Pay less for car insurance

A high tech scheme to measure driving habits could lead to lower insurance premiums. The pilot scheme, which began last month, is being tested out by the Progressive Group of insurance companies in the US state of Minnesota.

Customers who register their vehicles in the company’s ‘TripSense’ pilot program first plug a data-logging device into a port in their car. The device, called TripSensor, is a free, matchbox-sized device that plugs into a vehicle's On-Board Diagnostic (OBDII) port found near the steering column in virtually all 1996 or later model year vehicles.

Once installed, TripSensor records how much, how fast and when the vehicle is driven. This information is used to calculate the discount the customer may receive when they renew their policy.

TripSensor also collects information about rapid acceleration and braking that is not currently used to calculate the discount. Progressive is collecting this information to better understand if it is predictive of future accidents.

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