Tesla will sell you insurance, and its cars have the electronics to monitor exactly how you are driving. Oh goody, the ultimate driving nanny! From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:
What is the point of owning a vehicle capable of “ludicrous” speed if using it results in being dunned over it?
Tesla owners might want to ask themselves this question before they buy insurance – from Tesla – to go with the car. Part of the deal is automatic rate hikes based on the driver’s safety score. You probably do not need to guess how that is scored.
What you may not know is the way it is scored.
Think Flo – the Progressive termagant – along for every ride. But without the dongle – the wireless transmitter the owners of other-brands of cars choose to plug into the vehicle’s OnBoard Diagnostic (OBD) port under the dashboard. Via this device, Flo can monitor your driving, using every incidence of “speeding” or “abrupt” braking (and so on) to adjust what you are forced to pay Flo. It’s a neat deal – for Flo – because it is almost impossible to drive “safely” (that is, obediently) and the kicker is she convinced you that you’d save money by having her along for every ride.
But – with Tesla insurance – it’s the device (i.e., the car, itself) that is narcing you out. To Elon, this time. No need to plug anything in to the device.
It comes pre-wired.
Now, the thing to pick up on here is just that. People who buy Tesla devices do not have to buy Tesla insurance. But if the buy a Tesla, they have already bought the driver-monitoring technology embedded in their device. It is part of the package.
