Classic Motors will pay $220m to 35 US states and the District of Columbia over drivers’ recordsdata. The states stated GM sold it to recordsdata brokers, who sold it on to insurance corporations. GM must now discover drivers’ categorical consent forward of it collects or shares their utilizing and derive 22 situation recordsdata.
Washington’s attorney customary, Gash Brown, launched the settlement on Thursday. Washington and Oregon led the coalition of 36 attorneys customary. Oregon’s complaint in opposition to GM and its OnStar unit is dated the day forward of. The settlement resolves the states’ claims. Washington will receive $12.3m and New York about $12.1m.
“Folks sold a automobile, no longer a monitoring tool,” Oregon Authorized unswerving Classic Dan Rayfield stated in an announcement.
What the states whine GM did
GM launched Dapper Driver in 2015 as fragment of OnStar, in step with Oregon’s complaint. It pitched the feature as a technique to help of us pressure more safely. It recorded titillating braking, titillating acceleration, titillating cornering, excessive speeds, seat belt employ, late-night utilizing and time out times.
That similar year, GM started selling OnStar and Dapper Driver recordsdata to Verisk Analytics, the complaint says. In 2019 it signed a identical take care of LexisNexis Possibility Solutions. Each corporations modified into the tips into driver experiences and rankings for insurers, and a few insurers used them to location charges. GM made more than $20m from these sales nationwide, the complaint says.
Drivers would possibly perchance well well presumably also also join an insurance gash price programme, which GM stated would share very most attention-grabbing anonymous recordsdata. In point of fact, GM sold identifiable recordsdata on every person enrolled in Dapper Driver, the states deliver.
“The tips GM sold became deepest, identifiable, and specific,” Brown stated.
The complaint also covers derive 22 situation recordsdata. From 2018, GM composed a automobile’s proper derive 22 situation every three seconds, ranging from ignition. From 2019, that recordsdata carried an ID that linked it to a automobile. GM licensed it to Wejo, a UK linked-automobile recordsdata firm. In January 2024 Jacobs Engineering sold Wejo’s resources and signed its enjoy licence with GM.
Dealers, bonuses and a glitch
Most drivers signed up at the dealership after they sold the auto. GM paid dealership group bonuses essentially essentially based partly on how many possibilities they enrolled, the attorneys customary stated. It also ranked dealerships on their numbers. In quite a bit of cases, group allegedly popular the terms on possibilities’ behalf.
If possibilities tried to decline the OnStar terms, a warning stated they’d lose smash response and emergency products and services, the complaint says. GM’s app also told more than 370,000 enrolled drivers that they weren’t in Dapper Driver. GM later unenrolled them without telling them, and their recordsdata stayed with the brokers and insurers.
From a newspaper story to a settlement
The practice came to light in March 2024, when Kashmir Hill reported for The New York Times that GM shared Dapper Driver recordsdata with LexisNexis and Verisk. One Chevrolet Scoot owner’s insurance rose 21% in 2022. His LexisNexis account listed 640 trips over six months, with initiate and slay times, speeding and titillating braking. GM ended Dapper Driver in April 2024.
In January 2025, the Federal Substitute Commission moved to ban GM from sharing certain driver recordsdata with user reporting agencies for 5 years. The FTC finalised that dispute this January. GM also paid $12.75m to resolve identical claims in California in May possibly presumably additionally merely.
Below the fresh settlement, GM must also restrict the utilizing recordsdata it collects. It must bustle a data privateness programme with inner and third-occasion assessments, and put collectively and oversee dealership group. GM did no longer admit wrongdoing, and a separate lawsuit from Texas is aloof going, The Hill reported.
“This agreement addresses Dapper Driver, a product we ended in 2024,” GM stated in an announcement.
GM no longer sells automobile recordsdata that would possibly perchance well even be linked to a person, the firm told TechCrunch. It would possibly perchance possibly possibly well presumably also aloof share recordsdata that is no longer tied to a driver. GM is also building its enjoy AI assistant for its autos. Volvo, for its fragment, provides an app that grades your utilizing and shares the grade alongside with your insurer. In September, Ireland’s recordsdata watchdog fined Google €403m over derive 22 situation recordsdata.
