Facebook posts used to set car insurance premiums ~ station of gear

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First-time car owners could see their premiums fall by £350 under a new scheme that analyses Facebook posts to help set premium rates

2016-11-02 09:30

Insurers will start analysing social media posts on Facebook to help set car insurance premium rates and identify high-risk drivers, according to new plans announced today.

One of the biggest insurers in the UK, Admiral Insurance, has launched a new scheme called Firstcarquote which will analyse the Facebook accounts of first-time car owners to identify personality traits that are linked to safe driving.

The scheme, which is voluntary for owners to sign up to, uses Admiral's own algorithm to seek personal information on drivers and build a risk profile. Admiral says it will only inspect Facebook posts, not photos, and correlate the personality profile against claims data to see if it is able to offer a lower insurance premium. For now, Admiral says the scheme will only be used to offer discounts on premiums not to penalise those deemed to be higher risk.

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Habits like writing in short, grammatically correct sentences and using calendar apps to set specific times and places to meet friends or family will help lower premiums for first-time car owners, who according to Admiral pay £2,106 on average. Admiral says by signing up, first-time drivers could save up to £350 a year. However, writing in vague, over-confident manner, and avoiding the use of calendar apps will work against the driver.

The insurer says Firstcarquote is a way for newly qualified drivers to help identify themselves as safe, responsible motorists, rather than wait years to build up a no-claims history.

Dan Mines, head of Firstcarquote, insisted that the new scheme is not an invasion of personal data: “It is incredibly transparent. If you don’t want to use it in a quote then you don’t have to.”

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Mines added: “People share their social data with third parties every day, without any financial benefit to themselves. Firstcarquote asks users to share their data only once and offers them a clear, tangible financial benefit in return.”

Although the scheme is currently used only on Facebook and to lower premiums, Mines wouldn’t rule out expanding the idea to other social media sites and using it to raise premiums for risky drivers.

“I think the future is unknown. We don’t know if people are prepared to share their data. If we find people aren’t sharing their data, then we won’t ever get to consider that [expanding Firstquote].”

Would you let your insurer to analyse your Facebook profile for a potentially lower premium? Tell us in the comments below...

Martin Saarinen

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