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Your Car Knows How You Drive. It Could Also Help Raise Your Insurance Bill.
General Motors agreed to pay $220 million over allegations that drivers’ personal data reached insurance companies. The settlement leaves an uncomfortable question about who pays when that information is misused.
More than 370,000 drivers opened General Motors’ OnStar app and received the wrong information about their privacy. The app told them they were not enrolled in a driving-monitoring program. According to state investigators, they were enrolled, and GM was collecting and selling their driving information.
Some of that information reached insurance companies.
I came across the case while following comments on my Medium articles about expensive American cars. Several readers had complained about connected vehicles and the growing amount of technology manufacturers install in them.
One reader questioned whether buying a car still gave its owner meaningful control over the product.
I had been examining that concern mainly through the cost of vehicle ownership. The General Motors investigation revealed a different kind of expense, one that could appear long after the buyer…
