Your car might be secretly recording every drive you take — and sending data to your insurance company
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- Connected-car services might be sharing your data with insurance companies.
- Drivers told The New York Times about massive reports on their driving habits.
- GM's OnStar Smart Driver program is a focus of the report.
Your driving habits aren't as private as you think they are, according to a recent report from The New York Times.
Internet-connected vehicles can gather data on driving habits, including hard braking and rapid accelerations, and share that information with the data broker LexisNexis, which works with insurance companies to create personalized coverage.
One Chevrolet Bolt owner who spoke with the Times said he uncovered a 258-page report on his driving habits when he inquired about a 21% increase in his insurance costs.
Other owners in the story reported the same experience: Insurance costs skyrocketed, and when they inquired about what was going on, the insurance companies encouraged them to check their LexisNexis reports.
General Motors' OnStar Smart Driver service is a focus of the Times report. Some drivers who were enrolled in Smart Driver told the Times that their insurance costs went up. GM has offered connected OnStar services for decades. It's historically been used to connect drivers to emergency services and navigation.
Smart Driver is a newer offering within OnStar, launched in 2016. It allows drivers to track their driving habits and improve their safety through a gamified experience in which you can collect badges for braking gently and following speed limits.
GM confirmed to The New York Times that it shared "select insights" with LexisNexis and pointed out that Smart Driver was an optional service that the owner could turn off.
Some drivers who spoke with the Times insisted their insurance costs went up even when they weren't enrolled in Smart Driver. The Times cites a GM company manual that suggests dealer salespeople could receive a bonus for enrolling people into the service.
GM told Business Insider Smart Driver is an optional service that requires customers to consent three times before data is shared, and said that customers can unenroll at any time.
GM told the Times, "When a customer accepts the user terms and privacy statement (which are separately reviewed in the enrollment flow), they consent to sharing their data with third parties."
If you own a GM car (Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, or GMC) with OnStar services, you can check whether you're enrolled in Smart Driver on your car's app — MyChevrolet, MyBuick, etc. Some drivers have shared on Reddit instructions for unenrolling from the service.
Update: March 11, 2024 — This story was updated with a comment from General Motors.