Admiral has announced plans to start bidding to car owners for the first time based on how “safe” it looks on Facebook. Here’s how to get a discount!
Auto Accident Insurance Credit: Andrew Steinmetz – Flickr.com.
One of the UK’s largest insurance companies recently announced that they plan to start using your Facebook data to assess whether your online personality indicates whether you are a safe driver.
The admiral claims that their research shows that a link can be found between the way drivers present themselves on Facebook and their responsibilities on the road, such as using concise sentences and offering exact dates to Meet with friends instead of “tonight” or “next week.”
However, they promise to avoid your photos. (Pun intended) Due to privacy regulations, so you don’t have to worry about taking all the night shots, obviously it is advisable that you hop in your car and drive home minutes later.
Pon was the first insurance company to offer to use Facebook data to calculate prices. But could this be the future of insurance across the board? Will content insurers begin to investigate how rich you boast on Facebook and add your words as punishment for making yourself a target for thieves?
Not selling the idea of sharing your Facebook information? Master the art of bargaining, and you may not need to worry, plus we have some additional tips to try in our Cheap Car Insurance Guide.
To save or waste money?
Motor Insurance for Students, an initiative called by Admiral The ‘firstcarquote’ is specifically aimed at first-time drivers who currently insure an average of £ 1,300 per year.
They claim that those who volunteer for their Facebook profile assessments will receive a discount of up to £ 350 per year on their auto insurance.
The Admiral said the initiative is meant to help younger drivers prove themselves a safe bet for insurers, rather than having to wait until they can set their own safe driving record and no claim bonuses. Which could take years
Apparently, the initiative would only be used to offer discounts, and the information collected won’t be used to penalise ‘bad’ drivers on Facebook by increasing premiums (however, they’ve admitted they’re not ruling this out for the future).
Admiral have released the following statement on their website:
New drivers are often quoted much higher insurance premiums as they have little driving history, zero No Claims Bonus and are viewed as ‘high risk’.
But we want to help make sure safe drivers aren’t penalised and get the best price possible.
To do this, we’ll look at your Facebook profile to help us get a better understanding of the type of driver you are.
However, what Admiral have failed to mention in their announcement is that what they’re proposing is against Facebook policy, which states:
Don’t use data obtained from Facebook to make decisions about eligibility, including whether to approve or reject an application or how much interest to charge on a loan.
So whether the initiative will even go ahead or will be blocked by Facebook is yet to be confirmed.
UPDATE: Facebook have just announced they’re blocking Admiral’s plan to use Facebook data for discounts! However, Admiral say they’re still going ahead with releasing the Firstcarquote app, but with ‘reduced functionality’.
How to be a ‘good driver’ on Facebook
According to the research that Admiral have carried out, here are a few tricks you can start working on to make yourself a good driver on Facebook (and set yourself up for a neat discount).
A good driver on Facebook will…
- Avoid exclamation marks (suggests you’re too confident)
- Use specific dates and days of the week instead of “tomorrow”, “next week”, etc.
- Write in short, sharp sentences (cause, you know, anyone who writes longer sentences is too ditzy behind the wheel)
- Avoid using words like “never” or “always” (again, you don’t want to sound too sure of yourself!)
- Use lists in posts (suggests you’re organised).
Admiral claim they will focus on data collected from the previous six months on your Facebook, so if you’re planning on using your account to get a discount, get working on those short, affirmative sentences and get back to them in six months.