South Carolina has quietly become one of the nation’s most prolific sellers of personal motor vehicle data, and drivers still don’t know it.
Over the past five years, the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles has generated nearly $97 million selling the names, addresses, and vehicle records of residents to private companies. Buyers include LexisNexis, Experian Automotive, Southern Farm Bureau, American Driving Records, and Auto Direct Data — and LexisNexis alone spent nearly $320,000 last year to buy the information.
When compared with other states, South Carolina’s data sales place it near the top nationwide. Investigations found that states like Georgia and California had both reported more than $50 million each in a single year, but given their population, those number pale in comparison to how much South Carolina made off of its citizens.
-
South Carolina: about $3.61 per resident per year (this is an annualized estimate, based on $97M over five years, or ~$19.4M/year).
-
Ohio: about $1.68 per resident (reported $20M).
-
California: about $1.24 per resident (reported $49M).
South Carolina’s per-capita impact is even more alarming considering residents have little awareness of the practice. Unlike a handful of states with opt-out options, drivers in South Carolina cannot prevent their information from being sold when they apply for services. Under federal privacy law, the data sales are permitted under “permissible use” exceptions, but that law was originally intended to protect privacy, not create a revenue source.
Privacy advocates argue the system amounts to state-run data brokerage without proper transparency or consent. Drivers often learn only after the fact that their personal information is part of a data marketplace generating millions for government agencies, not for the people who provided it.
The debate is intensifying in state capitals and across the country, as lawmakers face growing pressure to rein in the practice or require explicit consent before personal data is sold. Until then, South Carolinians will continue to fuel one of the nation’s most lucrative public data sales without knowing it.
