Barefoot Investor’s frightening warning to Aussies buying the latest tech-enabled cars
Popular financial guru The Barefoot Investor has issued a stern warning to Australians considering buying a new car.
Scott Pape, who wrote the 2016 best-selling financial advice book The Barefoot Investor, argued that new “internet-enabled cars” in the U.S. often share data about a driver’s speeding, braking and evasive action with insurance companies.
This data can then lead to an increase in their insurance premiums.
Mr. Pape recently wrote on his blog about his joyless experience driving a “Chinese-built Haval Jolion SUV.”
“It’s hands down the worst car I’ve ever driven (and when I was 20, I drove a Mitsubishi Magna that leaked more oil than Saddam Hussein),” Pape wrote.
Scott Pape (pictured), who wrote the 2016 best-selling financial advice book The Barefoot Investor, argued that new “internet-enabled cars” in the US often share data about a driver’s speeding, braking and evasive action with insurance companies. This data can then lead to an increase in their insurance premiums
Mr Pape recently wrote about his joyless experience driving a ‘Chinese-built Haval Jolion SUV’ (pictured) with all its sensors and alarms to keep a driver in check
“The Haval makes me feel like I’m 17 years old, back on my L-plates, with my hyper-concerned mother in the passenger seat ‘guiding’ me.”
Mr Pape said the car would ‘ping’ repeatedly to control him, including when he was not wearing his seat belt, trying to overtake or even when looking away from the windscreen.
He suggested there might be something ‘sinister’ going on.
“You see, in the US, internet-enabled cars record all those dents, swerves and sharp stops, and sell the data to the insurance industry for millions,” he wrote.
‘The result? People are often pinged with higher insurance premiums.’
While he acknowledged this is only a reality in the US for now, he warned it could soon become widespread in Australia.
“The most powerful car companies in the world have teams of lawyers drafting 12,000-word privacy terms that they know no one will ever read,” Pape wrote.
“This allows the companies to track and sell our every move, and the buyers of that data feed it into algorithms and use it against us.”
In October, Katherine Kemp, associate professor at UNSW’s Faculty of Law & Justice, warned that “Australian privacy law needs urgent reform.”
Scott Pape (pictured with wife Liz) warned Australians to be wary of internet-enabled cars
“Australia’s privacy laws are not up to the task of protecting the vast amount of personal information collected and shared by car companies,” Ms Kemp wrote.
“And because our privacy laws don’t require the specific disclosures that some U.S. states require, we have much less information about what car companies do with our data.”
Ms Kemp cited a US study by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation that found cars with internet-connected features were “the official worst category of products for privacy” they had ever rated, calling them a “privacy nightmare on wheels” .
They tested all the major car brands – Toyota, Ford, BMW, Volkswagen, Tesla, Hyundai – and found that they all failed to meet minimum privacy standards.
Nearly 85 percent share or sell your data to third parties, while Nissan and Kia reportedly even allow the collection of data about a driver’s sex life.
“They come right out and say they can collect and share your sexual activity, health diagnosis data, genetic information, and other sensitive personal information for targeted marketing purposes,” the Mozilla Foundation report said states.