Imagine being without a vehicle during the busiest time of the year for your business. That’s what happened over the Christmas period to NRMA business member Julian Todd, owner of BackVintage Wines Australia, when his Renault Traffic delivery van developed a mechanical issue.
“My business relies on service,” explained Todd when recalling the story of the Christmas rush that would have been a disaster without the NRMA Absolute business roadside assistance package.
It was a few days before Christmas and BackVintage still had 34 cases of wine to deliver to customers in Sydney when the breakdown occurred. Todd called the NRMA and within 20 minutes a Patrol was on site to quickly diagnose the problem.
Unfortunately there was no quick fix and a tow truck was called to transport the van to the nearest repairer.
Thanks to the business call centre and premium services teams, Julian was back on the road in a flash with a vehicle that was provided as part of the Absolute Roadside Assistance package for business members.
“70% of our customers are based in Sydney metro and we use the van to deliver the wine to their door. Christmas is one of the busiest time of the year and with a business like mine, we need to provide exemplary service to our customers because we are competing with the big brands that offer convenience.”
“I purchased the Absolute cover so I’d be covered if something like this happened,” explained Julian. “During the time my van was off the road I travelled 6,000km in the Hyundai SUV provided by the NRMA.”
The vehicle wasn’t the only benefit provided as part of the $3,000 in major breakdown assistance included in Julian’s cover. The NRMA team provided technical advice and logistical support to help him manage the vehicle repair.
It was the Christmas holiday period so while BackVintage was busy, other industries were taking a break, which meant the mechanical repairer didn’t have staff on hand to fix the van immediately and parts were hard to source.
“The NRMA team were brilliant,” says Julian. “They were polite, efficient and understood how important it was to get a commercial vehicle back on the road. Everything they could control they did really well. Unfortunately it was the repairer that let me down.”
After several weeks of delay, Julian and the NRMA team decided to move the vehicle to another repairer. Finally the issue causing the breakdown was identified and rapid progress was made to get the van back on the road. The clutch hydraulics had failed which meant parts needed to be replaced though it was only a few hours of labour.
Julian was happy with the outcome because there was no disruption to his business.
“Because service is such a big part of what we do, we need to be able to deliver. I purchased the Absolute cover to get piece of mind and despite some level of frustration with the repairer, the NRMA team couldn’t help me enough which kept the business moving during our busiest time,” confirmed Julian.
