How to Stop the DMV From Selling Your Information

To stop the DMV from selling your information, file a written non-disclosure (opt-out) request with your state’s motor vehicle department under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA). The form is usually free, but it only blocks the disclosures that require your consent in the first place: individual record requests and bulk marketing. Insurers, law enforcement, courts, toll operators, and several other categories can still pull your record no matter what you file, because the DPPA writes those uses into the statute itself.¹

Filing the Opt-Out With Your State DMV

Each state runs its own DMV and sets its own opt-out procedure, but the shape of the process is the same everywhere. Go to your state DMV’s website and search for terms like “privacy,” “opt-out,” “non-disclosure,” or “DPPA request.” Most states publish a downloadable form that asks for your full name, current address, driver’s license or state ID number, and your signature.

Fill it out completely. Incomplete forms are the most common reason requests get delayed. Some states also let you check a non-disclosure box when you renew your license online or in person, which does the same thing as a separate form.

Submit the completed form by mail, through an online portal if your state offers one, or in person at a DMV office. Processing times vary. Some states update your record within a few business days; others take several weeks. If your DMV has an online account system, log in after a reasonable wait to confirm your privacy settings have changed. Keep a copy of what you submitted, along with any confirmation number.

The DPPA prohibits states from making you jump through hoops to withhold consent. Your state cannot condition or burden the issuance of your motor vehicle record as a way to pressure you into agreeing to data sharing, though it can charge a standard administrative fee for the record itself.¹

A handful of states already restrict personal information disclosures by default. If you live in one of them, you don’t need to file anything, but it’s still worth confirming through your DMV’s website or a phone call.

What the Opt-Out Actually Blocks

An opt-out is narrower than most people expect. The DPPA lets your DMV disclose your personal information for a fixed list of “permissible uses,” and no individual request can override them. The uses your form does block are the ones the statute conditions on express written consent: individual record requests from third parties and bulk distribution for marketing, surveys, and solicitations.¹

The disclosures that will continue after you opt out include:¹

Government agencies, including law enforcement and courts, carrying out official duties.
Automakers, safety regulators, and emissions programs handling recalls, theft investigations, and monitoring.
Parties to civil, criminal, or administrative proceedings, including for service of process and judgment enforcement.
Insurers, self-insured entities, and their contractors, for claims investigation, fraud detection, and underwriting.
Businesses verifying information you gave them, for fraud prevention or debt collection.
Researchers producing statistical reports, so long as they don’t publish your information or contact you.
Licensed private investigators and security services acting for a permitted purpose.
Employers verifying commercial driver’s license information when federal rules require it.
Tow and impound operators, and private toll road operators, looking up owner information.
Any other use a state legislature has authorized in connection with vehicle operations or public safety.

One more limit worth knowing: your driving violations, accident history, and license status are not treated as protected “personal information” under the DPPA at all, so those records circulate more freely than your name, address, or license number. Your photo, Social Security number, and any medical or disability information you disclosed sit in a more protected tier called “highly restricted personal information,” which the DMV cannot release without your written consent except for a narrow set of government, court, insurance, and employer purposes.²

Data Already Sold Before You Opted Out

Your opt-out stops future disclosures. It does nothing about records your DMV has already sold. Once a data broker, insurer, or investigative firm holds a copy of your information, the DPPA does not require anyone to go back and delete it. That is the biggest gap in the law, and it is where most people’s frustration comes from.

To claw back information already circulating, you have to approach the downstream holders directly. Major data aggregators like LexisNexis and Acxiom allow you to request a freeze or suppression of your file through their websites. Paid services can automate removal requests across dozens of brokers at once. None of this is required by the DPPA. It is separate, voluntary cleanup work, and if you want to meaningfully limit your exposure, the DMV opt-out alone will not do it.

If Your Information Is Misused Anyway

The DPPA gives you a private right of action. If someone knowingly obtains, discloses, or uses your motor vehicle record for a purpose the law does not permit, you can sue them in federal district court.³ The available remedies are:

Liquidated damages of at least $2,500 per violation, even without proof of actual loss.
Actual damages if your losses exceed $2,500.
Punitive damages when the violator acted with willful or reckless disregard for the law.
Reasonable attorney fees and court costs.

That $2,500 floor is unusual for a privacy statute, and in cases involving improper access to thousands of records the damages can scale quickly.³

A knowing violator also faces criminal fines under the general federal sentencing framework, which can reach up to $250,000 for a felony-level offense or $100,000 for a Class A misdemeanor.⁴⁵ State DMVs themselves are not off the hook either. If a state department has a policy or practice of substantially failing to comply with the DPPA, the U.S. Attorney General can impose civil penalties of up to $5,000 per day of noncompliance.

Watching for Signs Your Opt-Out Was Ignored

Don’t assume the problem is solved the day you submit the form. Watch for unsolicited mail, phone calls, or marketing that references your vehicle, your driving history, or your license. Those are signals that your data may still be circulating through commercial channels. If solicitations continue well after your opt-out should have been processed, contact your state DMV to confirm the request went through and to file a complaint. Most DMVs have a process for handling privacy concerns.

Not every piece of unwanted mail comes from your DMV. Vehicle registration information is public record in some states through separate channels, and your name and address can be pulled from property records, voter rolls, or commercial databases that never touched your driver’s license file. If you cannot trace the source of a solicitation, the problem may lie with one of those other sources, and the fix is with them rather than your DMV.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2721 – Prohibition on Release and Use of Certain Personal Information From State Motor Vehicle Records
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2725 – Definitions
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2724 – Civil Action
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2723 – Penalties
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine