19-05-2025
Apps may quietly track your driving and raise your car insurance rates
Apps on your phone may track you in ways you don't expect.
They have nothing to do with insurance or even driving.
But Action 9 investigator Jason Stoogenke says they could cause your car insurance to go up.
Larry Johnson was shopping for car insurance which should have been a breeze since he had no wrecks and a credit score on the way up.
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'The quotes I [were] getting just didn't make sense to me,' he said.
Johnson's been a big fan of the Life360 app.
'We have kids that are driving that go to school, so we want to keep up where everybody is,' he said.
He now knows the app was keeping track of something else: His family's driving.
'It's shocking and it feels, you know, like a violation almost,' he said.
Johnson deleted Life360 and plenty of other apps on his phone.
"I look for location. I look for tracking data, and I look to see what they do with that data and if I can opt out or not. And if I can't, then I don't use the app,' he said.
The Texas Attorney General is taking legal action, claiming a data broker, called Arity, embedded tracking technology in popular apps without telling consumers, including Life360. The lawsuit alleges, 'When a consumer downloaded the third-party app onto their phone, they also unwittingly downloaded defendants' software.'
It goes on to say, 'Defendants could monitor the consumer's location and movement in real-time.'
EPIC privacy analyst Sarah Geoghegan says confusing and lengthy terms and conditions shouldn't give companies free reign with your information.
'We have no way of knowing how this is going to be used against us,' she said. 'You're opting into an app that is supposed to be about family safety. You don't understand that that means through many, like down the ecosystem, down the data chain, that that actually is your car insurance company.'
You've probably never heard of Arity, but you've probably heard of its owner, Allstate.
Allstate doesn't just use the data, itself. The company also sells it to other insurance companies.
Allstate shared a screenshot with Channel 9's sister station in Atlanta, WSB. It says you can opt in to share your data to possibly get a better rate.
But the Texas Attorney General lawsuit alleges companies are collecting and selling information on drivers who never opt in that way.
When WSB reached out to Arity, they pointed WSB back to the Attorney General lawsuit.
It includes an exhibit showing consumers to allow location and motion data to be shared when they sign up for Life360.
And in their legal response, Arity claims, 'The Arity Companies are separate and distinct legal entities from The Allstate Corporation and its insurance company affiliates.'
But when WSB reached out to Arity regarding this news report, an Allstate representative with an Allstate email responded, saying, 'Consumers who choose to share driving data through Arity-powered apps can access emergency assistance, track fuel efficiency and unlock personalized insurance rates after a clear notice and explicit opt-in process.'
And how good even is that data?
Tina Marie Johnson's case signed up for an actual driving app through her auto insurance, not Life360.
'Last year alone, my rates went up three times. And I have no accidents, no speeding tickets, no nothing,' she said.
Johnson says the app regularly dinged her for unsafe driving for her car's automatic braking. Then there was the time she says she was using a scooter inside a grocery store.
"It was reading me drive and I'm like, 'Wait a minute. What's going on here?'" she said.
Federal lawmakers recently introduced a bill -- the Delete Act -- that would allow consumers to ask data brokers to delete this information and even allow you to join a 'Do Not Track' list. It's in committee. It's unclear how likely it is to pass.
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