Auto & General Arncliffe Assessment Centre

I recently visited the Assessment Centre, and I must say that my experience was far from the negative reviews I had read online. From the moment I walked in, the reception staff was incredibly friendly and helpful, making me feel welcome and at ease.

Inspector Yaz, who assisted me during the assessment, was not only professional but also extremely courteous. He patiently addressed all my queries and ensured that the entire process went smoothly. His expertise and friendly demeanor made the experience enjoyable and stress-free.

What impressed me the most was the efficiency of the service. I completed my check within 10 minutes, which was remarkably quick compared to my expectations. The swift yet thorough examination gave me confidence in the Centre's commitment to professionalism.

To top it off, the Centre recommended a garage for further confirmation, and I am currently awaiting their response. The seamless coordination between the Centre and the recommended garage has left me optimistic about the entire process.

In light of my positive encounter, I wanted to express my gratitude and commend the Car Assessment Centre for their outstanding service. It's evident that the team is dedicated to providing a positive experience for their customers. I am keeping my fingers crossed for a positive outcome from the recommended garage and am confident that, with such a great start, the rest of the process will be just as impressive.

Thank you once again for exceeding my expectations, and I will not hesitate to recommend your services to others in the future.

I am extremely surprised by negative reviews, as I have nothing but great things to say about Budget Direct. Always very professional and informative, been their customer for the last 2 years and recently was involved in multiple car incident.
Paul from Arncliffe Assessment Centre was helping me with my claim. He welcomed me with a huge smile, checked the damage and advised the best repairer in my area (even though I had a “choice of my own repairer” I trusted Paul’s advise and did not regret it - they were amazing). He took his time to explain the process and answered all my questions.
Now that my repairs are all completed and claim has been closed, I want to say huge THANK YOU to Paul!

Cannot believe these negative reviews! I went back twice for two different claims - Andrew and Harley were so positive, so helpful and friendly.. couldn’t have asked for more.. and approved both quotes so quickly,…
C’mon you negative people - are you trying it on??!!

It was an efficient service. John was friendly and helpful. I enjoyed the refreshments.

They looked after me when i was in need without a problem

Only at the lodging a claim point but the process doesn’t give me confidence. First up you have to pay the excess before an assessment is made even thought the excess might exceed the repair cost. The assessment centre is 50km away even though I am in Sydney so it seems their repairers are few even in Australia’s largest city. No information about timing for the assessment let alone the repair timetable. Luckily I only have panel damage so can at least use the vehicle but it looks ugly. Heavens knows what lies ahead but I feel a different insurer is likely at next renewal.

The reason this place has so many negative reviews is probably due to the corporate head office rather than the assessment centre.

The people at the assessment centre are at the end of poor set-up and deal with everyone’s anger, which they shouldn’t be subjected to.

I noticed there are other people here whose cars have been towed over to MPSR at Marrickville (a preferred A&G repairer) only to be told by its manager that they are only interested in buffing out fingernail scratches.

By its own definition, MPSR is essentially useless in fixing smashes, but the corporate office still sends vehicles there repeatedly only to have them turned away, which strongly suggests there is no communication between the repairer and the corporate office.

The manager of MPSR offered me sage advice though: “don’t use the at-fault driver’s insurance, you are better off using your own as it will be done faster”.

Following this useless piece of advice, the corporate office used another officially preferred repairer, MJ Auto Repairs at Silverwater. Two weeks after the vehicle was towed there, I visited their workshop. The car was not there and they were not familiar with my vehicle at all so I sat in front of their computer with them to help them identify the job. A full 9 weeks later I was called to pick up the car and at least half the repairs were not done.

Next step was to take the car to Arncliffe to be assessed for works outstanding. I took the vehicle there but nobody did any assessment. Instead, the assessor urged I meet him at 9am that coming Monday at MJ Auto Repairs where he will talk with them and my car will be done in one week.

The assessor did not come. MJ Auto Repairs took the vehicle a second time and returned it in 4 weeks. Hardly anything additional was done.

I reported the situation to AFCA. An agreement was reached that we close the AFCA case and the assessment centre will book me into Chipping Norton Smash for assessment and repairs.
It has been two weeks and despite repeated calls to the assessment centre I have heard nothing.

What puzzles me is that the insurer has paid so much money towards everything except fixing the car. They gave me a hire car for 9 weeks and have obviously paid repairers decent money without checking if the works have been done.

There is a huge communications gap between the corporate office and the shop-floor assessment and repair network it administrates.

It has been 13 months now and my car has never been assessed.

All I have wanted is to simply fix my car, which was parked and unoccupied when one of its insured drivers crashed into it at high speed.

