Admiral to price car insurance based on Facebook posts

[diddles]

I thought for a moment it was an old April fool however the article appears to be genuine:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/02...

Good luck with that idea.

[Ed Moses]

It would be interesting if they were to analyse Pistonheads posts, rather than Facebook.

[mhurley]

Well i'm not on FB anymore so they wouldn't be able to check me
Anyone else got bored with FB? Seems to have become central to many people's lives

[jmorgan]

Facebook doing what it was intended for. No surprise.

[CrutyRammers]

On behalf of those of us who have been labelled as tinfoil-hatters over the years, I'd just like to say, "ha-ha, told you so".

[Jimmy Recard]

jmorgan said:

Facebook doing what it was intended for. No surprise.

"The scheme is voluntary, and will only offer discounts rather than price increases, "

[Jimmy Recard]

CrutyRammers said:

On behalf of those of us who have been labelled as tinfoil-hatters over the years, I'd just like to say, "ha-ha, told you so".

Does that count if you're still wrong?

[V40Vinnie]

mhurley said:

Well i'm not on FB anymore so they wouldn't be able to check me
Anyone else got bored with FB? Seems to have become central to many people's lives

Careful they'll assume you're high risk like refusing a Black Box... Tinfoil hat

[CrutyRammers]

Jimmy Recard said:

CrutyRammers said:

On behalf of those of us who have been labelled as tinfoil-hatters over the years, I'd just like to say, "ha-ha, told you so".

Does that count if you're still wrong?

What am I wrong about?

[jmorgan]

Jimmy Recard said:

jmorgan said:

Facebook doing what it was intended for. No surprise.

"The scheme is voluntary, and will only offer discounts rather than price increases, "

Either way, you are data to be mined for the benefit of others. This is the visible bit.

[Ninja59]

Be interested to know what Big Data platform they are using to do this (essentially what it really boils down to)...most are using Hadoop (or commercially altered versions there of).

Most critical is then how the data is analysed from the platform in question...

In a way very leading from Admiral,but I would call into question the value of it if the data is not going through another item beyond the big data platform.It is one of the main problems many companies are running into now, most have jumped on the "big data" bandwagon and get even more data in and just create more of a mess as on it's own it means pretty much nothing.

Equally if you do not post much to Facebook, then it being unable to review anything about you and you loose out on a discount option. Well at least we will know which "friends" are posting crap to appear better to Admiral.

[Jimmy Recard]

CrutyRammers said:

What am I wrong about?

You have to opt into it. It's a choice. No one is spying on you.

And it won't be used to increase insurance prices - only to decrease them. I can't see the problem at all

[spookly]

I don't think they will be doing anything particularly clever. I suspect they'll just look at particular risk factors over time, such as membership of certain groups.

What would be concerning to me would be if they start to assume risk based on accidents of others in your social groups. Not sure facebook would appreciate that as it would incentivise you to cut your social network to the bone, and result in people getting dropped from friends lists if they have a crash.

I wonder if they will start to analyse posts and whether their systems will be able to process satire and sarcasm?

If it was me I would just load the premiums of everyone who reposts pithy self help memes, repost crap about being hacked, or post vague attention seeking bks.

[Jimmy Recard]

A lot of 17 year olds are just going to be writing things like "I'm staying in to do my homework, knot and drink tea tonight" rather than "I've got the beers in lads, about to do some acid, let's get fked lads!"

[CrutyRammers]

Jimmy Recard said:

CrutyRammers said:

What am I wrong about?

You have to opt into it. It's a choice. No one is spying on you.

And it won't be used to increase insurance prices - only to decrease them. I can't see the problem at all

I'm sure you can't.
Obviously they're doing this just so they can charge their customers less and hence make lower profits. Of course. Of course they are.

[Jimmy Recard]

CrutyRammers said:

I'm sure you can't.
Obviously they're doing this just so they can charge their customers less and hence make lower profits. Of course. Of course they are.

I think it's probably intended to attract customers who otherwise would've chosen a different firm

[RDMcG]

Perhaps it will cause people to think about posting the infinite details of their lives for the world to see. Ian still astonished that some people post videos of breaking the speed limit for instance. Or being drunk. Most of us have done silly things in our youth. Nowadays you leave an unerasable record. More than just insurance companies are using this stuff. There are large companies helping financial institutions to build out credit profiles that take all social media presence into account.

[jmorgan]

Jimmy Recard said:

A lot of 17 year olds are just going to be writing things like "I'm staying in to do my homework, knot and drink tea tonight" rather than "I've got the beers in lads, about to do some acid, let's get fked lads!"

They will try, hubris is strong in the young. Stuff they write could dog them for years.

[Durzel]

Jimmy Recard said:

"The scheme is voluntary, and will only offer discounts rather than price increases, "

Careful, you're showing that you read the article instead of just the headline there. We don't like your sort around here.

Before everyone else has a coronary, perhaps consider the following - what if your Facebook account is private? What if you don't have one? What if you don't use it for posting inane updates that likes of which this algorithm supposedly targets?

This is the same as black boxes - with all of its attendant flaws as a system. Black boxes have, if you believe the hyperbole, been going to take over our cars now for years. Have they? No. They can lower premiums for groups of people who would otherwise be priced out by indiscriminate statistics. They aren't the answer for everyone, and neither is this.

Edited by Durzel on Wednesday 2nd November 08:31

[rallycross]

They already use Facebook posts when checking insurance claims that are suspect and could be fraudulent. Things that are looked at include links to any other people involved in the claim. Facebook is just one of many sources of data used (from hundreds of sources).

Linking this data to real time quotes for insurance is much more difficult to achieve and the normal "key" bits of info used in insurance pricing ie previous claim history, driving history and data from the credit ref' agencies will remain the key decision criteria for quote pricing.