Just heard on the 6pm bbc news that facebook has just blocked admiral from looking at young drivers facebook account to set premiums. What they post what kind of things they do etc.

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Yeah I strongly disagree with this type of data being used by Insco's

Makes a change Facebook doing something right for a chance, and I agree its a disgrace that Admiral would stoop this low.  Anything to make extra money from their customers, invasion of privacy and just downright dirty, typical of insurance companies these forget customer service, looking after the customer its all boils down to one thing......how much profit can they take.

i dont use farcebook or any of the social media type things because the amount of information that they gather is ridiculous , if you post enough of the total stupid things i read then just a single post doesnt mean anything but after 100 or 200 posts a picture starts to come together , just because youre at home in the nice and warm (just like me) dont mean you are not being watched , the internet is good but its also got its down side

I just do not understand how someone's lifestyle should influence their premium. For instance if you check my facebook I post a lot about fast cars, people driving fast etc but I myself am quite a Joe blogs.

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Seems a bit pointless, if your privacy settings are set right they won't be able to see anything anyway!!  

 

10 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Seems a bit pointless, if your privacy settings are set right they won't be able to see anything anyway!!  

 

I guess the whole point of it is that you can give them "consent" to let their computer algorithms trawl their Facebook page, in return for a possible discount.

There comes a point where you value your privacy more over a few saved quid. For the same reason I never had and never will have a black box in my car (for which I would get unfairly penalized anyway - yes I sometimes brake harshly, but that doesn't even mean I drive unsafely!!)

11 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Seems a bit pointless, if your privacy settings are set right they won't be able to see anything anyway!!  

 

The insurers were actually wanting access to people's accounts Tom, hence Facebook blocking it. ( access as in passwords/usernames )

Under data protection laws insurance companies have no legal right to request that type of data.

Tbh the only reason Facebook said no is because they want to keep the data for their own nefarious ends.

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Seems a bit pointless, if your privacy settings are set right they won't be able to see anything anyway!!  

 

I guess the whole point of it is that you can give them "consent" to let their computer algorithms trawl their Facebook page, in return for a possible discount.

There comes a point where you value your privacy more over a few saved quid. For the same reason I never had and never will have a black box in my car (for which I would get unfairly penalized anyway - yes I sometimes brake harshly, but that doesn't even mean I drive unsafely!!)

I have a black box but still drive how i want to.

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1 hour ago, Stoney871 said:

Under data protection laws insurance companies have no legal right to request that type of data.

I am not sure that's entirely correct. They have every right to request the data, but you do not have to supply it. If they want to have certain information before insuring (or even quoting for) someone, they can ask for it - they are assuming a risk after all. It's up to them and their underwriters to decide what the risk factors are. A customer's right is whether or not to take up the service, or surrender the requested information for getting a quote to use that service. Data protection is more about safeguarding your information, not restricting what can be asked for.  Yes, there are principles of only having the necessary information for the purpose and having it for a lawful purpose. If you give them that information, knowing they will be using it to quote for insurance, that pretty much overcomes the first of those principles in my opinion.  And insurance is a lawful purpose for having information.  If anything, Facebook are the ones who would have to consider what impact this would have on data protection. They may well need to have their policy rewritten. Especially as it will in essence mean that a free online service could start costing you money in higher insurance premiums!

 

Beyond data protection... there's the fact that people will start posting fake statuses to indicate a lower risk.  This then harms Facebook's entire mode of operation and business model, as they target their ads based on people's interests (some of which is gleaned from status updates).

I am not surprised that the Admiral Group is the first to push this though.  They were the first to push 'black boxes' - or as I call them - the 'goodbye to your privacy boxes'.  They were also the first company to start treating speed awareness courses as though you have a speeding conviction.

And from personal experience of one of their sister companies (Bell), I wouldn't go near the Admiral Group ever again.  That is Admiral, Elephant, Bell and Diamond by the way. Oh, they also own confused.com if you were interested :)

Admiral are the worst company for asking stupid questions on insurance claims too.

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13 hours ago, Incontro said:

I guess the whole point of it is that you can give them "consent" to let their computer algorithms trawl their Facebook page, in return for a possible discount.

There comes a point where you value your privacy more over a few saved quid. For the same reason I never had and never will have a black box in my car (for which I would get unfairly penalized anyway - yes I sometimes brake harshly, but that doesn't even mean I drive unsafely!!)

Tbh, if you value privacy about something, you probably wouldn't be posting it on the internet.  I use FB every day but don't post anything on it that I wouldn't be comfortable telling a stranger... 

11 hours ago, Russ said:

The insurers were actually wanting access to people's accounts Tom, hence Facebook blocking it. ( access as in passwords/usernames )

Hmm, I doubt they'd be allowed to see passwords but I guess you mean they'd be able to see private stuff on your page.  That 'private' stuff is still visible to friends etc though, so there shouldn't be anything too sensitive on there really.  I must admit, I thought they already checked the 'public' stuff on facebook anyway, they'd be mad not to when people have undeclared mods and incorrect jobs etc!

 

 

Personally I've been using Admiral (and EUI group) for years, they always come out cheapest for me and I like the online update system.  Also can't complain about the fact they spent £825 replacing my windscreen last year lol.  The only pain is the auto-renewal, but that seems to be the same for a lot of them now.