I drive about 35,000km per year and need something that is reliable and neside Sydney has good coverage in country areas such as Dubbo, Parkes, Bega etc. I've been covered by KIA so far but that expires at the end of this month together with new car warranty.
Allianz is cheaper and offers pretty much the same thing as NRMA, do you guys have any experience with them?
Never used Allianz but I can say NRMA has never let me down. Always got the job done and arrived within their time limit, even in middle of nowhere (Royal National Park once)
Thanks guys
allianz provide the complimentary coverage that comes with some new cars - i've never had a problem with them in metro melbourne :)
Since the question is very location specific I think you need to ask the locals. Its like asking which mobile phone company provides the best coverage in Bega, Parkes, Dubbo. I'd recommend asking the locals, your family, friends and neighbours.
My personal oppinion is if you are in the big cities then any provider will get your car working again.
For coverage in country towns or stranded by the highway then NRMA are still the ones to beat. If your car needs a full service mechanic to diagnose its problems then NRMA is great value. For simple to diagnose problems such as flat battery, running out of fuel, towing service go with the cheaper non-NRMA guys.
I'm a country driver and been stranded between towns. I am very heavily biased towards NRMA because their mechanics have helped us out in extreme circumstances.
During our university years, my brother and I drove home for school holidays in a Mitsubishi Sigma. The Sigma lost power on a hill and was forced to stop on the shoulder of an uphill overtaking lane. It was past midnight, the first driver to stop and offer help was an NRMA mechanic driving home. He took 5 minutes under the bonnet to guess it was a fuel filter that was incorrectly fitted the opposite direction. Unplugged the fuel filter, put his lips around it and blew. Offered us a replacement fuel filter for $6.
NRMA's vans have top notch equipment. I used to get flat batteries from forgetting the headlights. NRMA uses super expensive jumpstarter equipment. They carry voltage meters and tonnes of spotlights + work lights. From a safety aspect I like that the NRMA vans have roof mounted yellow flashing lights which give peace of mind that you won't get rear ended if your car breaks down at night.
Contrast that with the complimentary coverage that came with my new car. When I needed a jumpstart, Battery World would send a twenty year old employee driving his girlfriend's beaten up car using a Supercheap Auto jumpstarter. It does the job and I appreciated my car's free roadside assist. Since my new car is expensive I worry about frying the electronics. NRMA's jumpstarters have computer controlled voltage regulation and high quality surge protected cables.
I do. I have a golf and for the 1st three years of ownership Allianz did the VW roadservice.
I also have Allianz car insurance so it was even cheaper for me to continue the roadservice with them after the warranty period.
Having said that the last time I need them was to extract a screw from the rear passenger side tyre as the noise was driving me crazy.
I called them up, explained what the problem was and what I needed done. The road service guy arrived within time but, had no pliers or monkey grips to do the job as "his had broken the previous day".