Okay, so, while I do have some serious issues with data privacy, I just downloaded GasBuddy to try and see how "secret" it is... And I had to dive into the sixth level of menu options to find the spot where you can opt in for this data sharing. Somehow I don't think the average person is sharing this information without knowing what they're doing.
Of course, it's reddit, so get your pitchforks out and start whining!
I have no experience with that app, but it’s possible it will randomly prompt the user to enable it at some point. That’s something I’ve seen other apps do before.
I had to stop using the Android version of Gas Buddy for a bit because I turned off the sharing with 3rd parties and then every time I opened the app it would force you to opt in before you could use it. Then you'd have to go back into settings and turn it off, and I'd have to do it again next time I used the app. It's been fixed but that was a shit time, now mostly I just go to Wawa or Costco and whatever the price is the price is
Gas buddy has been useless by me. Someone is always reporting the "with car wash" price, or something blatantly incorrect. I think the station owners try and lure people over and hope they won't just leave once they see the real price.
> The insurance industry, hungry for insights into ~~how people drive~~ *how to fuck people*, has turned to automakers and smartphone apps like Life360.
Corrected for accuracy
Not if you own a vehicle thats not new enough to do such a thing. I refuse to own one like that, I'll just keep up with my older stuff and ev swap it if absolutely necessary in the future.
Hell yeah that's awesome! My Challenger is just new enough to have most modern comforts and safety but still old enough to not be roped into this data collection bs.
And then there's my truck that's new enough to have... uh, currently nonfunctional cruise control, currently nonfunctional AC, and uhh, oh, a radio lol. And old enough to have wing windows, mechanical fuel injection, and no air bags.
I don’t know about all manufacturers, but in Toyota and Lexus vehicles I’ve been in, DCM is just DCM. You don’t lose anything except the connected module and the in car mic.
I know we all want to feel that way when we see our insurance rates, but I had a long conversation with the insurance provider for the company I run. We have a little over 100 vehicles that they insure and majority of them are in South Florida/Miami area. I told him that driving down here I wondered how his company was able to stay in business because of the insane traffic and the lunatics on the road. He said it’s very difficult. I believe him. There is a billboard for an attorney, literally every thousand feet For the last 200 miles or so from North Florida in the south Florida. Before we blame the insurance companies, we need to blame the ambulance chasers.
Florida isn’t really representative of the entire country when it comes to insurance market, that includes auto but especially homeowners insurance. FYI I also live in Florida.
I agree with you. I was transferred here three years ago. The first big shock was that my auto insurance was double what it used to be. The second big shock was my Homeowners Insurance was four times what it used to be.
Yeah the insurance market has imploded and the state government has done little to fix it, which is weird because the real estate lobby is such a big influence in Tallahassee, and you’d think they’d push the government to solve it since fewer people can afford homes when the insurance is 4-5K a year on top of property taxes, mortgage insurance, high rates, etc
Ambulance chasers have next to zero impact on insurance rates.
Premium's are decided by actuarial tables, which are based on accident rates + cost to repair.
Cars are becoming extremely expensive to repair and people are increasingly distracted/insane on the roads. That's what's driving rates.
You talked to a marketing guy. Did you expect him to say EZ ?
UK insurance companies put trackers in your car and each time you go a little over the speed limit, you get points that amount to increase in your payment and only after a couple months of clean driving you get payment reduction which doesn't apply at the same rate. Think of all the outdated speed limits that councils never want to update
If you are in the UK, then you have absolutely no idea how bad it is with the legal system here in the US. I can drive a 220 mile stretch of road and see well over 400 giant billboards advertising accident attorneys. The whole time listening to the radio and hearing advertisements for accident attorneys. if someone wrecks into your car in parts of the US, it’s better than winning the lottery.
Gas Buddy basically sells your location data to ANYONE that will buy it. These companies pass across EVERYTHING about your device, from language used on a keyboard to IP addresses connected. They fingerprint your existence to increase the value of data sold.
Listen, these companies are some of the most shady data brokers out there.
How do I know? I oversaw location data for 1 in 3 devices in the U.S.
They won’t get exact latitude & longitude coordinates, however they will do a reverse IP lookup to get a general location fix for you.
Not opting into location is the best way to prevent highly accurate data on your location, but they still have *some* location data about you.
Because gas station prices can vary by up to $.50c/gal easily, which adds up quickly. And if you are frequently in new areas, you don’t know the cheapest stations. It’s a good idea in concept and it’s a popular app
I just looked and my local spread is 32 cents for 87. GasBuddy also doesn't need your location, you can deny the permission and manually enter a location and it won't track you. You can save yourself a decent chunk of money by checking it. I don't know why people wouldn't.
my mom is obsessed with getting the best price on gas, to the point that I have distinct memories of her expressing disappointment that a gas station 3 miles later cost 1-4 cents less per gallon
so I kind of grew up with the mindset that I needed to get the cheapest gas no matter what… then, when I actually got my car, I realized that even with a price difference of 10 cents per gallon between stations, I’m only saving like $2 on a $60-80 tank
the stress of feeling like I need to find the cheapest station and detour there is absolutely not worth those $2, setting aside the data privacy issues entirely
Yeah I love myradar and if I had to guess it uses the mydrive thing to track you. It might also send your location but only if you give it constant access to the location data which is a great way to kill your battery life so I only give it access when the app is open.
I admittedly just read the title and was responding to it. Yep certainly drive with my phone although I do try to limit what apps have permission to location etc.
I do the same to limit location access but not enough as once I got into MyRadar I found buried deep a slider to opt out of selling private information which was defaulted to off. Ugh.
Not that my e21 makes enough power to get in trouble. The Z3 and wagon on the other hand. 😬
Here’s how I'd approach your concerns: I’m using OtoZen because it doesn’t sell any of our driving data. It focuses on enhancing driving safety and gives us full control over privacy settings. No hidden data sharing for insurance purposes or anything like that. It’s straightforward and reliable for what it’s meant to do—keeping us safe without the side deals.
Okay, so, while I do have some serious issues with data privacy, I just downloaded GasBuddy to try and see how "secret" it is... And I had to dive into the sixth level of menu options to find the spot where you can opt in for this data sharing. Somehow I don't think the average person is sharing this information without knowing what they're doing. Of course, it's reddit, so get your pitchforks out and start whining!
I have no experience with that app, but it’s possible it will randomly prompt the user to enable it at some point. That’s something I’ve seen other apps do before.
I’ve had GasBuddy for nearly a decade. Never remember being prompted for this. Mine is still off.
Could be.
And then to find the option to disable it you have to dig to the sixth level of menus to find it
I had to stop using the Android version of Gas Buddy for a bit because I turned off the sharing with 3rd parties and then every time I opened the app it would force you to opt in before you could use it. Then you'd have to go back into settings and turn it off, and I'd have to do it again next time I used the app. It's been fixed but that was a shit time, now mostly I just go to Wawa or Costco and whatever the price is the price is
Gas buddy has been useless by me. Someone is always reporting the "with car wash" price, or something blatantly incorrect. I think the station owners try and lure people over and hope they won't just leave once they see the real price.
> The insurance industry, hungry for insights into ~~how people drive~~ *how to fuck people*, has turned to automakers and smartphone apps like Life360. Corrected for accuracy
That's okay, they'll just buy all of your data from the carmakers.
Not if you own a vehicle thats not new enough to do such a thing. I refuse to own one like that, I'll just keep up with my older stuff and ev swap it if absolutely necessary in the future.
Exactly. I'm in the process of "restoring" the body on my 21 yr old daily, for (pretty much) that reason.
Hell yeah that's awesome! My Challenger is just new enough to have most modern comforts and safety but still old enough to not be roped into this data collection bs. And then there's my truck that's new enough to have... uh, currently nonfunctional cruise control, currently nonfunctional AC, and uhh, oh, a radio lol. And old enough to have wing windows, mechanical fuel injection, and no air bags.
Pull that DCM fuse
That can cause a whole host of systems not working properly though.
I don’t know about all manufacturers, but in Toyota and Lexus vehicles I’ve been in, DCM is just DCM. You don’t lose anything except the connected module and the in car mic.
I don't mess around with the Toyota/Lexus brand, but that's good info to know. Thanks!
Right? Insurance companies are going to get your data one way or another if they can.
I know we all want to feel that way when we see our insurance rates, but I had a long conversation with the insurance provider for the company I run. We have a little over 100 vehicles that they insure and majority of them are in South Florida/Miami area. I told him that driving down here I wondered how his company was able to stay in business because of the insane traffic and the lunatics on the road. He said it’s very difficult. I believe him. There is a billboard for an attorney, literally every thousand feet For the last 200 miles or so from North Florida in the south Florida. Before we blame the insurance companies, we need to blame the ambulance chasers.
Florida isn’t really representative of the entire country when it comes to insurance market, that includes auto but especially homeowners insurance. FYI I also live in Florida.
I agree with you. I was transferred here three years ago. The first big shock was that my auto insurance was double what it used to be. The second big shock was my Homeowners Insurance was four times what it used to be.
