vin advisor
Jul 21, 2017 · 3 min read

Who Owns the Data in Your Car?

263 Legacy & Startups Chasing the Data Stack

There are 263 legacy and startup companies racing — think of the classic western movie land grab scene where hundreds of people, horses and wagons hurdle across a rugged landscape — to own a share of your car’s data stack. With today’s new cars and trucks equipped with between 50 (Volvo) and 100 (BMW 7 Series) different microprocessors or computers, the question we all need to be asking is, “who owns the data in my car?”

Let’s skip over how much data is collected and focus on the personal information captured each time you turn the key or press the start button. The exact GPS route of each trip, speeds at each foot, yard or mile, where and for how long your car stops and time of day for each trip, no matter how short or long, you take. How many of the 50 to 100 microprocessors in your vehicles capture all or part of your most personal information? How is personal information differentiated from vehicle information? Who owns this information? Who has access to it? When and with whom can it be shared? Is it stored on multiple devices? Multiple cloud servers? How long is it saved for? If it is disposed of, how is it disposed of? Is any of your personal information sold to vendors?

While all this may sound like a tease for Dateline NBC, these are serious questions that need answers sooner rather than later. If the police, FBI or any other law enforcement agency or government entity requests any data captured by your vehicle, who says yes or no? Will you be notified of legal requests? Notified as to whether the request was approved or denied? Are your “data rights” different if you pay cash, finance or lease a vehicle? What we know for sure is that these questions and more will be analyzed in detail by lawyers for manufacturers, dealers and other related parties. The output will be disclosure statements likely to be as hard to find as they are to understand. What do you think the odds are that consumers will find complete transparency into their vehicle’s data? No matter what odds Vegas offers you, take the over.

The lack of transparency when buying a car led us to launch vinadvisor, the first service that advocates exclusively — we don’t charge dealers fees of any kind — for consumers. Our software offers consumers the market transparency they need to be assured a fair price and treatment for any purchase, lease, trade or sale. We plan to lead the charge in advocating for consumer auto data rights. If you take one minute to like us at facebook.com/vinadvisor we can keep you informed on this important issue.

They say the truth is out there. Seems more important right now that we make sure the personal information captured by your car stays there.

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vin advisor

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Transforming car buying and ownership.

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