Michigan to receive $7.2M in settlement with GM over allegations of selling driver data

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday that Michigan will receive over $7.2 million in a settlement agreement with General Motors, part of a national $220 million settlement over allegations of GM’s sharing of drivers’ private behavior and location data with third parties. 

Those third parties included data brokers, who then shared data with insurance companies which, according to reporting from the New York Times, used that data to set auto insurance rates for some drivers.

“Drivers deserve to know what information about them is being collected and how it may affect their wallets,” Nessel said in a press release. “Discovering after the fact that a company has been tracking and selling their driving data without their consent is unacceptable. This settlement will hold GM accountable for its past conduct and secure meaningful safeguards so drivers have greater control over their information in the future.”

The settlement requires that General Motors “must obtain the relevant Consumer’s Affirmative Express Consent prior to collecting or using such Consumer’s Covered Driver Data, or disclosing such Consumer’s Covered Driver Data to any Third Party,” meaning that they have to get specific permission from drivers to collect or disclose their driving or location data.

Other terms in the settlement require GM to limit the driving data that it collects at all, and to establish a more comprehensive data privacy program. 

GM does not admit to any “violation or liability arising from any state, federal, or local law” in the settlement, which states, “Nothing contained in this Judgment shall be construed as an admission or concession of liability by Defendants, nor to any express or implied allegations relating to current or historical data processing policies or practices.”

The settlement was reached by a coalition of 36 attorneys general from states and the District of Columbia and largely concerned the company’s Smart Driver program, which ran from 2016 to 2024. Nessel’s press release describes that GM “pitched this tool as a way for drivers to improve their own driving safety and told drivers that they would not share their data with insurers without express consent.”

However, the attorneys general argued that GM did not properly obtain that consent or inform drivers that their data was being sold, and in some cases, dealership employees allegedly accepted terms and conditions on behalf of customers without their consent when a car was first being purchased.