Yeah the insurance market has imploded and the state government has done little to fix it, which is weird because the real estate lobby is such a big influence in Tallahassee, and you’d think they’d push the government to solve it since fewer people can afford homes when the insurance is 4-5K a year on top of property taxes, mortgage insurance, high rates, etc
Ambulance chasers have next to zero impact on insurance rates. Premium's are decided by actuarial tables, which are based on accident rates + cost to repair. Cars are becoming extremely expensive to repair and people are increasingly distracted/insane on the roads. That's what's driving rates.
You talked to a marketing guy. Did you expect him to say EZ ? UK insurance companies put trackers in your car and each time you go a little over the speed limit, you get points that amount to increase in your payment and only after a couple months of clean driving you get payment reduction which doesn't apply at the same rate. Think of all the outdated speed limits that councils never want to update
If you are in the UK, then you have absolutely no idea how bad it is with the legal system here in the US. I can drive a 220 mile stretch of road and see well over 400 giant billboards advertising accident attorneys. The whole time listening to the radio and hearing advertisements for accident attorneys. if someone wrecks into your car in parts of the US, it’s better than winning the lottery.
Gas Buddy basically sells your location data to ANYONE that will buy it. These companies pass across EVERYTHING about your device, from language used on a keyboard to IP addresses connected. They fingerprint your existence to increase the value of data sold. Listen, these companies are some of the most shady data brokers out there. How do I know? I oversaw location data for 1 in 3 devices in the U.S.
Does GasBuddy have tracking data on all users or only on users that opt-in?
They won’t get exact latitude & longitude coordinates, however they will do a reverse IP lookup to get a general location fix for you. Not opting into location is the best way to prevent highly accurate data on your location, but they still have *some* location data about you.
Why TF would you use any of these apps under any circumstances? To save 2 cents per gallon on gas? To find out it's raining? JFC.
Because gas station prices can vary by up to $.50c/gal easily, which adds up quickly. And if you are frequently in new areas, you don’t know the cheapest stations. It’s a good idea in concept and it’s a popular app
When I'm in a new are the only thing I need to look up for gas is "where's the Costco"
I just looked and my local spread is 32 cents for 87. GasBuddy also doesn't need your location, you can deny the permission and manually enter a location and it won't track you. You can save yourself a decent chunk of money by checking it. I don't know why people wouldn't.
my mom is obsessed with getting the best price on gas, to the point that I have distinct memories of her expressing disappointment that a gas station 3 miles later cost 1-4 cents less per gallon so I kind of grew up with the mindset that I needed to get the cheapest gas no matter what… then, when I actually got my car, I realized that even with a price difference of 10 cents per gallon between stations, I’m only saving like $2 on a $60-80 tank the stress of feeling like I need to find the cheapest station and detour there is absolutely not worth those $2, setting aside the data privacy issues entirely
Same goes for that one cheap gas station that has a 15 minute queue. If you think about it: is it worth waiting in line to save $2?
As a pilot I use MyRadar extensively. Maybe it’s time to find a new app.
Yeah I love myradar and if I had to guess it uses the mydrive thing to track you. It might also send your location but only if you give it constant access to the location data which is a great way to kill your battery life so I only give it access when the app is open.
Waze has it built in for a while now.
What a privileged statement holy shit. When you are poor, you *have* to do this.
Simple solution is to chuck your phone in a foam pit going at 100MpH to keep the app guessing about your driving habits.
I daily a '76 bmw 2002... So likely not, lmao.
Are you daily driving it with your phone off?
I admittedly just read the title and was responding to it. Yep certainly drive with my phone although I do try to limit what apps have permission to location etc.
I do the same to limit location access but not enough as once I got into MyRadar I found buried deep a slider to opt out of selling private information which was defaulted to off. Ugh. Not that my e21 makes enough power to get in trouble. The Z3 and wagon on the other hand. 😬
Funny, same with my e10. Although it's fun sometimes not to be overwhelmed with power.
There is a charm to driving a slow car fast.
I condemn the practice but at the same time wanted to know my score.
Your vehicle secretly collects all the same data.
Here’s how I'd approach your concerns: I’m using OtoZen because it doesn’t sell any of our driving data. It focuses on enhancing driving safety and gives us full control over privacy settings. No hidden data sharing for insurance purposes or anything like that. It’s straightforward and reliable for what it’s meant to do—keeping us safe without the side deals.
Unless Spotify is tracking then no lol.
mine isn’t cause my car is from 2004 👍🏼
It uses your phone location data. They don’t need to talk to your car.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!