Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

There are several important things you need to know about this device. First, this is a subscription based service. It essentially has to repurchased over and over again every year for $99.95. That's $99.95 for each vehicle that has one of these devices installed. It adds up quickly if you have more than one car. Secondly, these Zubie Keys are not like other similar devices such as ScanTool or ELM327 or BAFX or PLX or ScanGuage any of dozens of others where you can use any app you choose and which don't have recurring fees. This is a closed system. You have to use the Zubie service and software or you can't use it at all. And as someone else pointed out, if the company goes out of business, the Zubie will no longer work. That leads to a third detail that may not be apparent at first glance. With the combination of the device and the software, you're paying this company to track every move you make in your car. It's a surveillance device plain and simple. And the potential for the technology to be misused is there. You get a sense of this when you go to activate it. I took the time to look closely at Zubie's terms of service, their privacy policy, their website and other sources such as news articles. What I realized about how this device can be used is what killed the deal for me. The limited features of this product, such as battery status updates, can be thought of as bait to get you to install the device in your car. Once the device is activated the tracking starts. From then on information about your driving habits and lifestyle patterns will be collected and stored and you'll have no control over how it's used. It goes without saying this company intends to repeatedly sell the information they gather. Since this review and others were posted, Zubie reps have actively been trying to lull people into a false sense of security about the possible use and misuse of information they collect by employing evasive and downright deceptive language. See the comments section below for details. Most people have heard of "spyware" that can be unknowingly installed in their computer. This device is no different from spyware except the tracking takes place outside your computer. And in this case you'll be providing your name, address, credit card information and cellphone number from day one. There's also your email address and whatever other online information Zubie manages to acquire from Facebook, Twitter etc. when you access their website. The privacy policy originally revealed the app would access and download your address book from any device in which it was installed. So you should definitely regard any Zubie software applications as spyware. As to who would be interested in such details, here's a quote from a business article intended to attract investor and industry attention: "Zubie is a groundbreaking new platform with...an unmatched ability to generate meaningful analytics around driver, trip and car data to foster revenue opportunities in the auto market and related markets such as insurance, resale and maintenance. With more than 200 million cars on the road today, and billions spent annually on car repairs and insurance, there is a growing demand for capabilities such as usage-based insurance, driving behavior monitoring." The problem I see with the money Zubie makes from the companies they partner with is that it's nearly always at the expense of those who install the device. For example, I found an interview with Zubie CEO, Tim Kelly, where he was explaining how they intended sell data they collect to dealerships who can then use the information to determine the value of a used car offered as a trade-in. He went on to say that if the dealership were to find out your car has been driven at high speeds, any past mechanical issues, or a lack of regular maintenance, it gives them ammunition to beat you down on the price. This is an advantage to car dealerships, not the car owner. You'll never get more for your car--only less. Insurance companies would like nothing more than to be able to track your driving habits. The name "Zubie" actually comes from the term Usage Based Insurance, or z-UBI-e. Beside the fact that every driving infraction has been permanently recorded since the device was installed, in the event of an accident your insurance company would have information available that could be used against you to deny a claim. That information can be obtained without your consent. Any parties looking to hold you liable in a lawsuit could also obtain and use the information against you. The risk of being left high and dry on an insurance claim and exposed in a liability suit was more than enough by itself to make me decide not to use this device. If you read Zubie's privacy policy and terms of service it's clear they intend to exploit these devices far more extensively than just within the auto industry. They can be used to figure out all sorts of lifestyle patterns. Where are you shopping and dining? When do you shop and how frequently? Where do you buy gas? When are you home? When are you at work? What about your travel habits? Any person's home you visit will be logged. Addresses can easily be connected to names. You're effectively under constant surveillance with this device installed. The information acquired from your vehicles can be matched with other details acquired elsewhere including your online activities. Zubie can cooperatively pool their resources with other companies that collect information on you. All sorts of connections can be made using analysis software. As a very basic example, credit card companies can be helpful in breaking down purchases and other activities. On the subject of credit cards, if you have any past due accounts, Zubie revealed the information they obtain is available to debt collection agencies. There's not a single government agency that wouldn't also be interested in the information these devices can generate. So Zubies can provide yet another way for the NSA and others to pry into our lives without our consent. And if that isn't annoying enough, these devices are also subject to being hacked like every other tech device has been hacked in the past. There isn't the space or time to cover every conceivable way this device can be used or possibly misused. When you activate the device you have to agree to Zubie's terms which includes allowing them to collect and store information from the device, their software and your online activities. By simply using the device you're agreeing to waive any rights to class action. And Zubie waives any responsibility in the event your private information is hacked or stolen at some point. They also make it clear all the information they accumulate can be turned over to third parties at any time, without the need for your approval, for a wide variety of reasons unrelated to marketing efforts. In those cases, rather than selling the data outright, the practice is to charge "administrative and processing fees" to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Put together it was all too offensive and problematic for me. There are way too many negatives, risks and uncertainties surrounding the Zubie. I could never feel comfortable knowing the details of my life were going to be recorded and analyzed with the possibility any of it could be used against me in some unforeseeable way down the road. If you think about it, this is the same technology used in the devices that track paroled sex offenders and people under house arrest. Who would willingly install such a device in their car, not to mention paying to do so? I just couldn't do it. And I knew I made the right decision after I found out how sleazy and untrustworthy this company is. Check out the comments section below for details about all the phony reviews Zubie employees were caught posting including the CEO's wife, the Chief Financial Officer and other high ranking employees. Thankfully there are plenty of other choices available. I did a search at Amazon and found an assortment of GPS tracking devices that don't have the ongoing fees or the invasion of privacy or the "out of service" issues that come with a cellular connection. And they definitely don't have the creepy "snitch" factor of the Zubie. So you can track your teenager or employees without your insurance company having access to the same information and possibly raising your rates or denying a claim. Many of the other devices can be hidden, whereas the Zubie is right within reach. A teen driver can simply remove it from the connector when they don't want to be tracked and claim it must have been out of service. You can buy a code reader for a one time cost of around $35 which will provide far more information than the Zubie can, including live data, as well as the ability to erase codes. I bought one of those and never looked back. Of all the products I've come across so far, the Zubie is the least desirable because of the lifestyle monitoring which isn't a concern with any of the others. To keep this review as brief as possible I posted excerpts of the privacy policy in the comments section below. Here's a preview, "You should not expect that your information or other communications will always remain secure." Statements like that send a chill down your spine. The original privacy policy was changed after this review and other reviews expressing similar concerns were posted. Now it's much more carefully worded and it's not nearly as easy to see how the data that's collected will be used. But one thing is very evident. This company's business plan and profit motive hasn't changed one bit. And they continue trying to push an undesirable monitoring device on the public even though a significant number of people have sent a very clear message they don't want their habits and lifestyles being merchandised.