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Most, if not all car companies collect and profile your data, how can I improve my privacy when buying a modern car?
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this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2025
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Privacy
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There’s always a trade-off in some way, though. For instance, Toyota is one of the best in regards to keeping physical controls. But they’re basically the worst offender in regards to data privacy. “Insist” is fine on paper, but (unless you’re a millionaire who can afford a custom-built car) you’re inevitably going to have to purchase one on the existing market. And the existing market is all about digital controls and privacy violations.
Saying “just don’t get one that has those things” is a little like saying “just don’t get a house that catches on fire” after a wildfire rips through an area. It’s not exactly up to the customer, and the average person could never hope to afford the custom work that those kinds of requirements would entail.
There's plenty of perfectly fine used vehicles that are old enough to have physical controls, but new enough to still have a reverse camera and Android Auto. Personally I'm not buying any new vehicle with a cellular modem.
Yes, but this is kind of missing the point. We can’t all just buy old cards forever.
Watch a lot of the car renovation shows.
You can have an old car completely renovated for like 30k
That's cheaper than just about any brand new car.
And you can keep buying old cars. You just are limited in selection.
I know one mechanic who converted an old Chevy S10 into an electric vehicle. It cost also about 30k and that was 13 years ago. He could do it easier, cheaper and better with today's parts availability.
These are in Canadian prices
After rebuilding it, you drive your new 30k EV out of its refit garage. Pulling out into the road, you immediately get hit by someone using their cell phone, totalling your car.
The insurance company offers you $5k for your vehicle, as they value it as a twenty year old used car on a rebuilt title.
These things are never that simple.
... No that's not how it works if you don't want it to.
He said he paid about 120 dollars extra for some specific type of coverage due to the custom nature of the work on his insurance and when it did get into a collision, he got more than it cost him to repair it.
He did that project as a curiosity and used it as a shop vehicle, and it got a lot of use iirc
“Okay all of society: only buy old cards from now on and retrofit them for 30k and find special insurance to cover them!”
It didn’t work.
You need momentum to start some where¯\_(ツ)_/¯