Nightmare dealing with budget direct. I had to get a Tesla repaired. Had to go to their assessment centre and then go to a repairer for another assessment. 3rd step was to get it repaired. When repairing, the repairer took my baby car seat away to fix the doors. I subsequently had to pay $49 to get the baby seat reinstalled in which budget direct refuse to repay me OR follow up with the at faults insurer. They palm you off from one team to another. Don’t bother and just go with NRMA

Budget Direct is the worst insurance company I have ever seen in my life. They are thieves. They do not know how to respect people. They do the impossible in order not to pay people money. They do not help people in the simplest accidents, knowing that my car was insured with them, but they refused to help me when I needed them. I advise all people not to Dealing with them because there are many companies that are better than them and honest unlike them. (very unsuccessful)

I had a nightmare experience dealing with Budget Direct AKA Auto and General. They were extremely difficult to deal with, and I had to follow up numerous times for updates on my claim. It was incredibly frustrating, and it seemed like they were doing everything possible to hold up my claim and cause me frustration. Overall, I was very disappointed with the level of service provided by Budget Direct, and I would not recommend them to anyone.

Budget Direct is looking for any excuse to not paying the claim. watch out these thieves who ripping you off and wasting your money and time and they don't do the right thing. Guess what! you are not allowed to write a review on their website, while the website clearly showing thousands of 4 stars and plus happy customer's reviews, cuz they only publish the good review and not any bad one. if you looking for true reviews, check out google, Trust Pilot, My Word of Mouth, Product Review! that is where you can see the true reputation of this dodgy company who is just ripping people off!

I had a mechanic run into me. The damage is to the bumper bar & perhaps the grill according to my mechanic whom I sent a sms photo. I lodge a Budget Direct claim with $700 excess & I am booked in a month later to Marrickville Prestige Smash Repairs. At 10.30 am on the day, with a 2 pm 15 min assessment appointment, this MPSR rep rings me & after seeing the photos -"We only do small jobs". What does that mean? = they are only buffing out scratches? The mechanic that drove into me said my radiator hadn't been impacted. Apparently, according to the MPSR rep I need a tow but after 1 month of lodging the complaint & now being rejected from the above smash repair shop, I now have to wait for 2+ days to book in a tow with Budget. It is only a bumper bar. No lights were broken. I am going elsewhere

We made a claim after rain water damage. From the very first conversation you could see that they were attempting to pay as little as possible. They were constantly scrutinising what we said and showing us cynicism. They made an agreement on temporary housing costs and then reneged. They didnt pay us costs for temporary accomodation in time so we had to leave our house and pay and arrange our own accomodaiton.
They attempted to cancel our building contract without reason.

They tried to deny we had damage, where it clearly was.

They were rude, and bordering bullying!

It was a nightmare!

Budget direct are the scammers, I wasn't at fault they want me to pay $700 excess and Futher more they keep passing you to Auto & general services and as soon as you tell them you're recording this call they put you on hold and not taking your call .
Scammers 💥scammers

If I could give zero stars I would. Lodged a claim and agent started asking me for paid irrelevant information and the said reimbursements are never actioned. Also, If you want to be told no managers are available then this is the insurance for you. Overall, poor customer service and lack of training is apparent.

Buyer Beware - Budget will find any excuse to get out of paying a claim
While they have cheap policy's when you have an event they don't pay out.

We suffered storm damage in our house and they claimed faulty workmanship and poor maintenance as their way not to pay.We had 800mm of rain in Cyclone Debbie fall in 8 hrs. Seriously that was an extreme weather event, everyone had damage in Northern NSW.

You pay for what you get.

DO NOT BUY INSURANCE FROM THEM, THEY WILL NOT PAY OUT

The most appalling customer service experience of my life. Wrong information by staff for a month about my claim on each call I made to them over 5 weeks. Not a single call to me in 5 weeks after my claim and my car being towed. I didn't even know where my car was. Still waiting for my excess to be refunded. What a joke of a company.

BUDGET DIRECT are the WORST insurance agency I have ever dealt with. You are charged a higher premium if you have an indecent even when you are NOT AT FAULT. They are super dodgy and don't tell you that the way they define 'claim' is ANY issue you have ever experiences, even when you have never been at fault.
They are not budget at all. They seem cheap but when you need them (again - not at fault) they charge you a higher premium which is more than the quotes I got with NRMA and other insurers.

If you have more than one policy (in different names but connected for convenience) and there is something that needs to be sorted on policy 1, then Budget Direct stop all work on all other policies. In fact their people cannot even see your other policies nor any information about them.

PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF THE STRESS AND WORRY AND PICK ANOTHER INSURER!!!