OnStar, a subsidiary of Cadillac parent company, General Motors, provides telematics services such as telecommunications, vehicle security, navigation, remote vehicle diagnostics, and internet access in equipped vehicles. However, OnStar may be collecting customer driving data through a data broker, which may then distribute said data to insurance companies without consent, in turn affecting owners’ insurance premiums.
According to a recent report from The New York Times, Romeo Chicco, a Cadillac owner in Florida, has filed a federal lawsuit against GM and LexisNexis Risk Solutions, global data broker that provides auto insurance companies with information on events such as car accidents and tickets. Chicco’s lawsuit alleges violation of privacy and consumer protection laws as a result of unauthorized sharing of driving data from his 2021 Cadillac XT6.
The data – which detailed 258 trips made over the course of six months, including instances of speeding, hard braking and acceleration, and when trips started and ended – was allegedly shared through the GM OnStar Smart Driver program, which Chicco claims he never enrolled in. Chicco claims that the data sharing resulted in significantly elevated insurance premiums.
As a reminder, the OnStar Smart Driver program aims to help those enrolled “become a better driver” by tracking and rating driving habits and seatbelt use, offering a gamified approach to thise items.
Cadillac Society reached out to GM regarding the matter as OnStar is a standard feature in Cadillac vehicles, and we received the following statement and information.
“GM’s OnStar Smart Driver service is optional to customers, who give their consent three times before limited data is shared with an insurance carrier through a third party,” a GM spokesperson told us. “Customer benefits include learning more about their safe driving behaviors or vehicle performance that, with their consent, may be used to obtain insurance quotes. Customers can also unenroll from Smart Driver at any time.”
It’s worth noting that GM has since ceased operations with LexisNexis and another data broker, Verisk.
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