Car sale: remember personal data
CAUTION When returning or selling a car, tidy up: sunglasses, handkerchiefs, writing materials, money or garage door openers. At the latest, you should also remove invisible valuables. Today's cars are increasingly becoming fully networked devices in which users leave data traces. When a car is sold or passed on, data from the smartphone and in the [...]
Today's cars are increasingly becoming fully networked devices in which users leave data traces. When a car is sold or passed on, data from the smartphone and personalized profiles of the previous user created in the on-board system are left behind.
How problematic is this and how quickly can this data be deleted? TCS investigated this using the example of eleven cars from well-known car brands and also validated the results using a manufacturer survey. Rental cars and car sharing providers were also included.
Caution when personalizing a vehicle
Very many current models offer personalization of the car via user account. Interior lighting, seat settings, home address and many other setting options can be saved in profiles.
In parallel, data is often sent to the manufacturer's back end via mobile communications. In permanently installed navigation devices, the last destinations are stored, which can give the next driver unwanted insights into the life of the previous user.
Access data from music streaming services
In addition to address book entries, car users often also transfer access data for music streaming services. When leaving or returning a vehicle, very few people remember to log off again. As a result, subsequent drivers can use the services at the expense of their predecessor.
Deleting personal data is also often forgotten. In the best case, it only takes a few steps to delete all address book entries from your smartphone in a car, for example.
Restore factory settings" function
All of the car manufacturers inquired stated that the "Restore factory settings" function deletes all data records in the vehicle. Many refer to the terms and conditions, according to which the user himself is responsible for deleting his data.
Nevertheless, some brands have already defined processes so that any remaining data is deleted by the garage when vehicles are taken back or traded in.
Optical and data hygiene cleaning of the car
However, this process does not apply to sales to private individuals or car discounters. Therefore, users act in their own interest when they return or sell their vehicle not only visually, but also data-hygienically cleaned. This also applies to user accounts and remote apps for leased, subscribed or purchased vehicles.
