GM agrees to pay $12.75 million in California driver privacy settlement.

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

In 2024, the New York Times reported that auto manufacturers, including GM, were sharing information about customers’ driving behavior with insurance companies, and that some customers were concerned that their insurance premiums were rising 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 California residents” to data brokers Verisk Analytics and LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Bonta’s office also claims the data was collected through GM’s OnStar program and that the company made about $20 million from selling the data.

But Bonta’s office also said the data did not lead to increases in insurance prices in California. “Perhaps that’s because California insurance law prohibits insurers from using driving data to set premiums.”

As part of the settlement, GM agreed to pay a $12.75 million civil penalty and to stop selling driving data to all consumer reporting agencies for five years, Bonta’s office said. GM also agreed to delete all driver data it holds within 180 days (unless it obtains customer consent) and to request that Lexis and Verisk 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, this settlement requires General Motors to abandon these unlawful practices and emphasizes the importance of data minimization under California privacy laws. The company cannot retain data and later use it for other purposes,” Bonta added in a statement.

GM previously reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over data sales and received a final injunction prohibiting General Motors and OnStar from selling certain data to consumer reporting agencies.

GM told Reuters the agreement “addresses Smart Driver, a product that will be discontinued in 2024, and reinforces the steps we have taken to strengthen our privacy practices.”