You may not have known this, but if you drive specific cars from GM and other automakers your driving data may have been sold to insurance companies.

Say What?

Yesterday, Verisk, a company that sold drivers’ performance data to GM, Honda, and Hyundai has stopped receiving driving data from automakers. Verisk collected driving analytics from cars and shopped data to insurance companies through a number of data driven products used for determining risk and underwriting policies.

Worst Product Category for Privacy

In a world of Internet connected cars industry insiders and privacy advocates have suspected car manufacturers were secretly supplying driver information to data analytics companies for fee, and this information was used by other industries.

the worst product category we have ever reviewed for privacy.

Mozilla Foundation

After a New York Times report surfacing allegations GM was selling driver data, the company stopped the practice in March 2024. Other companies were in on the deal, and after public outcry Verisk is no longer acquiring the data and is shutting down their driving data sales business.

The car companies were selling analytics such as driving over the speed limit, hard braking, hard accelerating and cornering, and other analytics to Verisk.

Even though Verisk is no longer receiving data from auto manufactures that doesn’t mean your data is any more protected. Many drivers use convenience features supplied by CarPlay and Android Auto which bridges mapping technology and other applications with their vehicles. Always think about what information you’re sharing before plugging in your phone.