WOMAN’S ALERT OVER DODGY INSURANCE
A SURFERS Paradise woman “railroaded” into buying an unnecessary warranty with her new car by “a dodgy loan broker” is warning others to avoid falling into a trap.
Lauren O’Brien, 43, bought her 2010 Ford Falcon XR6 in north Queensland in 2016 but realised she’d made a grave error in taking out more than $1550 in additional coverage on the motor and gearbox.
The broker allegedly pushed Ms O’Brien into buying the add-on and immediately led her to question whether she’d just taken out finance on a $16,000 lemon.
“They used tactics to sell it but from what I’ve been told it’s not really worth the paper it’s written on and a lot of people had trouble when they went to make a claim,” Ms O’Brien said.
She is among millions of Australians to report their frustrations to Remediator, a new remediation service set up in response to the 2017 royal commission into the financial services industry. Investigations confirmed that some banks and insurers had used pressure tactics to sell billions worth of unnecessary insurance to unsuspecting buyers.
Ms O’Brien said Remediator helped her get her some money back from the warranty about 10 days after lodging a complaint.
“I’m a little bit irked (about the whole ordeal),” she said. “When I originally took the loan out I included the warranty in the amount, so I’ve ended up paying a lot more for it over time but I’m still happy I got some of my money back.”