Augustus

Insurance laws vary from state-to-state and are heavily regulated. Here in Illinois, for instance, the Snapshot thing isn't even allowed (probably because State Farm has lobbied against it...)

FAQs: Snapshot Discount, Pay As You Drive®, Usage-Based Insurance ? Progressive

"Could my rate go up based on my driving?
No, Snapshot won’t increase your rate.* And remember, you can track your projected discount online, and if you don’t think you’ll save money, you have the option to cancel Snapshot. "

The * points to a disclosure about Georgia & Rhode Island. Rhode Island appears to be the only state that allows them to raise your rates based on the Snapshot, up to 9%.

The Progressive Corporation — MyRate Terms & Conditions

So unless you live in Rhode Island, or your particular state changes their laws sometime in the future, the Snapshot shouldn't cause your rates to increase. Shouldn't. But I'm not sure how much faith I'd put into that, because insurance companies can and do fiddle with rates as they see fit. Slap on a Snapshot and drive 100mph at 2am every day. Your rates may not increase right now, but I bet they will at your next renewal. Insurance companies love data. And they will use it against you. And I say that as someone who used to work as a data analyst at a global life insurance company. If you do anything that violates their "good driver" rules, I guarantee that there's a database somewhere that's logged it.

All that said, I would not want one of these in my car. I'm not much of a tin-foil hatter, nor do I drive recklessly or at odd times, but the idea of this creeps me out.

I doubt this sort of thing will become mandatory for all drivers. Not for a while. But I would bet that as other companies develop their own versions, we'll start to see increased rates for those that refuse it. I can also imagine companies only offering insurance to certain high-risk groups if the customer agrees to have one of these.

Until then, the best way to save money on insurance is to cross-shop other insurance companies.

If anyone has a Snapshot - it plugs into your OBD2 port, right? Couldn't you just unplug it if you're doing something you shouldn't be?