Collection and Use of Personal and Car Information

Collection of Information

OnStar may collect information about you or your car several different ways: from what you, your car dealer and car maker provide to us when you register for any OnStar service or buy or lease your car; from your use of the services; from OnStar web pages you visit; from calls or emails between us; from our wireless service providers; and from your car itself when your OnStar equipment is active.

The information we may get about you includes things such as contact information (such as name, mailing address, email address, phone number and language preference and whether you are deaf or hard of hearing); credit card and billing information (such as cardholder name, card number and subscription package and OnStar Hands-Free Calling minute purchases); and other personal information that helps us customize our services, such as your requests for emergency assistance or driving directions.

The information we may get from your car includes things such as data about its operation (such as diagnostic trouble codes, oil life remaining, and odometer readings), about your use of OnStar services, about where your car is just before and during requests for location information or OnStar services that involve a wireless connection to your car, and (depending on your OnStar Equipment) data about accidents involving your car (for example, the direction from which your car was hit and which air bags have deployed). If you enroll in the OnStar Vehicle Diagnostic service, we will collect information from your car on a periodic basis.

OnStar only knows where your car is when a user or subscriber initiates a request for service, there is an Air Bag Deployment, an Automatic Crash Response occurs, or OnStar is required to locate the car to comply with legal requirements, including valid court orders showing probable cause in criminal investigations.

Use of Your Information

OnStar may use your information to: (1) provide OnStar services to you, your car or management entity of your car (2) communicate with you about your account (3) check or maintain your OnStar Equipment; (4) provide information to the maker of your car about the car's performance, about aggregate product usage; (5) help you or managers of fleets of cars (if your car is part of a fleet) to maintain the car, via data such as oil life, odometer and diagnostic trouble code information; (6) provide information to your rental car company to enable you to rent OnStar service;(7) evaluate and improve our service; (8) enforce the OnStar Service Terms and Conditions with you or others; (9) prevent fraud or misuse of OnStar service; (10) comply with applicable laws, regulations and orders from government and court (11) protect the rights, property, or safety of you or others; (12) offer you new or additional products or services from us, maker of your car and its affiliates, dealer or any other entity that you are informed; (13) send you the relevant marketing and advertisement information or materials; (14)confirm the insurance and discount information of your car; (15) perform market research for product development or quality improvement; (16) provide you with information about the maintenance needs of your car; (17) anonymize your information with similar anonymized information obtained from other customers (simplified as "aggregate information". This information, once anonymized, will not be able to show any specific information of you or your car, and no one is able to find or fix any specific information of you or your car.) Aggregate information may be shared with or sold to third parties for any purpose. or (18) conduct any other activity relating to your use of OnStar services or other related services.. The OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics report we send to you may include some related information or promotion commercials. If you have any concern on this, you could contact us directly.

Information Sharing

OnStar may share your email address, including any email address collected through the OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics Program, with the maker of your car and its subsidiaries, shareholders, parent companies, and affiliates, such entities include but not limit to OnStar LLC, SAISC, SGM, GMCIC, and GM, and their respective affiliates.

OnStar may also share your other contact information, information about your current OnStar services, your car's Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), and information about the use of your car's features with: (i) the maker of your car, its subsidiaries, parent companies, affiliated companies, Car dealer and Service Provider, and their subsidiaries and affiliated companies; (ii) car dealers; and (iii) our wireless service providers, for the purposes of offering you products and services.

Your OnStar subscription status may be shared with companies with whom we have business relationships to determine eligibility in discount programs you have requested from those companies. Your information may also be shared with our suppliers for the exclusive purpose of providing services for us.

Security of Your Personal Information

OnStar provides service to your car through wireless networks. Although it is illegal for unauthorized people to intercept your calls, such interceptions of wireless communications can occur. OnStar implements and maintains technical, physical, and administrative safeguards to help protect the security and confidentiality of customer information in OnStar's possession from theft, loss, misuse, improper distribution or alteration.

Personal Identification Number (PIN)

OnStar uses a Personal Identification Number, or PIN, to help identify authorized users of the service in certain situations. You will be asked for your six-digit PIN when requesting Remote Door Unlock, Stolen Vehicle Assistance, Remote Horn and Lights and some account maintenance services. You can change your PIN or add other authorized users of your car on to your account with their own PIN at any time by contacting an OnStar advisor from your car, calling 400-820-1188 to inquire about a forgotten PIN contact us at the numbers above or email us at contactus@onstar.com.cn to obtain your PIN by mail. OnStar will provide secured services to users who provide the correct PIN.

Call Recording

We'll record and monitor conversations by you or others from your car with us, with emergency service providers, or with the police to maintain or improve the quality of OnStar service, for training purposes, or to promote and provide OnStar service. Please note that our OnStar Advisors may also remain on the line if they conference in a third party, such as dealership personnel or hotel reservation centers, to assist in completing a service request. We may also randomly monitor your interactions with OnStar's automated services such as OnStar Virtual Advisor for quality improvement purposes. OnStar will not release any audio or physical records that are created as part of the OnStar service unless otherwise required by applicable laws and regulations or requested by proper government agencies.

