Federal law requires the manufacturers get your up to date mail address for recall purposes.
Legislators make sure that the agencies sell that data (this is the source of those "we've been trying to reach you about your vehicle's warranty" letters/calls). Sometimes they interfere to ensure that their buddies/lobbyists don't pay for it.
I doubt these datasets have anything to do with the "we've been trying to reach you about your vehicle's warranty" calls, as I know people who got a lot of those calls but never owned a vehicle (some were even minors!). Every time I listened to one of their messages it never had any actual targeted car information.
Federal law requires the manufacturers get your up to date mail address for recall purposes.
Legislators make sure that the agencies sell that data (this is the source of those "we've been trying to reach you about your vehicle's warranty" letters/calls). Sometimes they interfere to ensure that their buddies/lobbyists don't pay for it.