Sure enough, CarGuard is a decently famous and big company in the country, especially in Kansas, but recently, they got into some legal trouble for making annoying calls to their customers, even though they did not sign up for this. But it turns out, the matter was much more serious than that, and there was more to this CarGuard Lawsuit than the recent calls issue. Let’s check that out here.
The Big Warranty Company You Didn’t Know About
CarGuard actually is a Kansas-based company, but don’t go by its name, it is not in the business of selling cars, nah. Instead, they claim that they’re in the business of selling what they call “peace of mind.” How? Well, for those who know little to nothing about CarGuard yet, see, they actually facilitate the provision of extra vehicle service contracts. You know, these are agreements that commence once your car’s factory warranty expires.
But in actuality, the thing is, however, CarGuard doesn’t usually transact directly with you. Then? Oh, they have other entities with which they are working to accomplish this, like call centers, online ad companies, or car dealerships. But this was the reason that led to the legal issue down the line. Let’s see.
When the Calls Kept Coming
If you want to know what triggered it all, see, many claimed they received uninvited automatic calls telling them their warranties on cars were coming to an end. There were some calls that were totally automated, soundless. Some calls had only a message or something like that. And basically, the common thing in these calls was that the recipients never consented to be contacted. But, you don’t even believe that even those people kept on getting these calls who were on the National Do-Not-Call list.
And no matter how small a thing or matter this sounds to you, it truly is pretty annoying, and that’s why, at the beginning of 2023, this matter became a legal one and eventually a lot of people joined in because it was a class action lawsuit at this point. The main argument in this case was simple: CarGuard was violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Or TCPA for short. Plain and simple!
BUT CarGuard Wins Big in 2022!
Before this class action lawsuit was filed, actually, there was a big win for CarGuard in a different case back in 2022. In that very case, a court in Pennsylvania dismissed a TCPA class action against them. But the thing to note here is that it was not due to the absence of calls. The entire matter went to CarGuard’s favour because the court couldn’t find any link between those calls and CarGuard. That pretty much was the reason why CarGuard ended up winning this case.
The Rules Start Closing In
But that victory didn’t last long as we know it now, like, with this case, there were thousands of complaints coming in about these annoying calls, and once again, the company itself was facing another legal issue. Towards the end of 2023, several suits of law were filed. What is more, these were not merely about the calls. Nah! This time, it was much more serious, like people accused CarGuard of employing deceptive methods in selling, providing false information about coverage, and being negligent in overseeing their sellers. Some customers ended up with plans that did not cover the promised services. There were also instances where genuine repair needs were refused without any valid explanation.
Those problems piled up: wrong ads, breaking agreements, and also consumer rules issues. To sum it up, even if CarGuard wasn’t the one making the calls, some people said they benefited from them and didn’t stop the wrongdoers and did nothing about it.