Stop your car's driving data from reaching your insurance price

This guide helps you find out what your car and your phone report about your driving, switch off the sharing in the car, the carmaker's app and your phone, pull the files data brokers already hold on you, and correct or delete what's wrong. Plan on about an hour of hands-on time, plus a few weeks for mailed reports to arrive.

Why bother

In January 2025 the US Federal Trade Commission said General Motors and OnStar collected precise location, sometimes every three seconds, and logged every hard brake, late-night drive and speeding event through a feature called Smart Driver. The FTC says that data was sold to consumer reporting agencies, and insurers used their reports to set rates and deny coverage. Reporting named the brokers as LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Verisk. In 2024, US senators found Honda and Hyundai had also sent driving data to Verisk. GM ended the program in 2024, but other carmakers still offer insurer data-sharing programs, and some phone apps collect driving data too. One switch is not enough.

Before you start

• Time: 45 to 90 minutes. Broker reports come by post, often within a few weeks.
• You need: the car and its key (parked somewhere safe), your phone, your carmaker app login, your car's 17-character VIN (bottom of the windscreen on the driver's side, or on your registration), and your insurance policy number.
• Where this applies: the broker-to-insurer pipeline described here is documented in the United States. Outside the US, use Steps 1 to 3 and 6 to 8, and send the carmaker a data access request under your local privacy law (GDPR in the EU and UK).
• What was checked, on 12 October 2026: Ford's current SYNC support page, Kia's usage-based insurance page, the FTC's 2025 and 2026 GM releases, the LexisNexis and Verisk consumer pages, the CFPB's LexisNexis entry, and Apple's and Google's help pages (Samsung paths from SamMobile). GM, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai paths come from owner reports and news coverage. Menus change between model years, so match setting names, not positions.

Steps

1 Find out what your car collects

1. Open vehicleprivacyreport.com (Privacy4Cars' free lookup).
2. Enter your VIN and tap the search button.
3. Read the Vehicle Privacy Label: it shows whether your maker collects location, driving behaviour, phone data and more, and whether it shares or sells it.

Note every item marked as collected or shared. In the next steps, look for settings like:

Share Driving Data, Share Vehicle Data, Share Vehicle Location,
Driving Score, Driver Feedback, Smart Driver, Insure Connect,
Data for Insurance, Connected Services, Location Services

2 Turn off driving data sharing in the car itself

Park, put the car in Park, and leave the engine or ignition on.

Ford and Lincoln, SYNC 4 or SYNC 4A:

1. Tap Settings (or Home) on the screen, then Connectivity > Connected Vehicle Features.
2. Switch off Share Driving Data, Share Vehicle Location and Share Vehicle Data. Ford recommends leaving Vehicle Connectivity itself on for software updates.

Ford Digital Experience (newer Fords with Google built-in):

1. Tap the Vehicle icon, then Settings > Privacy > Data sharing with Ford.
2. Slide Share Vehicle Data and Share Driving Data to the left (off).
3. Go back to Settings, find Location Services, and switch off Share Location with Ford. The separate Use location slider only controls sharing with Google, not Ford.

Ford SYNC 3 with a touchscreen: Settings > FordPass Connect > Connectivity Settings, then switch off the same toggles. Older SYNC versions and SYNC 3 without a touchscreen have no connectivity menu. In the UK, also check Data for Insurance in the same menu.

In 2021 Ford announced an opt-in deal to make connected-car data from eligible 2020 and newer Fords and Lincolns available to US insurers through LexisNexis.

GM (Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac), many 2019 and newer: open Settings > Privacy (some models say Privacy Settings) and turn off location services. GM says emergency location can still be sent to first responders.

Other brands: open the settings app on the car screen and look in Privacy, Connectivity, Data or Connected Services for the names from Step 1.

You should see each toggle stay off after you leave the menu. Settings are often saved per driver profile, so repeat this for every profile and every key fob.