Despite the fact that we switched to the metric system more than 50 years ago and all our road signs now and most of our cars deal in kilometres when it comes to speed and distances, the imperial measurements hangover persists and it might be costing you money.

It certainly seems to have cost a reader by the name of David money as a result of an issue he had with Allianz Partners when it came to paying for an extended warranty on its site.

David drives a BMW X5 and late last month he logged on to the Allianz Partners website to buy a one-year warranty to last until February 5th, 2027.

“The data entry screen asks for mileage,” he says and he includes a screenshot showing that to be that case.

He assumed that it expected kilometres, but when he entered what was on his odometer which was 124,940km, the system flagged a discrepancy and he was told to make contact with the company. He subsequently called Allianz and on that call they were able to establish that he was charged for 165,667km last year.

That is 102,941 miles, which was roughly the distance he had travelled in kilometres. And then he was charged for 124,650km in February 2023, which is 77,454 miles. This last number, he continues, “matched a handwritten note in my file of the ‘mileage’ I entered back in 2023, so I entered kilometres and Allianz assumed it was miles.”

The call ended and soon after that he got another call from the company and was told that it had “fixed their system so that it now assumes that the ‘mileage’ entered is kilometres” (this would have been an amazingly quick fix). I think they are sharing the technology across Ireland and the UK because the data-entry screen still does not specify units of measure.

He goes on to say that he looked back at the confirmation email he received from them in early 2025 “and it does not show the mileage the charge has been based on. So there was no point at which a car owner would have spotted the issue unless they got the alert as I did today. I believe this alert was not in place last year on the basis that I did not have this experience then.”

He says that as a result of the interactions, Allianz Partners refunded him €438 and €505 for 2024-25 and 2025-26 respectively.

“In fairness, the two people I spoke to were very courteous and dealt with it quickly without me having to badger them. However, it does seem highly likely that this same error would have affected others for some years so a very significant number of substantial overcharges may well have taken place,” he says.

He points out that a “large number of Irish car owners whose three-year warranty expired in recent years may also be entitled to refunds too” and he say that if there is a wider issue it would “also affect people who have sold the car for which the warranty was purchased and that they will have no renewal process to alert them to the overcharge unless they are contacted by Allianz or it is publicised. It would be very disappointing indeed if Allianz Partners are just sitting on knowledge of the overcharges and waiting to see which customers raise it in order to minimise the refunds.”

That would indeed be very disappointing. We contacted Allianz Partners and asked if it was aware of any other customers who have been similarly impacted and if they could reassure our readers that no one will be similarly impacted going forward?

Allianz Partners’ response: “When customers in the Republic of Ireland generate an online quote for vehicle warranties, our website asks them to enter their current mileage. From April 2025, quotes were calculated on the assumption that mileage was entered in kilometres. We recognise this may not have been clear to all customers and are now working on a more permanent solution to update the website, specifying that customers enter the distance in kilometres.”