtaking that semi- adjust that rate!! It's not just the government that's taking big brother to a whole 'nother level. Just pay attention to Flo over there while we ease these dollars out your wallet. Ok, rant off.

This. Absolutely one-hundred-percent spot on.

erohslc
erohslc HalfDork
10/10/12 4:20 p.m.

I'm betting that the data is encrypted.
But worth a try.

When you work on it, be sure to wear a mask, or put tape over the tiny camera lens ;)

And wear gloves.

oldtin
oldtin SuperDork
10/10/12 4:53 p.m.
92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: I have one i can send to you i think if you want to dissect it. Pulled it out of a Disco in a junkyard that had rear ended somebody quite hard.

At least there wouldn't be any abnormal braking events if you just plow into someone.

Tom_Spangler
Tom_Spangler HalfDork
10/10/12 4:53 p.m.
ST_ZX2 wrote:
midknight wrote: Don't know if they will give it to you if you don't buy the insurance. Can't believe that folks who buy the insurance are falling for this crap. It's like inviting the fox into the hen house. And remember, if you move on to another insurance, they do share information. First it was your credit as a reason to raise your rates, then oh looky, he went over 70 overtaking that semi- adjust that rate!! It's not just the government that's taking big brother to a whole 'nother level. Just pay attention to Flo over there while we ease these dollars out your wallet. Ok, rant off.
This. Absolutely one-hundred-percent spot on.

Plus eleventy-billion. I'd never heard of those things until one of my co-workers got one from State Farm. The fact that he'd let his insurance company monitor him to that extent, VOLUNTARILY, just blew my mind. I'll gladly pay higher rates to avoid that crap.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner MegaDork
10/10/12 5:33 p.m.
Tom_Spangler wrote:
ST_ZX2 wrote:
midknight wrote: Don't know if they will give it to you if you don't buy the insurance. Can't believe that folks who buy the insurance are falling for this crap. It's like inviting the fox into the hen house. And remember, if you move on to another insurance, they do share information. First it was your credit as a reason to raise your rates, then oh looky, he went over 70 overtaking that semi- adjust that rate!! It's not just the government that's taking big brother to a whole 'nother level. Just pay attention to Flo over there while we ease these dollars out your wallet. Ok, rant off.
This. Absolutely one-hundred-percent spot on.
Plus eleventy-billion. I'd never heard of those things until one of my co-workers got one from State Farm. The fact that he'd let his insurance company monitor him to that extent, VOLUNTARILY, just blew my mind. I'll gladly pay higher rates to avoid that crap.

So, have you got a "club card" for your local grocery store?

It would be really interesting to plug into one of these boxes. I assume it's nothing more than a recorder, and one that will only pull in OBD-II data. I'm having a hard time coming up with a fun use for that, as there are some pretty good inexpensive dataloggers out there already.

BobOfTheFuture
BobOfTheFuture HalfDork
10/10/12 5:59 p.m.
Tom_Spangler wrote: I'll gladly pay higher rates to avoid that crap.

Well, Thats the point, isn't it.

Pay us this way, Or pay us that way.

Reminds me of some other, recently mandatory 'services'.

I thought that kind of datalogging was only a laptop and the right type of connector away? I havent gotten into that yet, But I was hoping...

mad_machine
mad_machine MegaDork
10/10/12 7:15 p.m.

how soon till they raise the rates on non-OBDII cars because they cannot datamine them?

CGLockRacer
CGLockRacer HalfDork
10/10/12 7:20 p.m.

I wonder what it would say if you were to leave it plugged in at a track day

BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim PowerDork
10/10/12 7:45 p.m.
CGLockRacer wrote: I wonder what it would say if you were to leave it plugged in at a track day

"Gissa mo' money".

stuart in mn
stuart in mn PowerDork
10/10/12 8:02 p.m.

A person on another web board I frequent got one of the Progressive devices put in his car; this was a while ago so I don't remember the details but I believe he could log onto a website and see a record of the 'events'. As mentioned, at least some of them were from heavy braking.

Double_Wishbone
Double_Wishbone New Reader
10/10/12 8:10 p.m.
mad_machine wrote: how soon till they raise the rates on non-OBDII cars because they cannot datamine them?

This is what I was thinking as well.

I'd be really curious to see how much money Progressive is making off of this...because, let's face it, an insurance company wouldn't do anything without looking for profit.

