The day before Philip Siefke went shopping for a new car insurance policy, he happened to hit his brakes hard while driving. Not 24 hours later, when he priced a policy with Progressive, he was shocked to find the insurer already knew about that mundane experience.
“I’m like, how the eff did they have my information?” Siefke said. “I was pissed.”
He called Progressive and demanded to know how the insurer had such detailed information about his driving habits. The information came from Toyota, a rep explained to the incredulous Siefke.
“She said, ‘Probably you signed up for a research project, and it’s