The Federal Trade Commission has finalized an order against General Motors and its OnStar service for secretly collecting and selling drivers' location and driving behavior details. That information was then used by insurance companies to raise some drivers' rates.
The FTC alleges GM collected location and driving information from over a million vehicles as often as every three seconds, including hard braking, acceleration, speeds over 80 mph, and late-night driving. These details were then sold to data brokers LexisNexis and Verisk, which packaged them into reports for insurance companies. The result? Some drivers' premiums increase without explanation. One driver, Temeika Clay, saw her car insurance premium jump 80 percent after GM shared 603 driving activity records from her Chevy Camaro.
Which vehicles were affected, and what happens now?
If you bought a Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, or Cadillac model since 2016, your vehicle may have been enrolled in the OnStar Smart Driver program, which reported your driving habits without you fully understanding what that meant. Your vehicle may have been enrolled through what the FTC called a misleading sign-up process. Some owners didn't realize they'd agreed to have their habits tracked and sold. GM discontinued the program in April 2024 after the New York Times reported that it was selling the information to data broker firms.
Under the settlement, the FTC has banned GM and OnStar from sharing geolocation and driver behavior information with any consumer reporting agencies for five years. For the next 20 years, the company must get explicit consent before collecting or sharing any connected vehicle info. GM must also delete previously collected information, let users access their data upon request, and give them the option to disable location tracking entirely. The FTC hasn't levied any financial penalty on GM or OnStar.
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How to request your information be deleted
There are two ways to request access to and delete your information. You can call 1-866-MYPRIVACY (1-866-697-7482) or use GM's U.S. Consumer Privacy Request Form.
As for information already sold to LexisNexis and Verisk, you can request a copy of your file from each company. You can request your LexisNexis file at its consumer portal and your Verisk file through its Driving Behavior Data Disclosure Form.
Will you get compensation?
The FTC settlement does not include any direct payments to consumers. However, multiple class action lawsuits are ongoing. A master consolidated class action complaint was filed in December 2024 in federal court for the Northern District of Georgia. Fact discovery is expected to continue through late 2026. State attorneys general in Texas and Arkansas have also filed separate lawsuits against GM. Any settlement payments to consumers are likely still years away. You'll automatically be included in the class action lawsuits, and you don't have to do anything until the case reaches a conclusion, after which you can claim your share of the settlement, if there is one.
The bottom line for GM owners is that your car is no longer allowed to quietly report your driving habits to any companies, including insurers that may use it to raise rates. If you have a GM vehicle, it's worth taking the time to request deletion of any data that GM still holds on you.
[Image credit: OnStar/GM]
