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

General Motors has reached a privacy settlement with a group of law enforcement agencies led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Back in 2024, The New York Times I mentioned That automakers including General Motors were sharing information about their customers’ driving behavior with insurance companies, and that some customers were concerned that their insurance rates would rise as a result.

Settlement announcement 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, both data brokers. Bonta’s office also claims that this data was collected through GM’s OnStar program, and that the company made nearly $20 million in data sales.

However, Bonta’s office also said the data did not increase insurance rates in California, “most likely because under California insurance laws, insurance companies are prohibited from using driving data to determine insurance rates.”

As part of the settlement, GM agreed to pay $12.75 million in civil penalties and stop selling driving data to any consumer reporting agencies for five years, Bonta’s office said. GM also agreed to delete any driver data it still holds within 180 days (unless it gets consent from customers), and to require Lexis and Verisk to delete that data.

“GM sold California drivers’ data 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 GM to abandon these illegal practices and underscores the importance of data minimization in California privacy law — companies cannot retain the data and use it later for another purpose.”

GM had previously reached a settlement with the FTC over data sales, with a final order prohibiting GM and OnStar from selling certain data with consumer reporting agencies.

GM He told Reuters The settlement “addresses Smart Driver, a product we discontinued in 2024, and reinforces the steps we have taken to strengthen our privacy practices.”