When someone rents a car, their main concern is usually the car’s condition, gas mileage, and whether they’re getting a good deal. Until recently, that was all you had to worry about. However, cars have a lot more technology in them than they used to. Even car rentals with the cheapest rates have a phone-pairing function. Since it’s unlawful in most states to use your phone while driving, connecting to your vehicle to receive calls is a useful feature. Unfortunately, cars can hold on to personal data from connected devices without you knowing. Here are some ways to protect your data when renting a car
Car Rentals With the Cheapest Rates Are Great. Data Security Is Even Better
Connecting your phone to a car’s infotainment system is very helpful. By connecting, you can take calls, respond to texts, and get GPS directions without touching your phone. All of these features would have seemed magical just a decade ago. Even though these conveniences help drivers stay safe while driving, a new problem arises. What happens to your data after you connect your phone to the rental car?
When you connect to a car’s infotainment system, you allow the vehicle to store your personal information. This can include your phone’s contacts, call logs, text messages, GPS destinations, and the routes you’ve driven. Most of this information is kept so you can utilize all of the in-car features. However, a lot of that data stays once you return the car to the car rental agency. Unless you know how to erase your personal information from a vehicle, you should avoid connecting to the infotainment system. When you connect to a car through a built-in USB port or Bluetooth, the car might automatically start syncing your information.
If you’re not very tech savvy, simply don’t connect your phone to the car. If a car has an infotainment system, it’s likely to have an AUX port that connects directly to the stereo. Use this port to get GPS readouts and other essential sounds without giving the car access to your data.
Stay Safe While Connecting Your Phone to a Rental Car
If you want to use the infotainment system, it’s important to be responsible with your data. When you connect your device, you’ll usually get a notice asking for your permission to access personal information. After you give permission, the car will have your contacts, access to apps, and a lot of other info. Your data won’t be able to leave the vehicle, but it can be accessed if you don’t delete your profile before you return the rental car. Deleting your info isn’t very difficult. If you navigate to the settings menu, there should be a section that lists paired devices. Once you delete your paired device, it’ll be safe to return the vehicle.
Make Sure To Clear Your GPS History
Along with the infotainment system, be wary of the data you leave when on a car’s built-in GPS system. Whenever you use the GPS, it keeps a log of your destinations. You also have the option to bookmark destinations for your convenience. You should avoid saving a destination as your home or work in any car that you don’t own. If you used the in-car GPS system, the process for clearing your information will be different than clearing the infotainment system. Go into the settings menu and look for an option to clear your location history. Otherwise anyone will be able to see where you went and for how long. That’s the sort of info you don’t want falling into the wrong hands.
Looking for Car Rentals With the Cheapest Rates?
At Value Rental Car we respect our client’s data. We offer clean and affordable rental cars for local driving in LA. We rent to drivers under the age of 21, and we offer cash and debit card car rentals. Contact Value Rental Car today for a short or long term car rental in Los Angeles near LAX, or in beautiful Pasadena.