Email I sent to Auckland Council back in March regarding my concerns over urban planning that continue to entrench a culture of car dependence, but never got a response.
Good Evening,
I apologies if this is not the right channel to provide this type of feedback on. (If this is not the right channel, please kindly direct me to the correct channel. Thanks)
I’m writing to relay a generalized concern I have as a ratepayer regarding urban planning in terms of intensification and the access to adequate transport links.
Have noticed several town house developments popping up in places such as Takanini, Papakura, Redhill, Flat bush, Ormiston (South) and Glen Eden, Kumeu (West) that is being established so far away from frequent Public Transport routes (2 km or more walking distance or only served by an infrequent bus route).
The issue this presents is that without easy access to well served public transport routes many residents will simply buy a car and then park it on often very narrow streets. Other than the issue of entrenching car dependency adding ever more private vehicles into an already (ridiculously) overloaded roading network, it also means emergency services are blocked or impeded and presents a safety issue for road users (of any transport mode) with so many cars parked on narrow streets and berms.
I ask, are the teams responsible for urban development and approving townhouse developments within Auckland Council actually liaising with the Likes of Auckland Transport to ensure these new Higher density neighbourhoods and developments are well served with easy access (less than 1 km walk) to frequent and reliable Passenger transport routes?
Thanks and regards,
Here is a screenshot of Auckland Transport’s Journey planning being unable to suggest services to get you to Flat Bush…
Very curious urban planning by the former Manukau City Council and allowed to continue under Auckland Council. Entrenchment of Car dependence as well as introducing further cars into the city’s constrained roading network.
Clicked the Give Feedback (in vain) and dashed this off in exasperation…
This won’t be solely AT’s fault obviously, but by golly, if the Council wants to encourage a transport modal change away from car dependency, their Urban planning department certainly isn’t helping matters. Swaves of Flat Bush. Large houses squashed on to small sections. Cars parked everywhere and about 30-40 minutes to the nearest bus stop! Is there a proper channel / department / person that I as an ordinary member of the public could raise my concerns to?
Why oh why are we approving new “Green fields” development so far away from Public Transport? 48 Minutes walk to Bremner Ridge St from the nearest bus stop???
Car dependent Urban sprawl of Flat Bush, Auckland. Planning like this ensures we will remain entrenched in car dependency for the foreseeable future.
It’s not just Flat bush either, but a lot of places across Auckland. Parts of Takanini, Red Hill, Kumeu are similarly affected. Very little in the way of established Public Transport, yet people are moving there, and when they move there, what are those residents going to do? You guessed it, they’ll likely buy a car, or two, or three and park any that won’t fit on the front lawn on the streets instead.
As an aside, seriously contemplating a possible move out of Auckland. Living here with it’s inadequate infrastructure (particularly surrounding transport) isn’t doing my mental health any favours. (Will keep the house and rent it out, in case at some point I want to come back)
Reported this issue to Auckland Transport. With “return to office” mandates and the lack of Travel choice in much of the East Tamaki Employment zone, thought this should get looked into.
Saw traffic backing up along Ti-Rakau Drive (West bound traffic) and all the way back to Botany and up along Harris Road as well (when returning back home from the In-office day on Wednesday)
Update: Auckland Transport have since come back to me and confirmed the issue and have kindly made adjustments to the phasing along with thanking me for report this.
From what AT have implied, this was the first report of this they have received. As far as I know, this issue has existed for months so it did leave me wondering why no one else has report this? Even if it’s to inquire if the current programming / phasing of the lights are correct. (This isn’t the first time this has happened, are people just assuming someone else will pipe up and report these issues?)
That said, with the Trugood lights now “fixed”, the congestion will likely be moved further down (e.g Ti Rakau / Revees Rd interchange) so overall travel time savings for my route will probably only amount to around a few minutes.
Drove down the Waikato Expressway. Turns out this was not the best move (for my mood) admittedly.
There’s a section of the Waikato Expressway north of Hamilton that has been reduced to 1 lane each way and 50 km/h for what feels like coming to a year. This is the Junction between SH1 and SH1C. The issue here northbound is that 4 lanes effectively go down to one.
I don’t drive down this route regularly as I live out in Auckland, but the lack of progress each time I do drive down that way is particularly striking. And each time I come to a complete halt in that section, I have time for my eyes to wander and noticed a lot of this equipment (barriers, porta-loos, diggers, rollers, etc) is hired. I’m picking it will be us, the taxpayer who is ultimately picking up the tab for all this hired equipment to be laying dormant.
I feel the situation with our infrastructure works now warrants a more urgent look in. This isn’t the first and this certainly won’t be the last. I feel it’s is entirely appropriate to question what is going on and for the likes of Waka Kotahi to explain to the public in layman’s terms what is involved and what is perhaps blocking up the progress.
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Edit 1: To add, just found this pamphlet. It looks like those at the grassroots / front line workers have been getting all the heat from the public. This is not where the indignation should be directed at. It should be directed at Management overseeing these projects. That said, I totally understand the public frustration and Waka Kotahi / Higgins absolutely need to be grilled on this – but I certainly don’t condone abuse to the front line road workers.
Edit 2: 9th June 2023 – Just Heard back from NZTA , they’ve said the leasing is done by Higgins and is their own business (arrangements). NZTA agree that the works have been slow and under resourced. Will try and reach out to Fletchers / Higgins and see what is up with that project given the national significance of the road.
