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[Richard230]

There was a kind of long and scary article in my newspaper today written by Kashmir Hill and published by The New York Times, titled "Autos share insurance reports about drivers". It says that new GM cars are collecting information on every movement that you make when driving your car. It is then sent to a NY global data  broker company called LexisNexis who then packages your driving experience into a long report (one report was 258 pages long). That report is then sent to insurance companies that contract with them.

In the article's example, the report for a driver owning a GM Bolt included 130 pages detailing the dates of his 640 vehicle trips, including start and end times, an accounting of any speeding, hard braking or sharp accelerations. The only information that the report didn't contain was where the car was driven. The article mentioned that Honda, Kia and Hyundai also collect driver information, but it was mostly about GM's OnStar Smart Driver system.

One Cadillac owner had his insurance doubled after he was unable to get seven insurance companies to provide him with a policy. An owner of a Corvette was caught speeding on a track day at a race track and apparently ended up with a black mark on his insurance driving record.

I think BMW currently collects this kind of information on their latest motorcycles and I wouldn't put it past them to share it with a data broker sometime in the future - unless the EU puts a stop to this sort of data sharing.

[karlh]

This is nothing new for GM.  Back in 2011 they got hammered for selling OnStar tracking data to marketing firms.  For that and other reasons, I will never but another GM vehicle.

[Grauteufel]

Ha, if you think GM is bad, wait until you hear what Telsa is doing....

"Tesla workers shared sensitive images recorded by customer cars"

"The customer is always wrong: Tesla lets out self-driving car data – when it suits"

"Tesla's use of individual driver data for insurance"

[princec]

Fortunately, totally illegal in Europe.

Cas

[Specter]

Onstar has always been spying AND listening in on you as well, recording everything said and it can be recalled w/o a warrant.

I have it in my 2017 chevy and the moment the warranty is expired, am ripping that crap out. I don't NEED internet on my truck, the phone already has it and spies enough on it's own,at least with the phone I can turn it off somewhat.

Aaron

[jotjotde]

Is this OnStar installed in every car? I thought this 'online service' is usually something you have to pay extra for. So, I never tick that option in the list 

Cas is right, that practice is not allowed in Europe (finally one thing they did right in Brussels).
I've read Italian insurance company Generali reduces your insurance premium if you agree to install a black box in your car and thus prove you are driving safe. I wonder if they would notice if I put that box in the Smart my mum while I burn rubber at the racetrack 

[Specter]

Yes this is the onstar that is installed on EVERY car.  Yes YOU pay extra for it if YOU want to use the data, but just because YOU did not pay for the data does not mean it is not collecting it, and sending it up.

Even without their service, it can still be used.   You get in a wreck, even without being paid for, you push that button and say I am in a wreck,by law they have to send someone.  My dad is having a heart attack HELP,  they will send someone.  Call them on the phone, my child is locked in the car HELP, they WILL pop the lock for you, after verifying it is you that called.

Pay or not, they are very much so collecting your data.

also

WARNING:  I seen a comment that someone said they were speeding on a track and they got a black mark on their record. 

Be careful about letting your ins company know you are using the bike on a track, many will cancel your INS and blackball the VIN on that bike on you because you are using it for 'racing'.  Make sure you check your policy and check with them carefully concerning that.  TMBK I do not know of any companies who will insure a bike on the track, given its nature.  It's not a matter of if, but when you dump it TBH.

Aaron