Archive 2008: Ritcheypro / public domain (cropped)
General Motors will pay $220 million to settle a multistate case alleging that it sold drivers’ personal driving and location data to brokers who passed the information to insurance companies.
The agreement, announced Thursday by New York Attorney General Letitia James and other state attorneys general, covers a practice that could affect one of a family’s biggest recurring bills: car insurance. Investigators said insurers could use the information to change premiums based on driving habits, even when a driver had not filed a claim.
The payment goes to the states. New York’s share is $12,054,341, its attorney general’s office said. The releases do not announce automatic payments to individual drivers.
What the states say GM collected
From 2016 to 2024, GM enrolled millions of drivers in its Smart Driver program, which it promoted as a tool to help people drive more safely, the attorneys general said. The program recorded trip start and end times, hard braking, fast acceleration and speeding.
The states allege that GM told drivers it would not share their information with insurers without express consent, but sold the data to brokers under contracts specifying its use for insurance products.
Many drivers signed up at dealerships through a process that also enrolled them in OnStar services. The attorneys general said dealership employees sometimes accepted terms for customers without their consent, while sales incentives rewarded enrollment.
The states also said the OnStar app incorrectly told more than 370,000 drivers that they were not enrolled in Smart Driver when GM was collecting and selling their information. According to the releases, GM later removed those drivers from the program without notifying them of the mistake, leaving their data with brokers and insurers.
Consent and privacy checks required
The settlement requires affirmative express consent before GM collects or discloses driving and location data, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office said in its announcement. It also requires limits on data collection, a privacy program, internal and outside privacy assessments, and dealership oversight and training.
Colorado described the agreement as a settlement of allegations. It is not a criminal conviction. For drivers, the change is about clearer permission before information from a connected car is collected or shared, rather than an announced cut to insurance bills.
JBizNews Desk | Detroit
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