AN NRMA member avoided buying petrol for eight months by calling road service whenever her tank ran dry in a blatant rort of free assistance.
In another case, a member who ran a car rental agency got his rental vehicles towed for free by using his membership from inconvenient drop off points.
The Daily Telegraph has learned of various cases of abuse of the free breakdown assistance scheme as the NRMA prepares to survey its two million members on the future of the program.
Each call-out on average costs $50, or if a free 8km tow is involved it jumps to $92. Membership costs just $55 a year for unlimited call-outs.
But some members use the service more than 20 times a year, often because they don't make a simple repair like buying a new battery. About one in four call-outs is battery related.
In some cases the scheme is being deliberately rorted.
Among frequent abuses is the petrol carried to help members who run out of fuel away from a petrol station.
Road service officers will provide up to 10 litres to a member caught in this situation, and if they have no money then the NRMA will send a bill but frequently the bill is never paid.
Also frequently subject to rip-offs is the 8km free tow for breakdowns.
On some occasions, members have requested an 8km free tow every day over several days, each time getting their car left 8km closer to a workshop, just to avoid paying a towing fee. The NRMA revealed on Thursday night that it had made a $23 million loss in 2001-02.
NRMA president Maree Callaghan earlier this month dumped plans by her predecessor Nick Whitlam to increase membership by $10 and cap free call-outs to four per member.
Yesterday she insisted there was no pre-determined agenda to increase membership dues through the survey, rather it was about asking members "to tell us what they think is a fair deal". She added: "Tailored membership products and services different levels of service for different fees are on hold while we consult our members."
Among the questions, members will be asked if they should be rewarded for not using the free roadside service in a year.
They will also be asked if the towing allowance should be greater, whether fees should cost more than call-outs and if there should be a limit on call-outs for problems other than in emergencies.
"It costs NRMA more to operate services than members actually pay," Ms Callaghan said.
NRMA CALLOUTS THE FACTS
NRMA free roadside service call-out facts for 2001:
The service responded to almost two million calls for roadside service
About 500,000 of them were because of flat batteries or battery related problems
Another 85,000 were to attend to tyre or wheel problems
In 26,600 cases the member's stalled vehicle had run out of fuel
No problem at all was found in 20,500 cases
In 1600 call-outs, the car was an automatic vehicle left parked in drive
In 1500 cases, children were rescued from vehicles :fmad:
NRMA roadside service rorts
Tho in me defence it turned out to be a faulty sender unit, so the guage was still reading 1/4 full ...
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