Carmakers are sharing driving habits with insurance companies, unbeknownst to owners

[midian182]

A hot potato: Modern vehicles have abilities we never would have thought possible a few decades ago, including sharing owners' driving habits with insurance companies. A new report has uncovered how connected cars with built-in telematics share driver statistics and data with insurers, often without the owners even realizing it.

Connected vehicles are becoming an increasingly common sight in the automotive industry, and that means a lot of user data is being shared with other entities. The New York Times looked into the issue, discovering that some car owners might not realize their driving statistics are being sold to insurance companies who use the information to justify increasing their rates.

One example given by The NYT is a 65-year-old who leases a Chevrolet Bolt. His insurance increased by 21% in 2022, and other insurers gave him high quotes. Eventually, an agent told him his LexisNexis report was one of the reasons the prices were so high.

LexisNexis, a New York-based global data broker with a "Risk Solutions" division used by the auto insurance industry, sent the Bolt driver a report that included the dates of all 640 trips made in the vehicle over the past six months, start and end times, distance driven, and any incidents of speeding, hard braking, or sharp accelerating. The only thing missing was the location data. The trip details had been provided by General Motors.

Dongles and devices that collect driving information have been around for years, giving people the ability to voluntarily share their driving stats with insurers in the hope of lowering their rates. But certain connected cars share the data directly from the vehicles, and it can happen without the driver realizing.

Some automakers offer optional "driving improvement" features in connected cars that rate people's driving, but not everyone realizes that turning them on will result in the companies giving the information to data brokers.

A few users say GM vehicles tracked them even when they didn't turn on the OnStar Smart Driver feature, which claims to help users become better drivers by gamifying the experience. They may have been enrolled by the dealership, but even for those who opt in, the enrollment process doesn't make it clear that third parties will receive the driving data.

GM confirmed to the NYT that it shares "select insights" about hard braking, hard accelerating, speeding over 80 mph, and drive time of Smart Driver enrollees with LexisNexis and another data broker called Verisk.

While there are those who welcome this sort of behavior-based insurance as it can make people drive more cautiously, there are no benefits for those unaware they have been enrolled in such a program – only a nasty surprise when it comes to renewing their insurance.

Subaru, Acura, Honda, Hyundai, Kia and Mitsubishi all offer driver score features with data collection that is sent to insurance databases. They require users to opt in, but a few make their data-sharing policies less obvious than others.

If you're worried about what data your car is capable of collecting, find out the details by typing in the VIN at this website. You should also check your connected car app and request what information your car company has on you.

In related news, President Biden ordered an investigation earlier this month into whether Chinese connected vehicles, particularly EVs, pose a security risk to American citizens.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/102225-many-connected-vehicles-share-driving-habits-insurers-unbeknownst.html

 

[Jarenien]

I never turn any of this crap on. What these programs consider good driving a robot would fail.

 

[PanGrns]

There are more than a few reason why security is important. Just search for: Reasons why privacy rights are-important.

 

[wiyosaya]

Tried the lookup site. Disabled ublock origin, enabled cookies, no report. So does that mean that there is no tracking data on my vehicle, or does that mean that the site is BS and possibly collecting VIN numbers?

That said, I've opted out of my car maker, Toyota, sharing my data and received a confirmation from them that they did so - assuming that is meaningful, but I tend to trust Toyota more than any other car maker.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

One of the first things I did on my VW was rip out the wire to the LTE modem. No spying here!

Tried the lookup site. Disabled ublock origin, enabled cookies, no report. So does that mean that there is no tracking data on my vehicle, or does that mean that the site is BS and possibly collecting VIN numbers?

That said, I've opted out of my car maker, Toyota, sharing my data and received a confirmation from them that they did so - assuming that is meaningful, but I tend to trust Toyota more than any other car maker.

considering the horror stories that come from people regarding insurance companies and Toyota spying, I think you are conflating “mechanical reliability” with “privacy.

One of the earliest stories of a man’s insurance demanding more money because someone else drove his truck came from a Tundra owner.

 

[erickmendes]

Up next: iFood sharing eating habits with my dentist.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I never turn any of this crap on. What these programs consider good driving a robot would fail.

All these systems are on by default. Unless you physically disable them they are on and tracking you via VIN.

 

[m4a4]

Well, at this point I already have a device that tracks my distance driven for my insurance (and I pay per 1000 kilometers). Means cheaper insurance for me if my annual distance is below a threshold (which, I don't drive much, or that far).

It's also not the fanciest car (since I refuse to get one with a touchscreen replacing my physical controls). But if I was forced to get something too new, I would definitely look into physically disabling any hidden telemetrics...

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Well, at this point I already have a device that tracks my distance driven for my insurance (and I pay per 1000 kilometers). Means cheaper insurance for me if my annual distance is below a threshold (which, I don't drive much, or that far).

It's also not the fanciest car (since I refuse to get one with a touchscreen replacing my physical controls). But if I was forced to get something too new, I would definitely look into physically disabling any hidden telemetrics...

Why would you want to do that when you voluntarily do it on your current car? You know that same data is being harvested on you right now? Guarantee it is being sold as well.

 

[Jack77]

Glad the EU has gdpr laws, even though they are perhaps overly strict at some points.

 

[m4a4]

Why would you want to do that when you voluntarily do it on your current car? You know that same data is being harvested on you right now? Guarantee it is being sold as well.

And what? They're going to sell it to my current insurance?

