NYT learns how GM car buyers wound up in a program that raised insurance rates

The story about GM sharing driving data from connected vehicles with third parties now has a third installment. The quick recap is that New York Times reporter Kashmir Hill broke the news that GM was selling driving data about specific drivers and specific trips to LexisNexis and Verisk, two companies that help auto insurance companies gauge risk. The drivers had been enrolled in a program called Smart Driver+, a driving gamification program described by GM as a way to improve one's driving. On the back end, Smart Driver+ was noting incidents it considered hard braking, hard accelerating, swerving, and speeding. Insurers were then using these files full of incidents to raise the rates of their insured. Two weeks after the first piece ran in the NYT, GM said it had cut ties with LexisNexis, because, "Customer trust is a priority for us, and we are actively evaluating our privacy processes and policies." By then, a Cadillac driver in Florida who had his insurance premium doubled had already filed a lawsuit.

GM said owners had to opt in to the SmartDriver program. In the latest installment, Hill, who focuses on privacy and whose byline says she's been writing about privacy and technology for more than 10 years, then discovered the Chevrolet Bolt she and her husband bought in December 2023 had also been enrolled in Smart Driver+ even though she didn't remember doing so. Her husband requested reports from LexisNexis and Verisk, and sure enough, he received two files that, between them, recapped incidents during nearly 300 trips taken in three months. Because the dealership listed her husband as the primary owner — despite both their names on the vehicle title — neither of the third-party companies had data on Kashmir Hill.