Just thought I would ask everyone this question. It's not really on-topic, but then again, it's not really off-topic. The main reason I'm asking is because I remember the heated VIN threads and this is a similar situation.

My insurance company sent me a letter in the mail the other day telling me that I can obtain a discount on my insurance if I take a written drivers safety test. I did this about three years ago, but apparently it is time for re-certification. The insurance company hires another company Top Driver (Drive One) to publish the testing material and to take care of grading the test. This time around I open up my re-certification material and learn that I am now able to take the test online! (Instant grading, etc.) I figure it would save me time and postage so I proceed to the online answer from. Here they ask me:

My gender.
My DOB.
My name.
My phone number.
My email address.

My SSN.
My address.
My insurance company / policy #.
My employer.
Make, model and year of household cars.
The names and ages of other household drivers.
The names and schools of my children in high school.
How much money I make per year.

Some fairly personal questions... Out of habit I then check the encryption of the page and there is no encryption what-so-ever! On top of that, there isn't even a disclaimer stating that the form in unencrypted and should be used at the user's own risk! I was pretty upset... I plan on contacting my insurance company and this other company. Is this outrageous or am I just over reacting?

Thanks for your comments.

ps. I think the webmaster should be fired...

 

They want to know way too much IMO. I can't see how some of those requests should have any bearing whatsoever on your insurance policy. And yes... the submission form should be secured.

 

I can figure out why they ask this question...so they can determine if they have all high schools on their list, and get the names of students approaching (or just at) driving age. Dirty tactics, IMO.

They're allowed to ask these questions, but if they were required fields to start the online test, there may be a legality issue here. I would definitely report this, but mostly because of the questions themselves, not just because the page is not secure.