Craigloveswagons
Craigloveswagons New Reader
10/12/12 11:52 a.m.

I did the snapshot thing, you first buy the policy, they send you the device(s), and drive around for 6 months then send it back. It monitors the amount of driving time, time of day you drive and hard braking. (Maybe more but who knows). After one month use, they send you a check if it went down. Then at 6months when you renew, they give you a bigger discount.

I think it sends the info via cell phone towers back to Progressive and you can keep track of it online. It's basically pay-per-use insurance with a few driving-style aspects. The hard braking is a little tricky but I just kept a good following distance and they went down a lot.

I got sick during this 6 month period and had to have a few surgeries, then I lost my job because I was out so much. So, I hardly drove in the 6months.

My car went down 24% and my wife's went down 13%. I think we saved around $90 on a 6 month policy for both of our cars. So it worked for us.

I only got this because my wife and I live close to our jobs, we drive slowly and we don't use our cars much as we spend a lot of time at home with our new baby. They say your rates can't go up but they didn't say anything about kicking you out if you drive like a maniac.

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH PowerDork
10/12/12 12:52 p.m.

You can get better things for this purpose off the shelf for $500 and under.

And these things are stupid because the granny that obliviously drives dangerously while everyone dodges her looks great, and the people doing the dodging get their insurance jacked up because they "drive erratically."

belteshazzar
belteshazzar UltraDork
10/12/12 12:56 p.m.

i would not be interested even if it meant free insurance.

berkeley you progressive.

novaderrik
novaderrik UltraDork
10/12/12 5:04 p.m.
GameboyRMH wrote: You can get better things for this purpose off the shelf for $500 and under.

you can buy a $15 bluetooth thingamajig that plugs into the OBD2 port and a $10 app for your Android powered phone to do these things and so much more..

Tom_Spangler
Tom_Spangler HalfDork
10/12/12 6:29 p.m.
novaderrik wrote:
GameboyRMH wrote: You can get better things for this purpose off the shelf for $500 and under.
you can buy a $15 bluetooth thingamajig that plugs into the OBD2 port and a $10 app for your Android powered phone to do these things and so much more..

Actually, the app is only $5: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.prowl.torque&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsIm9yZy5wcm93bC50b3JxdWUiXQ..

I have it and love it. I use it as a boost gauge in my truck, and I used it to record video with "telemetry" when I did a track day in my M3. Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to4Q8TePjMc

novaderrik
novaderrik UltraDork
10/12/12 11:10 p.m.
Tom_Spangler wrote:
novaderrik wrote:
GameboyRMH wrote: You can get better things for this purpose off the shelf for $500 and under.
you can buy a $15 bluetooth thingamajig that plugs into the OBD2 port and a $10 app for your Android powered phone to do these things and so much more..
Actually, the app is only $5: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.prowl.torque&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsIm9yZy5wcm93bC50b3JxdWUiXQ.. I have it and love it. I use it as a boost gauge in my truck, and I used it to record video with "telemetry" when I did a track day in my M3. Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to4Q8TePjMc

yeah, that's the one.. it's the reason that i'm probably never going to bother fixing the Matco scantool that i bought a few years ago with some sort of a software or hardware issue- what's the point of sending the scanner to OTC and possibly spending hundreds of dollars to get it fixed when i can spend $20 and do more things with my cell phone?

NOHOME
NOHOME Dork
10/13/12 7:28 a.m.

Not a case of being paranoid or not, is more a case of "Are you paranoid enough".

I may not be smart enough to know all the ways the insurance company is screwing me, but I am smart enought to know that they stay awake late at night figuring new ways to do it.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker
Giant Purple Snorklewacker MegaDork
10/13/12 9:03 a.m.
ST_ZX2 wrote:
midknight wrote: Don't know if they will give it to you if you don't buy the insurance. Can't believe that folks who buy the insurance are falling for this crap. It's like inviting the fox into the hen house. And remember, if you move on to another insurance, they do share information. First it was your credit as a reason to raise your rates, then oh looky, he went over 70 overtaking that semi- adjust that rate!! It's not just the government that's taking big brother to a whole 'nother level. Just pay attention to Flo over there while we ease these dollars out your wallet. Ok, rant off.
This. Absolutely one-hundred-percent spot on.

Fight it like illegal aliens (proles)... don't buy insurance. All it requires is nothing to lose!

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