Insurance giant Allianz has been hit with a second class-action lawsuit seeking compensation for consumers who were allegedly sold “worthless” add-on car insurance.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in the Victoria Supreme Court by Maurice Blackburn, according to a report by Lawyerly. The suit alleges that thousands of car buyers who arranged financing through dealerships were sold “junk” insurance policies in order to “shamelessly boost profits.”
“Many of these insurance products were unduly expensive and offered no value to customers,” Maurice Blackburn principal lawyer Andrew Watson said in a statement. “The exploitation was compounded when these policies were paid for by the same high-interest-rate loans that the dealers arranged to finance the purchase of cars.”
The first class-action suit against Allianz over the car insurance products was filed by Johnson Winter & Slattery in July, Lawyerly reported. The case was brought on behalf of lead applicant Tracy-Ann Fuller.
Maurice Blackburn’s lead applicant, Jordan Wilkninson, is bringing the case on behalf of group members who purchased consumer credit insurance, shortfall insurance, extended warranty insurance, and tyre and rim insurance as part of a loan arranged through an auto dealer between June 1, 2006, and Nov. 11, 2020, according to Lawyerly.
According to the lawsuit, the insurance policies were stuffed with complex financial instruments that, because of numerous exceptions and exclusions, offered “severely limited” coverage. The loan protection insurance allegedly excluded those who were self-employed, unemployed, casually employed or over 64 years of age, Lawyerly reported.
The lawsuit also alleges that Allianz trained car dealers to promote and sell the add-on insurance to earn commissions.