I don't even know if it has anything cellular beyond the plugged-in device. It's not a high-end car and is almost a decade old.

 

[RandomWAN]

I'm happy to stick to older vehicles without all of these bells and whistles. My insurance certainly isn't aware of my driving habits. No concerns about anyone tracking anything outside of my current phone (and that's going to change with the next replacement).

 

[Theinsanegamer]

And what? They're going to sell it to my current insurance?

I don't even know if it has anything cellular beyond the plugged-in device. It's not a high-end car and is almost a decade old.

And other insurance companies, and ad agencies, car dealerships, anyone who is interested. Data is big money.

My question is why would you try to disable it when you give them that data now? Its like you refuse to use doordash because theyll sell your data but you WILL pay your neighbor to pick your food up for you and you post it on social media. You're not protecting your data now, but you're opposed to another company doing it.

 

[opckieran]

One of the first things I did on my VW was rip out the wire to the LTE modem. No spying here!

You need to disable your infotainment too. LTE is not the only means data is transmitted from a car, satellite radio is also used for things like remote start or remote unlocking in some instances, even if you aren’t subscribed to it. Bet money it could also be used in a similar manner to LTE.

 

[Marco Mint]

I don't think they'd get away with this in the EU. Also, how do they know it's not somebody who borrows the car, or just one of the named drivers and not the owner of the insurance that's driving the vehicle at those times?
This makes a difference, as lets say the other drivers were then removed at a later date, so weren't on the insurance in future? The insured would still be paying higher prices, without the offending driver having access to the vehicle. It seems pretty flawed the way it's done but hey, if the likes of GM can make more money off their customers, wth would they care?

 

[axiomatic13]

Mine is hilarious!

 

[BobHome]

"...will result in the companies giving the information to data brokers." Don't you mean 'selling'?

 

[OortCloud]

What a disgusting world we live in these days. It really is a William Gibson novel dystopia. My wifes car has Android Auto and I'd never considered it might be reporting back to base - but of course it will - this is a Google product and that's all Google know how to do. I just had a look into it and apparently you can't disable the data being sent to base without rendering Android Auto unuseable... Good old Google - as creepy as always. Thankfully the CD player is the most modern gadget in my 20 year old Type-R.

 

[hwertz]

A) Not a fan of those insurance things. They'yre advertised as a way to lower rates, but I've read in actuality you can save if a car is almost always parked (since their unit can verify this) but for any realistic amount of driving it's just picking off "bad" habits and raising your rates.

B) This data collection is ridiculous and this kind of thing really should be put to a stop. Insurance companies that use this to rate their own drivers should not be selling it to others (or make it VERY CLEAR AND PROMINENT in the materials that "data will be shared with us and our partners" so the user is aware.) Car companies should not be sharing this data at all, and definitely not in a form where your private driving info ends up in a LexisNexis database.

C) This "let's worry about what the Chinese xyz is doing" is getting ridiculous. Why worry about what *Chinese* EV automakers are doing with your private data? Worry about what EV automakers (or for that matter automakers in general) are doing with your private data. Worrying about TikTok? Worry about what TikTok-like services in general are doing. It's still an invasion of privacy (and potential national security risk since that's what the regulators are playing up with the likes of TikTok) whether it's a Chinese company or one in the US taking your private information, using it for their own purposes, then selling it on to any and all buyers.

 

[DonquixoteIII]

Ogg understand. China dataslurp bad, US dataslurp GOOD!

 

[ZedRM]

Not only is this kind of thing wrong, immoral and unethical, it's also likely very illegal. Yet these lowlife companies get away with it because no one stands up to them.

 

[ZedRM]

Ogg understand. China dataslurp bad, US dataslurp GOOD!

No Ogg, all dataslurp bad! Bad dataslurp, bad! No good dataslurp.

 

[Rocky4040]

So is there ways to just make the car or truck not connected at all to anything and become dumb like cars that do not have these privacy violation features turned on. I am sure there must be a way to disable the connected car crap and it should still work fine and oh to bad if it will no longer self drive or allow us to watch netflix when parked lol.

 

[RandomWAN]

So is there ways to just make the car or truck not connected at all to anything and become dumb like cars that do not have these privacy violation features turned on. I am sure there must be a way to disable the connected car crap and it should still work fine and oh to bad if it will no longer self drive or allow us to watch netflix when parked lol.

Newer models, not likely. They've started heavily integrating these systems into the rest of the vehicle and it becomes much more of an engineering project to remove or disassociate these systems from the necessary parts of the car (ECU, ABS, etc.).

Usually just to start making any changes to these systems, you need either a high dollar general scan tool/analyzer or a manufacturer specific one to make any meaningful changes to these systems.

Your best option is to buy something 10-15 years or older (depends on manufacturer). 2010 and younger will have little to none of these monitors and those that do will be easier to defeat/disable.

 

[hwertz]

Actually, IF you can get to the unit, it probably has a SIM card in it. Pull the SIM card, and the unit is still there but will not have any voice, data, or text service to connect to anything. Probably you could unplug the antenna, although it could still phone home if you were very close to a cell site.

That said, they tend to stick it wherever -- my understanding on my 2013 Cruze is that the OnStar unit is somewhere in the trunk. (Luckily in my case, mine is a 3G OnStar unit so it lost service several years ago.) It can be difficult to get to, and they do after all intend it to be non-serviceable so they may not make it easy to crack open and pull the SIM card.