by DMV as a Profitable Data Broker
If you think the DMV is just a place where joy dies in queues, think again. Behind the lamented licenses and number plates, the Department of Motor Vehicles has transformed into one of America’s most profitable data brokers.
This time, the product isn’t software or ad impressions—it’s you. Your name, address, photo, and driving history. The documents you fill out to legally operate a vehicle now serve as raw material for a government marketplace you never joined.
While DMVs in over forty states earn millions, you, the driver, won’t see a single cent.
Loophole in Legislation
The agency uses a legal loophole related to the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) of 1994. This law is why you don’t need to hide your license plate when posting car sale ads.
It was meant to restrict data access. Instead, it created a single exit under “permissible use,” which turned into a broad justification for almost anyone with a business model to buy this data.
DMVs can sell data to various buyers, including but not limited to data brokers, marketers, warranty sellers, private investigators, and insurance companies. How this data is used can vary significantly, but all of it can impact your life.
How Is the Data Used?
For example, insurance companies are known to use such data to set premiums, as we’ve seen repeatedly. Private investigators use it to find people, their habits, and appearance. As for marketers and warranty companies—where do you think those oddly precise sales calls come from?
It’s noted that some approve of such deals. Rhett Robertson, a private investigator, says the public can benefit:
“Recently, I cleared a man of a criminal charge because I was able to access vehicle records in Illinois. He was quickly able to prove he couldn’t have done what he was accused of, and the criminal charges against him were dropped,” Robertson told InvestigateTV.
Scale of the Operation
A NewsMax report shows that several states trade data, and much of it has fallen into the wrong hands. In California, the DMV earned about $282 million by selling over 2 billion records over a decade.
This information went directly to marketers and insurance companies. Six years ago, a data leak occurred, resulting in confidential information ending up with seven different agencies.
In Texas, the DMV sold data that ended up in a facial recognition database. Then a data leak occurred, exposing information about approximately 27 million drivers.
Thousands of Florida residents lost money to fraudsters when the DMV sold data to a company linked to an identity theft crime ring. In Louisiana, a similar data leak occurred two years ago, affecting every driver in the state.
Why do all this if the risks are so obvious? Money. Pure and simple.
The report lists revenue from data sales in several states. The smallest amount is $400,000. Others, like Florida, earned about $77 million in one year through this process. Taking away such a “cash cow” will be difficult, if possible at all.
What You Can Do
For now, the best a citizen can do is file a DPPA request. Sending a certified letter to the DMV demanding to block all data sales not required by law might work in some states.
In many others, like Oregon, this letter will be ignored. Services like DeleteMe and Incogni can also submit deletion requests, but there’s a chance they’ll be ignored too.
It’s also worth monitoring local legislation. This month, Florida legislators are considering a bill to ban the sale of DMV data to anyone.
Representative Peggy Gossett-Seidman stated:
“Nearly $490 million worth of Florida residents’ personal information has been sold without consent. The state of Florida is not in the business of selling your personal information. I filed HB 357 to stop this practice.”
Apart from changes in state or federal legislation, it’s unlikely this practice will stop soon. Colorado scrapped a bill to stop DMV data sales in 2021.
At the time of writing, we couldn’t find any other state working to stop DMV data sales.
This situation points to a systemic problem where government agencies financially benefit from citizens’ personal data without their consent. While individual cases, like exoneration from criminal charges, demonstrate potential benefits of data access, the overall picture is concerning due to lack of control and transparency. Growing awareness and legislative initiatives, similar to the one proposed in Florida, could become key steps in protecting driver privacy in the future.
