77hil

Which is best?

fish.01

The one in your state....RACQ for qld, NRMA for nsw? Or are you not going to be based anywhere?

Red_V_Roger

Yes, if you say live in NSW and get NRMA top cover, it provides for recovery etc in other States, so I pressume they just call RACQ in QLD, RACV in VIC etc.

Like many things in Oz, there is no competition in this market...only one providor per State

LINZI

When we lived in Queensland we was covered for by RACQ and then we moved down here NSW and they offered us NRMA but went for a cheaper one with Ultra tune till we got sorted.

fish.01

There are multiple providers in a state.

Red_V_Roger

Wirelessly posted (HTC_HD2_T9193 Opera/9.7 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en) V1.49.841.1 (71528))

Yeah..but how many are going to come and get you in the back of Bourke? The alternatives are OK for city driving.

ABCDiamond

www.247roadservices.com.au provide a 24/7 Australia wide cover from $55 per year.

NWS also provides a similar service for cars sold or serviced at many dealers or repairers.

Ultratune for example, offer a free 6 month Breakdown cover with every service.

ABCDiamond

Those in the Country get a better service from 247Roadservices

fish.01

Presumably all of them if thats what they advertise I think they sub-contract the services in individual towns.

neil248

We researched this and gave up on RACQ and it's convoluted plans. You may find that the cover you think you have is nothing like what you actually have and anything worth having was extremely expensive and towing ranges seemed rather limited which defeated the whole point. You are basically paying for their cosy little magazine that they send to the thousands of people who are no longer members.

Australia or the Gold Coast at least is the land of the Tow Truck Just keep the sticker of a good company on your windscreen and call them when needed to either get you home or to your garage. They will be exactly the same company that the racq will use when they can't get your car going and you won't have had to wait as long. If you never breakdown it will never cost anything.

According to the guy we used people tended to take their frustration out on him after waiting ages for the RACQ to turn up declare the car non fixable and then have to wait even longer for him to rescue them.

fish.01

Just to add another perspective I have used the RACQ quite a few times since arriving back in Australia...approx 5. Each time they have got the car going or got it going enough to get it to a repair shop.

Last time was a few months ago. Alternator had gone so battery had drained. He swapped one of his batteries with mine, I then followed him to an auto electrician, he then swapped battery back and then gave me a lift home. I have found it very useful when stuck. Also gets you cheap tickets to theme parks etc. You also get it cheaper when you do an auto inspection on a car you are buying.

neil248

Fair point but if the car has broken down 5 times just wonder how old it is and on that basis the older the car the easier it is to get it moving again even if temporary.

The newer the car if on board computers or ECU say no then car does not go.

Would imagine the average Aussie RACQ guy would be extremely helpful though

77hil

We're in NSW. I was worried about the extremely limited recovery distances of RACQ which made me wonder if anyone else was better in NSW and Australia generally.

ABCDiamond

Any idea what a tow truck charges though ? I feel it may be excessively expensive. Never had to use one myself, as the motoring organisations have always been helpful.

Actually, curiosity got to me...

Victoria Tow Truck charges http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/...rATowTruck.htm
$189.50 Base fee including 8kms
$3.00 per Kilometre after 8km
$64.75 After Hours Surcharge (after 5pm and weekends)

neil248

Gold coast
Car broken down at home
Put on Lorry to Nissan dealer Southport
approx 34 km $70


They did say any suburb to any suburb Gold Coast $70
so I suppose a 5km journey would also be $70

Also Tow trucks very busy with accidents on Gold Coast so volume of work and competition might mean the prices are slightly different to the ones quoted in the post above above or I was lucky.