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.

  • Cyborganism
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    18 months ago

    I still have my 2010 Mazda 3. The only tech it has is Bluetooth connectivity for phone and music and some voice commands for calls.

    The day I will change cars will be the day my car completely dies and there’s nothing I can do about it, or it becomes illegal to drive, or it gets wrecked in an accident.

    I don’t ever want the new cars. I hate hate hate the stupid touch tablets they’ve put to control everything instead of physical knobs, and now this fucking crap where your car spies on you and rats you out to you insurance company.

    • Mike D.
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      18 months ago

      Agreed.

      I now need to root my Android and put a new OS so it stops telling Google where I am. I’m slightly afraid as I just want my phone to work when I need it.

      I’m sure T-Mobile uses my location data for something too.