How NRMA ripped me off

[jyothi]

Hi all
I want to share my horror story with you all.
I was involved in an accident in Oct last year which was a collusion between two other cars and one of them came and hit me. I was waiting to turn right into a car park and the cops who attended pretty much decided unofficially who was at fault.
This was my wife's VS commodore and had third party with NRMA. I duely reported it and the NRMA assessors took exactly 2 weeks to have a look and the same afternoon I moved the car from the holding yard. I had to pay them $650 for towing and storage.
Was ringing NRMA 2 times a week for payout as the guy who was at fault had his comprehensive with them as well and they kept saying they are still waiting for the police report. Finally, mid Jan they said they just received the report from the police (which was hard to believe in the first place as the cops said they sent the report in early Dec when I rang them) and as they have paid out their client who was at fault the full amount, they will only pay me when this guy pays them the excess.
How fair is this? The guy who was at fault gets all his money and me being an innocent victim has to suffer. And also they would not may me the storage even though they took 2 weeks to assess my car.
After nearly a hundred phone calls to them, I finally said I've had enough and was going to the Tribunal and the Current affairs, I got a phone call half an hour later agreeing to pay and got the cheque next week.
I had to run behind them for 5 whole months for my money as my wife was catching a bus and a train to get to work (I really couldn't afford to buy her another car while waiting for my money)
I would never ever want to do anything to do with NRMA ever.

[Rhino Racing]

DUDE!!! That sucks big time. Good on you for taking them to task tho!
Well done to you!!!
I hope they do better than that normally, if not NRMA sound like a bunch of tossers!

[rch-13z]

man thats sux, a mate of mine had something similiar with another company...

Got run off the road by some physcho and the insurance company wouldnt pay them or fix the car until the police provided the info...

After the police provided the info the insurance company took 2months to fix the car... and still insisted that they had to pay excess to open their insurance even though it was proven that they were not at fault....

Like you said a final call with threats to go further got action. Car picked up the next day for repairs...

Makes you think sometimes... What these companies are actually thinking

[Troy711]

my cheque from NRMA (to pay me out for my personal loss from my accident in april last year) cleared 2 weeks ago. i feel your pain brother

[Lumps of cheese]

Ahhhh lucky i'm with AAMI, no drama with them at all when my wife had her accident, everything fixed with updates from them every 2 or 3 days on how things were going.
I have heard bad things about NRMA before so it's not surprising to hear your story, sucks big time.

[commsirac]

One of the draw backs of only having third party insurance. You are basically on your own when it comes to getting damages from those who are at fault.

[Scooter79]

Got another bad NRMA story for you. I had a VS that was stolen back in 2002. Was found the next day by police in another suburb with the dash pulled apart, broken side window and shredded tyres. NRMA blatantly said to me "We believe you did it". In the end NRMA sent an independant investigator to my house on a Sunday afternoon to interview me. The investigator appologised and admitted it was total bull****. After seven weeks NRMA decided to fix my car.

After doing my own research on car insurers I always wonder why anyone goes with NRMA insurance. They would have to be without a doubt one of the biggest ripoff insurers in Australia (I know NRMA is NSW based) other than GIO.

[minux]

ummm to the original poster, where exactly did you get ripped off? You got your money didnt you? Sure it took a while, but I am sure if you owned a business you would make sure you went through due process before handing over a sum of money.

[TheForgotten]

...you would make sure you went through due process before handing over a sum of money.

I was gonna say something like that.....
my car had been insured through NRMA for 3 of the 4 years I've had it, but when it was pulled off the road I cancelled the insurance based predominantly on horror stories dating back to the new tender system right through until the insurance was cancelled a few months back. no idea who it'll go with next though, but those pirates are on my blacklist. be stuffed if my car goes to perth for smash repairs

[calaiscruzer]

Yeah its farked how these multi-million$(or billion$) hold out on you until you have to threaten to take then to either the media, consumer affairs or court..just to get what youre entitled to.
A mate was hit from behind a few months ago, it took nrma 2weeks to inspect it, then 2weeks to repair it. They gave my mate a hire car for 2weeks, but then asked for it back
for the last 2weeks! He didnt give it back and pretty much said "stuff ya, gimme my car first"..
You gotta be a hard ass back..

[scolari]

thats why when my car got stolen and i got a new car i went to alliance and not back to nrma