GM agrees to pay $12.75M in California to settle driver’s license

General Motors has come under fire for privacy concerns with a legal team led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Back in 2024, The New York Times report that automakers including GM are sharing their customers’ driving information with insurance companies, and that some customers are worried that insurance rates have gone up as a result.

Declaration of implementation from Bonta’s office also alleges GM sold “the names, identities, location data, and vehicle information of thousands of Californians” to Verisk Analytics and LexisNexis Risk Solutions, both vendors. Bonta’s office also claims that this data was collected through GM’s OnStar software, and that the company made about $20 million in sales of the data.

However, Bonta’s office said the data did not affect insurance rates in California, “probably because under California insurance laws, insurers are prohibited from using driving data to set insurance rates.”

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

“General Motors sold the data of California drivers without their knowledge or consent and despite numerous assurances to drivers that they would not do so,” Bonta said in a statement, adding that the settlement “requires General Motors to stop these illegal practices and emphasizes the importance of limiting data in California’s privacy law – companies can’t just use it later for other purposes.”

GM was previously settled by the Federal Trade Commission on its data sales, and a final order prohibiting General Motors and OnStar from selling certain products to consumer reporting agencies.

GM he told Reuters that this decision “addresses Smart Driver, a feature we abandoned in 2024, and reinforces what we have done to strengthen our privacy practices.”