General Motors has agreed to pay $12.75 million to settle a California data privacy lawsuit that accused the company of selling driver location and driving data to insurance companies.

The settlement requires GM to cease selling customer information to data brokers for five years and grants Californian drivers the ability to halt OnStar’s collection of location data.

Following revelations by The New York Times in 2024, that automakers were sharing driving data with third parties, including speed and acceleration metrics, which influenced insurance pricing, GM faced multiple lawsuits.

The Federal Trade Commission also finalized a settlement with GM and its OnStar subsidiary, preventing them from disclosing driver data to third-party brokers for five years. Under this agreement, drivers must be informed clearly about data collection processes during enrollment in OnStar services.

“Today’s settlement requires General Motors to abandon these illegal practices,” says California Attorney General Rob Bonta, underlining the importance of data minimization laws.”