Your car might know where you’ve been, how fast you were driving, and how often you hit the brakes. The problem begins when that information ends up in the hands of your insurance company without your knowledge.
General Motors has agreed to pay $220 million to settle an investigation into its collection and sale of drivers’ personal information. The agreement involves attorneys general from 35 states and the District of Columbia.
At the center of the controversy is GM’s Smart Driver program, which was marketed as a tool to help motorists understand and improve their driving habits. Investigators found that the automaker sold the information it collected to data brokers for use in insurance products.
The settlement follows years of privacy concerns surrounding connected vehicles and the information they collect. It also means GM will face new restrictions on how it handles customer data.
Your Driving Habits Were Being Tracked
Between 2016 and 2024, millions of drivers were enrolled in Smart Driver, which recorded everything from trip times and locations to speeding, hard braking, and rapid acceleration. GM told customers their information wouldn’t be shared with insurers without express consent.
According to the investigation, however, GM sold detailed driving records to data brokers, which subsequently supplied the information to insurance companies. Those companies could use the reports when calculating premiums, potentially making coverage more expensive.
One driver reportedly experienced a 22 percent insurance increase linked to information obtained from a data broker. The driver later obtained a 130-page report detailing six months of driving activity.
Some Drivers Didn’t Even Know They Were Enrolled
Investigators found that many customers were signed up for Smart Driver at dealerships alongside GM’s OnStar connected services. In some cases, dealership employees allegedly accepted terms and conditions on customers’ behalf without permission.
GM also offered incentives encouraging dealerships to enroll customers in connected services. Making matters worse, the OnStar app incorrectly told more than 370,000 drivers they weren’t enrolled in Smart Driver, even while their information was being collected and sold.
GM subsequently removed those drivers from the program without notifying them of the mistake, according to investigators. Their previously collected information remained with data brokers and insurers.
GM Faces New Privacy Restrictions
Under the settlement, GM must pay $220 million to participating jurisdictions, including approximately $12 million to New York. The automaker must also limit its collection of driving data and introduce stronger privacy protections.
Those measures include internal and independent privacy assessments, along with improved dealership oversight and employee training. The Smart Driver program itself was discontinued in 2024.
GM has a lot of work to do to win back customers’ trust. After all, nobody expects their car to be sharing their driving habits with companies that could use them to raise their insurance rates.