Aggressive drivers are bad insurance risks. But how's an auto insurer to know? Basically, they have to guess. Your driving record and your gender -- sorry, guys -- are good places for them to start.
But what if insurance companies could actually monitor your driving habits right from the car and tell, firsthand, if you're an aggressive driver? That'd be the best way to know. And that's why some insurance companies offer discounts to drivers willing to let Big Brother ride shotgun.
Again, this is a trade-off the driver makes willingly. In the case of Progressive's Snapshot, a small device plugs into the car's diagnostics port. It doesn't record where you drive or even how fast. All it records is how many miles you drive, what time of day and how hard you step on the brakes. Frequent hard braking shows aggressive tendencies and that, Progressive's analysts have found, is an excellent predictor of crash risk.
Drivers can agree to have their braking habits monitored for six months and, in return, they can qualify for a discount of up to 30%, Progressive says.
The $16.4 million Ferrari wasn't the only multi-million dollar car sold at this year's California classic car auctions.
