Consumer Federation of America Urges Stronger Consumer Protections for Telematics Programs in Auto Insurance

In a letter to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners's (NAIC) Property and Casualty Committee, the Consumer Federation of America and a bunch of other consumer representatives called on the Committee to take stronger action regarding telematics, in order to protect consumers.

Telematics is when a consumer plugs a device into their car, downloads an app on their phone, or has smart technology in their car, and those technologies collect the consumer's driving data and send it to the insurance company. The company that determines the consumer's premium based on that data-and most states have few or no safeguards about the data that is collected by these programs or how companies use that data.

In the letter, we thank the Committee for providing a forum on telematics issues and urge the Committee to develop and issue regulatory guidance for these issues, and also to conduct a data call and issue a white paper on telematics.