NRMA Roadside Assistance

My advice: stay away from NRMA. I was a loyal NRMA customer for 16 years, with multiple policies under the NRMA brand, including home and car insurance. Unfortunately, this experience has completely destroyed my trust in NRMA as a brand. Following a flat-battery callout, an NRMA/AMS technician replaced the battery in my vehicle. Immediately… Read more

afterwards, my vehicle’s onboard Condition Based Servicing (CBS) and digital service history records were no longer available. My vehicle’s service centre subsequently advised me that the records should have been restored as part of the battery replacement process and that manually restoring them would cost hundreds of dollars.

What has been far more concerning than the original problem is NRMA’s response. I raised the matter with their case managers and escalated it directly to their senior management team. Despite being fully aware of what had happened, they refused to take any accountability or meaningfully assist with resolving the issue.

This is what has fundamentally changed my view of NRMA. How can you trust an insurance and roadside assistance brand when, after 16 years of loyalty and multiple policies, its case managers and senior management team simply refuse to take responsibility when you raise a legitimate issue?

It feels like NRMA is happy to take your premiums and maintain the relationship while everything is going smoothly, but when you actually need them to stand behind a service provided under their brand, they are unwilling to help.

I would have expected NRMA to investigate the circumstances, establish what went wrong and work towards a reasonable resolution. Instead, I have been left to deal with the consequences and potentially pay hundreds of dollars to have the issue rectified myself.

The most disappointing part is the complete lack of accountability and the impression that, despite being a long-term customer, my legitimate concern simply does not matter to them.

My experience has left me with no confidence in NRMA, and I would urge anyone considering taking out insurance or roadside assistance with them to think very carefully about how the organisation may respond when something actually goes wrong.

Very confident knowing I had Roadside Assistance with NRMA in the particular situation I found myself to be in. Quick and easy solution from team members to have my vehicle looked after and moved.

As a new resident of NSW, my membership details remained with RACQ ( qld). I also needed Roadside Assist. The consultant who took my call regarding roadside assist took control of the whole situation. Organising NRMA transfer, advising me of the difference in the NRMA roadside assist structure, assisting with downloading the NRMA App, and then… Read more

managing my roadside assist issue. Unfailingly courteous and knowledgable. It was a marvellous introduction to NRMA.

Had a blown tyre in our Toyota Coaster. Had the best experience from start phone call to finish tyre change. All the staff I had contact with were excellent.

9 years and first time asking for help. Called, left my details, yet there was a technical issue. 1st attempt fail. Went onto the app, could not process my request. 2nd attempt fail. Third attempt I got through. Robin, the amazing NRMA man saved me… Read more

from a stressful situation & got me back on the road. I wasn't at home, I wasn't even anywhere near it. I'm just glad it was in the daytime & wasn't worried about my safety. NRMA always had a good name. I will find another service. Your automated system is a fail from me & when I can't rely on a service that put more stress on what was already a stressful situation, then that is a fail.

The serviceman who assisted arrived promptly. He was very knowledgeable and also respectful. He identified an issue noone had noticed previously and fixed it. He took the time to explain the issue and to do tests I could tell my mechanic about. This was fantastic. I have only ever had good experiences with NRMA.

The service was completely exceptional. I didn’t have to wait for a long time especially that was Sunday night. I was expecting to wait for more than 1 hour but I only waited less than 20 mins I was very happy and content thank you so much.

Excellent customer service over the phone explaining the whole process to get my car towed 60klms at night. Tow Truck driver was also great to deal with and arrived within 15 minutes of my call.

Yesterday I called out NRMA for a flat battery. Les arrived in an hour (as per the app), and fixed the problem quickly. He filled up my radiator and provided great advice.

We currently have NRMA Road Assistance top cover. On paper this policy sounds good. However, you only get the full extent of cover within NSW. Should you go interstate you don’t get the same policy cover but are subject to the relevant state policies. I will give two examples of this. Our vehicle broke down while in a caravan park in Victoria.… Read more

The RACV in spite of being covered by the NRMA policy in NSW refused to assist us as the vehicle at the time of breakdown was on private land. On the second situation while in QLD the RACQ wouldn’t provide towing assistance when we were bogged as this type of help wasn’t available under RACQ policies. Any coverage provided by NRMA while in NSW was irrelevant from a RACQ perspective.

These types of situations are intentional by the service providers of road assistance as they can simply wash their hands of any responsibility and blame the other interstate service provider. Ethically the road assistance providers are really guilty of false advertising giving you the false impression without actually telling you that you probably won’t be covered to the same level of cover that the road assistance providers promise you in your state or territory. Check out whether top cover is worth the paper it is written on if travelling outside of your state or territory. Don’t listen to the frequently dishonest sale pitches of your road assistance provider as they seldom provide the full context of their cover.

I received a typical reply from a NRMA staff person who distinguished between NRMA insurance and NRMA Road Assistance. This distinction is to suggest that NRMA insurance has no responsibility for how its sister company behaves and therefore that its hands are totally clean even though still under the general umbrella of NRMA. It seemed that the NRMA staffer’s strategy was to pass the buck onto NRMA Road Assistance. I am sure that if I contacted NRMA Road Assistance they would attempt a similar strategy in that they would claim that the various road assistance schemes in other states outside of NSW are separate entities and make their own decisions and policies, again avoiding any sense of responsibility.

Of course NRMA appears not to have reached or made any reciprocal agreements with other state road assistance providers to ensure that NRMA subscribers receive the same benefits as they would in NSW. On failing to set up such agreements with other states NRMA by its failure to do so is entirely responsible for the very significantly reduced benefits available in states outside NSW. NRMA should either immediately rectify the lack of reciprocal agreements with other states or specifically spell out the limitations of their benefits in other states. I would suggest that it is not in the NRMA’s economic interests to do either of these alternatives as they would likely experience substantially reduced profits and increased premiums or lose many customers if they were told that their benefits wouldn’t be recognised in other states. NRMA’s interests are currently put ahead of their customer base. NRMA customers should shop around for better options. Don’t naively trust the big name brands as they will throw you under a bus at any opportune moment.

The rep was friendly and understanding. The process of getting through to a person was tedious, long winded and frustrating. Why did one need to click on a ️ link? It came up with an error three times. It took 20 min to get to a service representative. Then another 20 min to go through questions. It was very stressful. NRMA used to be great before technology. I want to ring and get an answer. Very disappointed.

I accidentally backed into an unmarked ditch in a narrow lane in Urunga. I couldn't get out of the vehicle in case I unbalanced it and it rolled. I am a 66 year old woman clinging to my vehicle which was sea-sawing on the edge of a ditch and NRMA refused to come and give me a tiny tow out. They said "It's not mechanical, we cant help you". What part of Roadside Assistence is not roadside assistance? I won't be renewing.

My car would not start even though I had inserted the key correctly. I contacted the NRMA by phone and they arranged for a representative, and I was kept informed as to the time they would be available and come. I was kept notified.

I had reason to call NRMA Roadside assistance yesterday and I can only say that the service was excellent. The staff were helpful and knew their job. I instantly felt a sense of relief. The way they answer the phone, book your Patrol to attend and send an sms that allowed me to track the arrival of the Patrol vehicle, was all very efficient,… Read more

there's a great use of technology, everything went to plan. The Patrol Driver was excellent, he diagnosed the problem with my car using hi-tech equipement and even set me up with a tow truck to get my car to my mechanic the next day, no-charge, included in my membership. I thoroughly recommend using NRMA - I rarely need to use the Roadside Assistance, but when I do, I'm always so glad that they are there. It's a great service and it is run very well by NRMA. You can feel immediately that they are experts at this.