State Farm Files California Pay-As-You Drive Request

[MNeagle]

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., the largest U.S. car insurer, is the first to apply to the California regulator to offer pay-as-you-drive coverage in which motorists get discounts for travelling less.

The application from the Bloomington, Illinois-based insurer is under review, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said today in an e-mailed statement.

Insurers say that pay-as-you drive, in which companies track additional data about driving habits, allows them to better price policies and may encourage customers to make fewer trips, reducing gasoline usage. California, the largest U.S. state, may join the U.K. and the Netherlands in permitting the pricing. Poizner said the plan won’t violate customer privacy.

“It’s just common sense that Californians who choose to drive less should have an option to pay less,” Poizner said in the statement. " I hope other insurers follow suit.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=allrdLbGbYGs&pos=9

[StackerKen]

sounds fair

[Ponce]

Very very good........I drive very little and in summer I drive one of my scooters more than anything else........I wonder if they will charge by the mile?

[woodman]

This sounds fair until one looks at the implications and the underlying fraud of insurance. Firstly, I believe that it would entail a device to track your movement to log miles travelled. Who doesn't believe that this 'option' would be instated as a 'mandatory' in due time?

Secondly, I believe insurance is a form of mass forced gambling. If you want to gamble go ahead but don't force others to do it.

To those who believe that insurance should be mandatory, I don't believe you have looked at the options nor considered the fact that the insurance industry intself is responsible, through lobbying, for forcing the insurance laws upon us. There are far better options than insurance companies who take so much and give so little.