GM to Pay $220 Million for Selling Drivers' Data to Insurers

General Motors will pay $220 million to settle allegations that it collected and sold millions of drivers’ location information and driving habits to data brokers that supplied insurance companies, allowing the records to be used in decisions about customers’ premiums.

The agreement, announced Thursday, October 29, 2026, by a bipartisan coalition of 36 attorneys general, also requires GM to obtain drivers’ express consent before collecting or sharing certain information. The settlement follows an investigation into the automaker’s OnStar Smart Driver program, which tracked customers’ vehicle activity for years.

From 2016 to 2024, GM enrolled millions of drivers in Smart Driver, a service marketed as a way to improve driving safety. Customers were told their information would be shared with insurers only with their permission. Investigators found that GM instead sold the records to data brokers under contracts that contemplated their use in insurance products.

The information included the start and end times of individual trips, speeding, hard braking, rapid acceleration and how frequently customers drove. Insurance companies purchased reports containing those details to assess risk and calculate premiums, sometimes increasing rates based on the recorded behavior.

More than 370,000 drivers were mistakenly told through GM’s OnStar app that they were not enrolled in Smart Driver even as the company continued collecting and selling their information. Investigators found that GM later removed those customers from the program without notifying them of the error, while previously collected records remained with data brokers and insurers.

Many customers had been enrolled while purchasing vehicles at GM dealerships, where Smart Driver registration was combined with sign-ups for other OnStar services. Some dealership employees allegedly accepted terms and conditions on customers’ behalf without their permission.

Between 2020 and 2024, GM encouraged dealership participation through financial incentives. Sales employees received bonuses tied partly to connected-service enrollments, while dealerships were ranked according to how many customers they signed up.

The data eventually reached insurers through third-party brokers, giving the companies access to detailed driving histories that customers had been told would require their consent to share. New York Attorney General Letitia James said more than 700,000 New York drivers had been enrolled in Smart Driver.

GM discontinued the program in 2024 after news reports exposed the data sales. Under the new agreement, the automaker must obtain affirmative express consent before collecting or disclosing driving and location information and limit the amount of data it gathers.

GM must also maintain a comprehensive privacy program, undergo internal and independent assessments, and strengthen dealership oversight and employee training.

Washington and Oregon led the investigation, with attorneys general from 34 other jurisdictions joining the settlement. Washington will receive approximately $12.3 million, New York $12.1 million and Oregon more than $10.4 million.

The multistate agreement follows earlier scrutiny of GM’s connected-car data practices. In January 2025, the automaker reached a separate agreement with the Federal Trade Commission restricting its disclosure of certain vehicle location and driving behavior information to consumer reporting agencies for five years. California followed in May 2026 with a $12.75 million settlement over allegations that GM sold driving information to two data brokers.

GM said Thursday’s agreement addresses a program it ended in 2024 and reinforces changes already made to its privacy practices. The automaker said it has worked to give customers more control over connected-vehicle information and make clearer how that data is used and shared.

The $220 million will go to the participating states rather than directly to drivers whose information was sold. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel confirmed that the settlement provides no consumer restitution. A separate nationwide class-action lawsuit remains pending, seeking monetary damages for customers allegedly affected by GM’s data-sharing practices.