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Allianz Class Action

Important Update

Legitimate texts, emails and postal notices concerning the proposed settlement of the Allianz class action were sent by Maurice Blackburn between 14 and 24 January 2025. These were sent from “MBLawyers” via text and addonclassaction@mauriceblackburn.com.au via email.

The deadline for group members to object to the proposed settlement, which was 4:00pm (AEDT) on 10 February 2025, has now passed. There is nothing else that group members need to do in response to the notice.

What’s next?

  • The parties have agreed to settle the Allianz class action for $170 million (inclusive of costs) without admission of liability. The settlement is subject to the approval of the Court. The Court will hold a hearing to decide whether to approve the settlement on 11 March 2025 at 10.00am. (AEDT) in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
  • Important information about the proposed settlement is set out in the full Notice of Settlement.
  • There is nothing that group members need to do at the moment. Maurice Blackburn will contact registered group members about next steps in due course.
  • If you lodged an objection to the proposed settlement, you, or your legal representative must attend the settlement approval hearing (unless the Court orders otherwise). Group members who did not lodge an objection are not required to attend the hearing.
  • For any enquiries, including if you have already registered and would like to update your contact details, please contact Maurice Blackburn via addonclassaction@mauriceblackburn.com.au. You should not send any enquiries to Johnson Winter Slattery.

More information can be found on the Supreme Court of Victoria website.

Overview

If you purchased a car or motorcycle and were sold Allianz or Allianz Life “add-on” insurance products by the dealership, you may be eligible for compensation. These “add-on” insurance products include:

  • Loan Protection Insurance (also referred to as “repayment insurance” or “consumer credit insurance”);
  • Motor Equity Insurance (also referred to as “guaranteed asset protection insurance”, “GAP insurance”, “shortfall insurance”, “purchase price insurance” or “value protect insurance”);
  • Extended Motor Warranty; and
  • Tyre and Rim Insurance.

Johnson Winter Slattery and Maurice Blackburn Lawyers are the joint solicitors on the record representing the plaintiffs. The class action was commenced against Allianz and Allianz Life in the Supreme Court of Victoria, alleging various breaches of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (the ASIC Act) and the Corporations Act 2001 (the Corporations Act) by Allianz and Allianz Life for engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct and unconscionable conduct.

What is the case about?

Allianz Australia Insurance Limited (Allianz) and Allianz Australia Life Insurance Limited (Allianz Life) issued “add-on” insurance products to persons which were presented and sold to them at the time they purchased a motor vehicle (or motor cycle) from a vehicle dealership. These “add-on” insurance products included:

  • Loan Protection Insurance (also referred to as “repayment insurance” or “consumer credit insurance”);
  • Motor Equity Insurance (also referred to as “guaranteed asset protection insurance”, “GAP insurance”, “shortfall insurance”, “purchase price insurance” or “value protect insurance”);
  • Extended Motor Warranty; and
  • Tyre and Rim Insurance.

The legal proceedings commenced against Allianz and Allianz Life in the Supreme Court of Victoria allege:

  • various breaches of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (ASIC Act) and the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act) by Allianz and Allianz Life for engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct and unconscionable conduct;
  • certain group members purchased the “add-on” insurance products in circumstances whereby they were mistaken as to certain matters relating to the insurance products as a result of the conduct of Allianz and/or the dealers acting on behalf of Allianz; and
  • that Allianz gave personal advice to consumers and breached various obligations under the Corporations Act in relation to the giving of that advice.

Who is eligible?

You may be a Group Member if, at any time between 1 June 2006 and 27 September 2021 you:

  1. purchased one or more of the “add-on” insurance products referred to above on or around the same time you purchased a motor vehicle or motor cycle from a vehicle dealership; and
  2. in conjunction with the purchase you were issued with an “add on” insurance product by Allianz, or Allianz and Allianz Life, or offered by Allianz on behalf of OnePath,

and became liable to pay or paid (directly or indirectly), a premium to either of Allianz or Allianz and Allianz Life for the “add on” insurance products.

Group member eligibility will be determined at a later stage. View the full group member definition in paragraph 9 of the Amended Consolidated Statement of Claim

Frequently asked questions

1. Why did I receive an SMS, email or postal notice? Is this a scam?

Maurice Blackburn sent legitimate text messages, emails and postal notices between 14 and 24 January 2025 from “MBLawyers” and addonclassaction@mauriceblackburn.com.au

Maurice Blackburn sent these notices to notify certain group members that the parties have agreed to settle the Allianz class action for $170 million without admission of liability.

