ST. LOUIS – “I never imagined that every trip, every turn, every time I press the gas, press the brake, that someone is looking over my shoulder and taking note of that and sending it to the insurance company. That’s nothing I would ever agree to,” Valdosta, Georgia, resident Brant McDonald said.
Last year, McDonald learned he was one of millions of people who allegedly had their driving data tracked by their automaker and sold to insurance companies.
In the online forum where we found McDonald, some drivers allege their insurance rates went up because of it. McDonald obtained his consumer disclosure report from global data broker LexisNexis and shared it with us.
“The total report is somewhere around 325 to 350 pages, and over 300 pages of that are just my driving history in that short period of time,” he said.
Class action lawsuits against General Motors, OnStar, and data brokers LexisNexis and Verisk Analytics have been consolidated in a Georgia federal court.
In January, the FTC placed a five-year ban on General Motors and OnStar. It prevents them from disclosing consumers sensitive geolocation and driver behavior data to reporting agencies. The companies must get consumer consent prior to collecting data and create a way for consumers to limit the data collected while also being able to obtain and delete their own data.
“There’s heat on this. Now people know this is going on. There’s a bigger spotlight on it,” Attorney Jeremiah Nixon with The Simon Law Firm in St. Louis said. “It’s not a free pass that in five years, GM can do whatever they want. Diem has to abide by the rules. Still, it’s just that they’re getting hit with a penalty for what they’ve done already.”
Nixon says he’ll be tracking what happens next in the class action case.
“GM is fighting requests for documents and to turn over information. They’re saying no, it’s not time for that yet. The plaintiffs will push and try to move it along as quickly as possible, but you know, GM’s actively fighting that,” he added.
In a news release, General Motors announced it discontinued OnStar Smart Driver, terminating its partnerships with LexisNexis and Verisk. The company said it would “unenroll all customers” and was “working on enhanced privacy controls aimed at greater transparency.”
General Motors sent us the following statement:
“When it comes to privacy, keeping our customers’ data safe is a top priority for us. Under the leadership of our new Chief Privacy Officer, we’ve updated our privacy policy to enhance the clarity and accessibility of our policies and controls.”
Brant McDonald says he won’t forget this experience the next time he shops for a truck.
“It makes me not want to buy another GM vehicle. And again, maybe there’s other car manufacturers doing it, but that’s the kind of thing that would make me go to another brand,” he said.