OnStar's Undisclosed Tracking Sparked Plaintiff's Insurance Hike, Says Complaint

GM and OnStar “surreptitiously” tracked plaintiff Colin Cogle’s driving behavior and location data and sold it to third parties, including LexisNexis, without his knowledge or consent, alleged Cogle's class action Monday (docket 2:24-cv-11062) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Michigan in Detroit.

GM and OnStar tracked the speed, location, acceleration and braking behaviors of Cogle’s 2019 Chevy Bolt EV even though the Brookfield, Connecticut resident didn’t subscribe to its OnStar Smart Driver program, said the complaint. They transmitted the data to LexisNexis, which then sold the data to Geico, the complaint alleged. In February, Geico, his car insurer, bumped Cogle's premium by $150 per month, it said.

At no point did GM or OnStar disclose to Cogle or class members that it would collect and sell information about their driving behavior to LexisNexis and other third parties, which would “in turn provide it to their insurers,” it said.

OnStar Smart Driver, a free program with optional service that GM offers customers, collects and stores “detailed information about their driving behavior,” said the complaint. All GM vehicles available for use or sale in the U.S. have been equipped with OnStar software and tracking technology since model year 2015, it said. Though OnStar represents that it only collects driving behavior information from customers who consent and enroll in OnStar Smart Driver, it “nevertheless tracked information” about Cogle in “granular detail,” it said.

OnStar collects and stores “hard braking events, hard acceleration events, speeds over 80 miles per hour, average speed, late night driving, seat belt usage, when and where these events occur, and the number of miles driven,” said the complaint, citing OnStar documentation. Even if a customer doesn’t enroll in OnStar Smart Driver, that information is collected from each vehicle and stored after each drive, it said.

Though OnStar promotes Smart Driver as a “safe driving” program, it uses the “detailed telematic information it collects from GM vehicles to generate a profit” by selling the information to third-party data brokers, such as LexisNexis, it said. LexisNexis says using telematic data gives insurers “the opportunity to more accurately assess risk at point of quote, underwriting, renewal and more," the complaint said.

Car insurance companies “rely on these consumer reports, and the telematics data contained within them, to determine (and typically increase) premiums for insured drivers,” said the complaint. At no point did GM or OnStar inform customers, including those that didn’t sign up for Smart Driver, that their driving behavior would be sold to third parties, “much less to their automobile insurance companies for potential use in increasing insurance rates,” alleged the complaint.

Even for class members who did opt into Smart Driver, GM and OnStar represented that any data “would be kept secure and would not be shared without proper consent,” said the complaint. Drivers who did enroll in the program “had no reasonable expectation that their information would be sold and transmitted to LexisNexis and, eventually, their insurance companies,” it said.

Cogle alleges violations of the Wiretap Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Connecticut Unlawful Trade Practices Act, plus invasion of privacy and unjust enrichment claims. He seeks compensatory, statutory and punitive damages, plus legal costs and expenses. A GM spokesperson said the company is reviewing the complaint and has no further comment at this time. LexisNexis didn't comment Tuesday.