If you received a text, email or postal notice from Maurice Blackburn, the Supreme Court of Victoria ordered this to be sent to you. It is safe to open the email / SMS and click the links within them.

Maurice Blackburn sent notices to the last known contact details of all Registered Group Members, being individuals who registered by 15 July 2024 at 4pm (AEST).

Maurice Blackburn also sent notices to individuals who registered after the deadline. If you registered after the deadline, the text message or email to you will say so. For example, the email subject line will read: “Court Notice regarding Allianz class action – late registration”. See the FAQ below “I registered after the deadline. What does that mean?”

The Court made an order permitting people who mistakenly registered for the AAI & MTA add-on insurance class action instead of the Allianz class action to be considered registered group members in the Allianz class action. Individuals were identified as having mistakenly registered for the AAI class action if their registration details did not match AAI’s records but did match Allianz’s records. You may have received a notice if this applies to you.

You can read more about the Allianz class action on the Supreme Court of Victoria website.

2. What will happen at the settlement approval hearing?

The Court will hold a hearing to decide whether to approve the settlement on 11 March 2025 at 10:00am (AEDT).

The Court must approve the settlement before it will take effect. The Court will need to decide whether the proposed settlement is fair and reasonable in the interests of the group members.

The Court will also consider whether any deductions from the settlement sum are fair and reasonable, including legal costs (25% of the settlement sum), reimbursement payments to the two plaintiffs ($30,000 to each plaintiff), and the costs of administering the settlement (estimated at $5 million excluding GST).

3. What do I have to do?

Group members had the option to object to the proposed settlement by 4:00pm (AEDT) on 10 February 2025. However, that deadline has now passed. There is nothing else that group members need to do in response to this notice.

If you lodged an objection to the proposed settlement, you, or your legal representative must attend the settlement approval hearing (unless the Court orders otherwise), which is on 11 March 2025 at 10:00am (AEDT) in the Supreme Court of Victoria. Group members who did not lodge an objection are not required to attend the hearing.

If the proposed settlement is approved, updates will be published on Maurice Blackburn’s website after the settlement approval hearing. You will be contacted at a later date with further information about anything you need to do.

4. Am I registered?

If you received an email or, text message from Maurice Blackburn about this class action between 14 and 23 January 2025, you registered before the registration deadline. Maurice Blackburn also sent postal notices to a small number of registered group members.

If you received an email or text message on 24 January 2025, you registered after the registration deadline.

If you registered after the deadline, the text message or email to you will say so. For example, the email subject line will read: ‘Court Notice regarding Allianz class action – late registration’.

5. Will I receive compensation?

If you are an eligible group member and you registered by 15 July 2024 at 4pm (AEST) you may be eligible to receive compensation if the Court approves the proposed settlement.

You are a group member if, at any time between 1 June 2006 and 27 September 2021, you:

  1. purchased a motor vehicle or motorcycle (vehicle) from a vehicle dealership;
  2. purchased one or more of the following add-on insurance products issued by Allianz, or Allianz and Allianz Life, or offered by Allianz on behalf of OnePath Life Limited at or around the time you purchased the vehicle from the vehicle dealership:
  • Loan Protection Insurance (also referred to as “repayment insurance”, “consumer credit insurance” or “CCI”);
  • Motor Equity Insurance (also referred to as “guaranteed asset protection insurance’, “GAP insurance”, “shortfall insurance’, “purchase price insurance” or “value protect insurance’);
  • Extended Motor Warranty (also referred to as ‘mechanical insurance’, “motor vehicle warranty’ or “extended warranty insurance”); or
  • Tyre and Rim Insurance; and
  1. became liable to pay or paid (directly or indirectly), a premium to either of Allianz, or Allianz and Allianz Life for the add-on insurance product(s).

However, if you did not register by 15 July 2024 at 4pm (AEST), you are not eligible to receive any compensation from the proposed settlement unless the Court makes a further order.

If you registered your interest by the deadline, this does not mean that you are eligible for the class action or that you will necessarily receive compensation. Group member eligibility will be determined at a later stage and potential compensation amounts depend on a number of factors. If the settlement is approved, we will notify registered group members of how much compensation they are eligible to receive, if any.

6. How will the compensation be distributed?

If the Court approves the settlement, then some of the settlement sum will be used to pay:

  1. legal costs (25% of the settlement sum),
  2. reimbursement payments to the two plaintiffs ($30,000 to each plaintiff), and
  3. the costs of administering payment of the settlement sum (estimated at $5 million (excluding GST)).

