Last week, my car insurance was up so I thought I’d see if Geico was cheaper. I went to their website, put in my zip code, and was immediately told that I am female, single, and own a yellow Jeep Wrangler.
From putting in my zip code.
I don’t recall ever giving my information to Geico.
We have been tracked, stored, data-mined, and sold up the wazoo. The NSA stuff? Apparently, it’s not even needed.
I went to the Geico website and found that the zip code box is big enough to accommodate zip + four. If you put in the 5 digits plus the 4, it is not all that surprising since the last four digits might actually take them to your specific address. From that, Geico would have access to your state’s DMV (or MVA) vehicle database, so it would be easy to know who you are, and what kind of car you drive. That database is probably more or less public, or at least readily available to the insurance companies.
That’s my guess, and it is not all that spooky.
If you only put in the first five digits of your zip, then I don’t know how they would be able to trace it directly to your address and your car. Then THAT would be spooky.
I’m just guessing at this, but I do think the extended zip codes, i.e., those with the extra four digits might be specific to each particular address. So, your neighbor might have the same first five digits but perhaps a different last four digits. If not, I don’t know how they did it.
Nope. I put in my 5 digits only. I’m thinking my IP address is what they went by. Verizon sold my data is my guess.