Report

How Ford's Sync could lower your insurance

How far are you willing to go to save a few bucks on your auto insurance? Because State Farm will gladly shave five percent from your premium if you're willing to permit the insurance company to log into your Sync-equipped vehicle to view the Vehicle Health Report. According to Motor Trend, the actuaries just want to look at your mileage, and if you can keep it in the triple digits each month, you'll be eligible for further savings.

If you're one of the four million Ford customers who have Sync'ed your ride and you're thinking this sounds like a great deal, please stop to ask yourself, "What would George Orwell do?" Sure, this program and others like it are nothing new, in fact, State Farm has been offering a similar deal for OnStar customers for some time, according to the report.

But we have to wonder just how slippery this slope will get before your insurance company starts using telematics data in ways that are much more intrusive. We can imagine surcharges for driving your car during high traffic times or parking in dangerous neighborhoods. Or perhaps you'll start being billed for mileage "overages," just like a cell phone plan. The whole concept, frankly, has us reaching for our tinfoil-lined hat.

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