GM agrees to pay $12.75M in California driver privacy settlement | TechCrunch

"General Motors has reached a privacy-related settlement with a group of law enforcement agencies led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Back in 2024, The New York Times reported that automakers including GM were sharing information about their customers' driving behavior with insurance companies, and that some customers were concerned that their insurance rates had gone up as a result."

"The settlement announcement from Bonta's office similarly alleges that GM sold "the names, contact information, geolocation data, and driving behavior data of hundreds of thousands of Californians" to Verisk Analytics and LexisNexis Risk Solutions, which are both data brokers. Bonta's office further alleges that this data was collected through GM's OnStar program, and that the company made roughly $20 million from data sales."

"However, Bonta's office also said the data did not lead to increased insurance prices in California, "likely because under California's insurance laws, insurers are prohibited from using driving data to set insurance rates." As part of the settlement, GM has agreed to pay $12.75 million in civil penalties and to stop selling driving data to any consumer reporting agencies for five years, Bonta's office said."

""General Motors sold the data of California drivers without their knowledge or consent and despite numerous statements reassuring drivers that it would not do so," Bonta said in a statement, adding that the settlement "requires General Motors to abandon these illegal practices and underscores the importance of the data minimization in California's privacy law - companies can't just hold on to data and use it later for another purpose.""

GM reached a privacy-related settlement with law enforcement agencies led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Allegations state that GM sold names, contact information, geolocation data, and driving behavior data of hundreds of thousands of Californians to data brokers Verisk Analytics and LexisNexis Risk Solutions. The data was collected through the OnStar program, and GM reportedly earned about $20 million from the sales. The settlement states the data did not increase insurance prices in California, likely because California law prohibits insurers from using driving data to set rates. GM agreed to pay $12.75 million in civil penalties, stop selling driving data to consumer reporting agencies for five years, delete retained driver data within 180 days unless consent is obtained, and request Lexis and Verisk delete the data.

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