What are you talking about? Of course they do. They either use GPS or GSM or both to track your position and speed. How do you think it determines what speed you are doing? Magic? What brand of device do you have? It may be true that you have one of the only systems in the world doing this (e.g. Metromile) but it is not true for 99.9% of other people with trackers.
The only reason it is cheaper is so they can gain customer base to justify their investment in the technology & infrastructure and hope for a legislative enforcement of the uptake of the devices.
They connect to the ODB port to monitor speed, and braking.
From Progressive's site:
What information does the device collect?
The Snapshot device collects information about how you drive, how much you drive and when you drive. It also collects your vehicle identification number and triggers an email to you if it comes unplugged. Some devices collect location data: this is only for research and development purposes—we don't use it to calculate your rate.
What are you talking about? Of course they do. They either use GPS or GSM or both to track your position and speed. How do you think it determines what speed you are doing? Magic? What brand of device do you have? It may be true that you have one of the only systems in the world doing this (e.g. Metromile) but it is not true for 99.9% of other people with trackers.
The only reason it is cheaper is so they can gain customer base to justify their investment in the technology & infrastructure and hope for a legislative enforcement of the uptake of the devices.