- General Motors sold personal and sensitive driver data to two major brokers. - Automaker must purge every retained driver record within the next 180 days. - California banned the company from selling driver data for the next five years. As modern vehicles collect more connected-car data than ever, regulators have started paying closer attention to how the industry handles that information. Last year, several owners, along with the states of Arkansas and Nebraska, sued General Motors over allegations it harvested driver telematics and sold the information to brokers. Now, GM has agreed to a $12.75 million settlement in California over those same practices. The case was brought by the California Department of Justice and Attorney General Rob Bonta on behalf of state residents, who accused GM of funneling location and driving records from hundreds of thousands of drivers to two data brokers, Verisk Analytics and LexisNexis Risk Solutions, in direct violation of the California Consumer Privacy Act and the state’s Unfair Competition Law. Read: Toyota Owner Didn’t Know His Car Was Talking To Insurers Until He Saw His Rates This is not the first time GM has faced consequences over its OnStar data practices. In January 2025, the FTC barred the automaker from sharing customer location and driving information for five years, a federal action that preceded California’s separate case. While laws in California prohibit insurers from using driving data to raise premiums for customers, the state’s lawsuit stated that selling personal and sensitive information, including an owner’s contact information, name, and geolocation data, was “patently illegal.” GM collected the data using the OnStar system fitted into its vehicles and made roughly $20 million nationwide selling it to Verisk Analytics and LexisNexis Risk Solutions, according to the California DOJ. The investigation also found that GM gave consumers no notice