Collect more personal data to leverage for insurance purchases:
Recently, I started a much deeper effort collecting more data about myself with the help of technology- exercise habits, nutrition, sleeping habits, driving habits, commuting or radius of driving, etc. All of these data points have been collected by other vendors in an effort to sell me more consumer based products but for all those other sharks out there – you’ll love this… I am collecting more personal data to leverage for insurance purchases.
Why?
Why should this data collection be one sided effort by others, especially if you can bundle all different data sources to prove your a best in class risk. The more data you can share with insurers to prove you are best in class risk, the better.
Which Tools?
These are some of the tools I use:
- Fitbit and other bio-metric devices
- Myfitnesspal
- Waze
- Uber
- Driving journal/Driving apps- from Insurance carriers
- Social media presence -Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin
These tools have great interfaces for history, records, data input, etc.
Future & long term benefits
It is a pain to get in the habit of recording the data but once you get used to it, it’s a breeze.
Not all insurance companies are even prepared to analyze your fitness level or steps to determine the impact on your risk profile. But some are rapidly preparing to analyze this data to outperform peers. See our articles on Machine learning vs. Actuarial science and Big Data.
Eventually there will be insurance companies and 3rd party vendors that analyze this data for insurance companies to help optimize insurance purchase and evaluate risks. For now, I volunteer the information as way to leverage my habits and lifestyle to get Cheaper insurance costs.
Driving slower, good sleep patterns, eating healthier or exercising more than average are all great data points to show you are better than average risk.
Deductible/Retention
The other way I use the data is to benchmark myself vs others to determine my risk retention or deductible.
You can research/benchmark other friends and family on various health related tools about weekly steps, activity level, etc. You can also look at your driving data and compare it to public studies and reports. Evaluating how quickly you take turns, how long you are in the care/control of another driver (Uber), the ratings of the drivers you accept rides from, etc.
For example, if the average rate for a driver of my age, driving history, make, model, in my area is X and I am best in class risk (X-y%). I theoretically would be over paying by “y” to help the insurance company fund for the worst in class drivers, their expenses, salaries, bonuses, etc.
Conclusion:
Finally… let’s face it- insurers are going to start requesting this info anyway, why not be ahead of the curve with your collection methods and while you can leverage it for your own benefit.
Embrace change, technology, and data – start now.
If you have other suggestions of ways to collect or utilize your data please share and comment below.
