Nearly half of Canadians would share personal information for lower insurance premiums, says survey

With the rise of technology comes an increase in concerns for privacy, due to all kinds of apps and electronic devices asking for personal information.

However, many Canadians may not be all that worried about having their private information revealed to others — at least, when there’s a financial incentive in play. In fact, 46 percent of Canadians say they’d be willing to give up personal information like lifestyle and driving habits, according to a survey from online insurance marketplace Kanetix.

In a survey of 1,000 Canadians, Kanetix looked to see general acceptance of the increasing prevalence of connected and driverless vehicles. Specifically, Kanetix found that:

• • Two-thirds of respondents said they are comfortable with voice assistance (such as Google Assistant or Siri)
  • Sixty percent of respondents are comfortable with their car transmitting location and vehicle data tracking
  • Fifty-eight percent of the audience said they were comfortable with augmented reality or heads-up displays on the windshield
  • Fifty-nine percent of respondents are uncomfortable with autonomous vehicles
  • Overall, the most accepting demographic of autonomous vehicles is the 18 to 34 demographic at 55 percent, compared to 30 percent of middle aged (45 and older) respondents

There were some concerns, however:

• • • Respondents said their biggest concerns were security (35 percent) and privacy (29 per cent)
    • Fifty-four percent of the respondents said they’d most likely share home-related data (such as alarm and flood data) and medical information to their insurer via technology
    • Nearly half (46 per cent) of people said they would also share lifestyle habits and driving information

“The unwillingness to share lifestyle and driving information is a reflection of people’s concerns about privacy and security. Yet they may not realize there may be benefits to increased data collection and sharing with their providers, such as lower premiums,” said Andrew Lo, president and CEO of Kanetix in a press statement.

“An important question for consumers and industry today is, what are they willing to share electronically in order to save costs on their insurance?”

Kanetix conducted the survey in December 2017 with a sample of 1,000 Canadians.

Source: Canada Newswire