All of the above costs need to be approved by the Court before they can be deducted from the settlement sum.

The rest of the settlement sum will be shared proportionately between eligible registered group members, according to a ‘formula’ or method that the Court approves. This is set out in the plaintiffs’ proposed ‘settlement distribution scheme’.

A copy of the proposed settlement distribution scheme is available here, but the ‘formula’ referred to above is confidential and is not shown in this copy. If you are a group member, you may obtain a copy of the confidential schedule containing the formula by filling out and submitting this form.

7. How much compensation will I receive?

We cannot provide an individual estimate of compensation amounts at this stage, and individual registered group members are not guaranteed to receive compensation from the settlement sum.

Compensation amounts will depend on a range of factors including individual circumstances, such as the price of your policy and when you purchased it.

It is harder to succeed on legal claims applying to some policies, in particular policies purchased before 7 July 2014, and so a greater reduction will be applied to those claims.

We are not yet in a position to advise anyone of individual compensation amounts or estimates and we cannot give further information at this time. Maurice Blackburn will be in contact regarding this once the settlement distribution process is underway.

We ask that you do not call our team to ask for an estimate of your compensation as we cannot give one at this time.

8. When will I receive compensation?

We cannot provide an estimate on when compensation will be distributed. If the proposed settlement is approved, we will notify registered group members at a later date of how much compensation they are eligible to receive, if any.

9. I registered after the deadline. What does that mean?

The deadline to register for the Allianz Class Action passed on 15 July 2024 at 4pm (AEST).

Court orders required group members to register before the deadline in order to be eligible for any pre-trial settlement.

As the settlement was agreed prior to the trial commencing, this means that if the settlement is approved, group members who registered after the deadline are not eligible to receive potential compensation unless the Court makes a further order. But because you are a group member, you are still bound by the settlement meaning you will not be able to sue Allianz for the issues covered by the class action.

There is nothing you need to do at this stage. Maurice Blackburn and JWS will identify late registrants in the evidence they file with the Court for settlement approval. You will be told whether the Court has permitted any late registrations to be accepted.

10. I opted out or did not register for the class action. Can I still get compensation?

Only group members who registered by 15 July 2024 at 4pm (AEST) may be eligible to receive compensation, unless the Court grants permission otherwise.

If you opted out, you are no longer a group member in this class action. This means you are not eligible to receive any compensation from the proposed settlement and you are not bound by the terms of the settlement

If you did not register for the class action, you are not eligible to receive potential compensation unless the Court makes a further order. But because you are a group member, you are still bound by the settlement meaning you will not be able to sue Allianz for the issues covered by the class action.

12. Is the Allianz class action the same as the AAI & MTA add-on insurance class action?

No. Maurice Blackburn is also running another car dealer add-on insurance class action regarding insurance products sold by AAI & MTA. This is a separate class action. You could be a group member in both class actions.

The AAI & MTA Class Action is progressing in Court. The trial will commence on 19 February 2025.

You can read more about the AAI & MTA Class Action here.

The Court made an order permitting people who mistakenly registered for the AAI add-on insurance class action instead of the Allianz class action to be considered registered group members in the Allianz class action. Individuals were identified as having mistakenly registered for the AAI class action if their registration details did not match AAI’s records but did match Allianz’s records. You may have received a notice if this applies to you.

13. Is the Allianz class action the same as the Flex Commissions class actions?

No. The Car Loan Flex Commission Class Actions relate to the loan term and interest rate you paid on your car loan, whereas the Allianz class action relates to certain add-on insurance products sold to customers at the time they purchased their car. It is possible to be a group member in both proceedings or only one of them.

In order to be eligible to claim in the Allianz class action, you were required to register in this proceeding by 15 July 2024 at 4pm. If you only registered in one or more of the flex commissions class actions and did not register in the Allianz class action, you are not eligible to claim in the proposed settlement of the Allianz class action.

You can read more about the Flex Commissions Class Actions here.

14. How do I update my contact details

To update your contact details in relation to the Allianz class action, please email your previous and current details to addonclassactionamauriceblackburn.com.au. Due to the volume of enquiries, Maurice Blackburn may not reply to your email individually. Once you have emailed Maurice Blackburn, you do not need to do anything else to update your details.

15. I have more questions

Please read the FAQs above. If you still have questions, please carefully read the Notice.

If your questions have still not been answered, you can call or email Maurice Blackburn on:

  • 1800 497 191
  • addonclassactionornauriceblackburn.com.au

Maurice Blackburn are experiencing a very high volume of enquiries, and they may not be able to get back to you straight away.

Further questions?