How Insurance Companies Can See Every Drive You Take

Your vehicle may be sharing data on your driving habits with third parties, affecting your insurance rate, according to a New York Times investigation. For some time, insurance companies have offered incentives for drivers who authorize devices that monitor their driving. But as the Times reports, data is also taken wirelessly from internet-connected vehicles without drivers' knowledge. This comes through optional driver-monitoring features. Kia, Mitsubishi, and Hyundai have "Driving Score," Honda and Acura have "Driver Feedback," and General Motors has OnStar Smart Driver. What many drivers don't realize is that turning on these features authorizes automakers to share data with data brokers, who offer the information to insurance companies.

Kenn Dahl only learned data broker LexisNexis was obtaining data from OnStar Smart Driver, included with his Chevrolet Bolt, after his insurance costs jumped 21%. He was pointed to his 258-page LexisNexis report, which detailed every trip the Bolt had taken over the last six months, including accounts of speeding, hard braking, and sharp accelerations. The report had been accessed by eight different insurance companies over the previous month. "It felt like a betrayal," Dahl tells the Times. "They're taking information that I didn't realize was going to be shared and screwing with our insurance." LexisNexis claimed to have collected data from more than 10 million vehicles as of 2022.

Automakers and data brokers say they have permission from drivers. GM tells Business Insider that an owner must consent three times before data is shared. But consent is "obtained in fine print and murky privacy policies that few read," the Times reports. It adds that some owners of GM vehicles maintain they were tracked and saw insurance rates spike despite never turning on OnStar Smart Driver, though it's possible they were "unknowingly signed up at the dealership, where salespeople can receive bonuses for successful enrollment." California's privacy regulator is investigating the data collection, which some lawmakers suggest violates federal law prohibiting unfair and deceptive business practices. (More auto insurance stories.)