Control of Your Personal Information

You may modify, correct, change, or update your contact information at any time by contacting an OnStar Advisor from your car, or calling 400-820-1188.

You may also contact us to be placed on our do-not-contact lists (mail, email and telephone) so you won't receive marketing materials from us. You will have to provide your OnStar PIN as verification before you are placed on the list. If you are a current OnStar subscriber on this list, you will still receive information about any safety and product recalls and notice regarding payment for or deactivation of your services. Once your name is restricted from contact, you will not receive future marketing offers from OnStar. However, if you contact us to request information about OnStar, you will receive information regarding your request, regardless of your contact status.

Additional OnStar Services Information

Hands-Free Calling

The OnStar equipment maintains a balance of the remaining number of Hands-Free Calling minutes in your car.

OnStar cannot listen to, view, or record the content of calls made using Hands-Free Calling

Should you choose to use Hands-Free Calling to dial 110 in an emergency situation rather than contacting OnStar and your car contains certain OnStar equipment, the location of your car at the time the call was made may be provided to the public safety or dispatch personnel who answer your call.

OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics

If you sign up for OnStar's Vehicle Diagnostics service, we will collect information from your car such as diagnostic trouble codes, oil life remaining, mileage, tire pressure and send you monthly e-mail communications regarding some of the maintenance needs of your car to the designated email address on file. These notices will continue until you contact us to stop the OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics service or your OnStar subscription ends. Should you sell (or otherwise get rid of) your car while the OnStar subscription is still active, you must contact us immediately so that we can discontinue the communication, mark your account appropriately and possibly transfer any remaining service to another OnStar-equipped car you may have. If you do not notify OnStar of a sale or transfer of your car, OnStar may continue to send OnStar Vehicle Diagnostic reports or other information about the car or the OnStar account to the billing or e-mail address currently on file with OnStar. In such case, OnStar is not responsible for any privacy related damages you may suffer. Your e-mail address will be used according to the descriptions in this Privacy Statement.

You may use OnStar's websites to learn about our services without disclosing any personal information. There are also several opportunities on our websites for you to provide us with information about you, such as your name, mailing address and e-mail address, to request information, enroll in promotional programs or renew or purchase additional OnStar services.

We may use "cookies" and other tracking devices on our websites. Using cookies on our sites provides benefits to you, such as allowing you to maintain your account login information between visits, or maintaining your session information, such as your car type. The use of cookies also allows us to measure site activity to provide a better user experience. Cookies and other tracking devices may be used to tell us the time and length of your visit, the pages you look at on our site, the site you visited just before coming to ours, and the name of your Internet service provider.

You may elect to refuse cookies. Please refer to your browser's Help instructions to learn more about cookies and how to manage their use.

Our sites may contain links to third party sites not controlled by OnStar or covered by this privacy statement. We recommend that you check the privacy statement of other sites you visit before providing any personal information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does OnStar continuously monitor my car's location?
A: No, OnStar does not continuously or routinely monitor, update or otherwise track the location of OnStar-equipped cars. OnStar only knows the location of a car when a user initiates a request for service, there is an Air Bag Deployment, an Automatic Crash Response occurs, or OnStar is required to locate a car to comply with legal requirements or orders from government agency or court. OnStar requires police involvement for Stolen Vehicle Assistance and missing person requests.

Q: If I am assigned as a primary driver of an OnStar-equipped car that is owned or leased by the company I work for, will you ever provide the location of that car to the company?
A: No, we do not provide the car's location to your company or to a fleet leasing company that may be managing your company's car fleet. OnStar only provides the location of a car to emergency service, roadside assistance or law enforcement personnel to assist in delivering services.

Q: If I drive a rental car equipped with OnStar, will you ever provide the location of my vehicle to the rental company?
A: OnStar will provide the location of a rental car to the rental company only if the location is vital to completing a driver's service request. For example, if you were involved in an accident where your rental car was no longer drivable and contacted OnStar, we would provide the rental car agency the location of the car so that they can send out the appropriate resources to pick up the damaged car and provide you with a new rental, if needed.

Q: Does OnStar monitor conversations in my car?
A: It is not possible for OnStar advisors to monitor car occupant conversations without notice to the occupants. When an advisor calls into your vehicle, a light flashes, there is a ring, and the radio mutes. Even if requested, it is not possible for OnStar to override this functionality. In addition, calls through the OnStar system are normally audible through the stereo speakers, and cars programmed with text display capabilities provide an indicator of a connection to OnStar on the driver's instrument panel. Moreover, OnStar's policy requires Advisors to announce their presence immediately upon establishing a call with the vehicle.

Q: Will you use my personal information to send me emails?
A: Yes, we may. If so, we will give you an opportunity to opt-out of receiving marketing emails in the future.

Q: Can I update my personal information?
A: Yes. Please contact an OnStar Advisor from your car, or call 400-820-1188 to update your contact information maintained by OnStar.

Q: What is an example of a supplier that provides services to OnStar?
A: Such as advertising and marketing agencies, which provide services to OnStar.