GM's $220 Million Driver-Data Settlement: What It Means for Your Car Insurance

If you drove a GM vehicle at any point from 2016 to 2024, there is a real chance your hard braking, your speeding and your late-night trips were recorded. According to the state attorneys general who just settled with the automaker, that information was sold, and it ended up with insurance companies that could use it to price your policy.

Here is what happened, how driving data can move your premium, and the free steps every driver can take this week, whether or not you have ever owned a GM.

What GM agreed to

On October 29, 2026, General Motors agreed to pay $220 million to settle claims brought by 36 attorneys general. According to the New York Attorney General, the case centers on Smart Driver, a program offered through GM's OnStar connected services from 2016 to 2024.

Smart Driver tracked how many times you drove, the start and end time of every trip, how often you braked hard or accelerated quickly, and whether you exceeded the speed limit. GM pitched it as a tool to help people drive more safely and told drivers it would not share their data with insurers without express consent.

The states allege that is not what happened. Their investigation found GM sold the information to data brokers under contracts that specified it was for insurance products, and the brokers then sold it to insurers. Most drivers were enrolled at the dealership, and the states say employees sometimes accepted the terms on customers' behalf, and that GM paid dealer bonuses tied partly to connected-services sign-ups from 2020 to 2024. The OnStar app also told more than 370,000 drivers they were not enrolled in Smart Driver while their data was being collected.

Does the money go to drivers?

The official announcements describe payments to the states. Washington receives about $12.3 million and New York more than $12 million. They do not promise checks to individual drivers, so watch your own attorney general's website for any update.

Going forward, GM must obtain affirmative, express consent before collecting or sharing driving and location data, limit what it collects, maintain a privacy program, and, according to TechCrunch, have a third party assess its compliance. This follows a $12.75 million California settlement in May 2026 and a January 2025 agreement with the Federal Trade Commission not to share geolocation and driver-behavior data with consumer reporting agencies for five years.

How driving data can change what you pay

Insurers already price you on age, vehicle, ZIP code and claims history. Driving behavior is a newer ingredient, and it cuts both ways. Allstate, Progressive and Geico all run telematics programs and say the technology rewards good drivers with lower premiums. The difference is that you choose to join those programs. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau notes that some consumer reporting companies may share driving behavior data from your phone or vehicle with auto insurers, who can use it when you get a quote or renew.

Put a dollar figure on it. NerdWallet's October 2026 analysis puts the average full-coverage policy at $2,361 a year. In one widely reported case, a GM owner was told a 22 percent increase in their premium came from data-broker information. Apply that same percentage to the average:

• $2,361 x 22% = about $519 more per year
• New annual premium: about $2,880, or roughly $43 more per month
• Over three years with the same insurer: about $1,558

Now the flip side. If you are a genuinely smooth daytime driver, a program you control might lower your price. A 10 percent discount on the same average policy would save about $236 a year, bringing it to $2,125. That is an illustration, not a promise; discounts vary by insurer and state.

The real question is not whether tracking is good or bad. It is whether you know it is happening, and whether you can see and correct what is in your file. You can.

Your free reports

The CFPB keeps a list of consumer reporting companies, and two matter most for car insurance:

• LexisNexis, listed as C.L.U.E. and Telematics OnDemand, covers claims history and, where it exists, telematics driving data. The CFPB lists it as offering a free report and a freeze option.
• Verisk's Insurance Information Exchange (iiX), which insurers use for loss history. The CFPB lists it as offering a free report as well.

When the reports arrive, look for driving data you never agreed to share, claims you never filed and vehicles you never owned. Dispute errors in writing with the reporting company.

Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, if an insurer charges you more based on information in a consumer report, it generally has to tell you and name the company that supplied the information. If your renewal jumped, ask your insurer in writing why.

What you can do

1. Request your LexisNexis and iiX reports and save the confirmation numbers.
2. Tonight, open your car's connected-services app or dashboard settings and look for driving-behavior, data-sharing or insurance options. Turn off anything you did not knowingly choose.
3. Buying a car? Ask exactly which connected services you are being enrolled in, never let staff accept terms for you, and keep a copy of what you sign.
4. On your phone, review which apps have "always" location access and remove any you do not recognize.
5. Set a calendar reminder 30 days before every renewal to pull reports, fix errors and collect quotes.
6. Get at least three quotes for identical coverage. If one is far higher, ask whether a consumer report or driving data was used and request a copy.

Shopping pays. J.D. Power and TransUnion found 13.2 percent of auto customers shopped in the third quarter of 2026 and 5.1 percent switched.

Should you ever join a telematics program on purpose? It can make sense for low-mileage drivers, people who rarely drive late at night and anyone confident in smooth braking. Ask how long the trial runs and whether your price can go up as well as down. Night commuters and heavy-traffic drivers should think twice.

Watch the video

Sources

1. New York Attorney General, GM $220 million settlement, October 29, 2026: ag.ny.gov
2. Washington Attorney General, October 29, 2026: atg.wa.gov
3. Reuters via Insurance Journal, October 30, 2026: insurancejournal.com
4. TechCrunch, October 29, 2026: techcrunch.com
5. CFPB, list of consumer reporting companies: consumerfinance.gov
6. NerdWallet, average car insurance cost, October 2026 ($2,361 full coverage): nerdwallet.com
7. J.D. Power and TransUnion Q3 2026 shopping and switching, via Repairer Driven News: repairerdrivennews.com
8. Federal Trade Commission, Fair Credit Reporting Act: ftc.gov