The amount of data about you that many cars collect — and sell to third parties — is staggering.
by Andrew Hawkins Sep 13, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT
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How it started
Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission issued an unprecedented penalty against General Motors: a five-year ban on selling customer data to consumer reporting agencies and third-party data brokers.
For years, GM had been collecting all sorts of data on its customers — such as how often they sped or whether they drove at night — and selling it to brokers to generate risk profiles for insurance companies. More often than not, drivers were unaware of the degree to which their data was being collected. Many had unknowingly consented to it by signing up for an OnStar connected services plan, which activated a feature called Smart Driver that collected their driving data.
GM was then turning around and sharing that data with two data brokers, LexisNexis and Verisk, both of which work with the insurance industry. In a 2024 blockbuster investigative report by The New York Times, some drivers said their insurance rates went up as a result of the data collection. The enrollment process was so confusing that many vehicle owners had no idea their data was being shared. Under the settlement with the FTC, GM has to make it easier for drivers to turn off location tracking, as well as enable them to access and delete their data collected by the automaker.
But GM isn’t the only automaker vacuuming up data on its customers.