9th June 2024: This was originally posted before I got the chance to actually talk further in depth with some of their consultants face to face regarding my concerns in the months that followed and would be fair to say my view expressed in this post perhaps isn’t as strong. That said, there is still improvements that AT could be making and much faster than they have. Plan to update this post in due course.
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Admittedly, I’m at my wits ends. Auckland Transport as an organization I feel have persistently failed to deliver for the people of Auckland and has shown little willingness to reform their ways. This organization I strongly feel no longer has the social license to operate. It’s time to disband the organization, integrate it’s functions back into the council and get leaders in who are willing to do their jobs and deliver for the public.
They’ve thrown excuse after lame excuse for their failures, taken a hands off approach and attempted to cast blame on other entities for delivery of frankly a crap end-product (service) to the public. I think it’s time the organization (that is, should this organization wish to have any hope of continuing to exist) took a long look at itself and actually own up + acknowledge the transport issues facing Aucklanders and take the lead to champion delivery of reliable, timely, efficient and cost effective transport networks rather than shrug their shoulders to say “not our problem / fault”.
Services are still being cancelled en masse. Yet they want us to change from our cars and seem to be very keen to roll out enforcement cameras to use against the public – the very people who pays their wages – in order to coax us to change. How on Earth (or Mars) is that modal shift going to happen when passengers turn up to their stop only to find repeatedly their train, ferry or bus service has been randomly cancelled with the list of these cancelled services running all the way to the moon and back?
I invite anyone who defends what Auckland Transport has achieved to actually convince me what we currently have is even usable, practical, dependable and caters to the day to day transportation needs of most Auckland commuters.
At this point, I will admit to harboring a lot of animosity (I loath to use the word “hate”) towards Auckland Transport, more specifically towards their ongoing performance (or lack of) to date. I’m still figuring out how to channel (Positively harness) this anger as an ordinary individual rate-paying Auckland resident. It may be that I have to seriously look at forming my own Lobby / Advocacy group to hold Auckland Transport to account for their actions?
I’m aware that Greater Auckland is perhaps the biggest existing advocacy group already in this space but will be the first to admit while I strongly agree with their vision to reduce dependency on cars, and opening up travel choice, I don’t necessarily agree with the way they appear to be approaching this (which seems to be more to retrofit — at great uncertain cost and great disruption to those neighbourhoods potentially for years — new infrastructure in those existing neighborhoods).
In my view, we are probably best to encourage the majority of new housing be 6-10 story apartment blocks right beside existing high capacity public transit corridors and with day to day amenities and services within walking distance — See my separate article where I detail my thoughts further. Auckland Council and Auckland Transport should be working in lock-step with respect to urban planning and transport planning – to be frank, I’m not convince they are. If they are, then why are we continuing to sprawl well away from major transport infrastructure (Rail lines, Bus ways, Motorways)? Look at the area east of the Tamaki River.
As a complete aside, I wouldn’t be surprised Auckland Transport have purposely modeled their Logo on a Tortoise (With the ‘A’ forming the shell and the ‘T’ forming the neck and head). May be the organization should just be called “Auckland Tortoise”?
It’s important to note this post is not aimed at the many hardworking grassroots frontline employees both within AT itself and those of their contractors (e.g Bus Drivers, Train Drivers, Train conductors, Ferry personnel, public counter staff, etc).
TL;DR:Speeds limits are being reduced across the board. Driving is increasingly stressful as others will object to you following the speed limit. There are implications if you do receive an infringement. Driving is technically a privillege but alternative transport options for getting around Auckland remain disappointingly poor and impractical for many situations.
Noticed that Speed limits on some streets around the CBD have been further reduced. Now Wellington Street in Freemans Bay is down to a mere 30 km/h.
Entrance to Wellington St, Freemans Bay, Auckland (CBD City side)
I can say that no cars whatsoever were doing 30 or even 40 km/h. In fact I had to pull over to allow a car to pass because they were right on my bumper while doing an already rule breaking 40km/h down Wellington Street. Walking back up Wellington street, I had observed basically every car were clearly ignoring the 30 km/h speed limit.
I’ve come to terms it’s only a matter of time that I’m going to end up with my first ever traffic infringement at this rate (basically not a matter of if, but when). Why? Because the agencies (including NZTA and Auckland Transport) by way of their “Vision zero” programme are dropping speed limits across the board and not just around the CBD. They’re also pledging to deploy more enforcement cameras everywhere and dropping enforcement tolerances and it only takes a momentarily lapse in judgement (e.g accelerating a touch too much in order to move safely into traffic or change lanes while looking over my shoulder to check a blind spot) right at an inopportune time and I will be done for.
The issue as well with infringements is that even if it’s only $30 low level speeding fine without demerits from a speed camera, apparently this still goes on your record somewhere for 5 years and apparently in many cases, you are supposed to declare this to insurance and needs to be declared in other areas as well (applying for a fire arms license, etc) so pays to avoid getting them where practical.
While I’ve continue for decades to express a strong desire to see alternative, more environmentally friendly and safer travel options opened up particularly in car dependent areas such as East Tamaki Industrial, the anti-car and climate activists have been exerting an increasing influence on Government policy and various government to make driving purposely more difficult and attempting to strong arm the motoring public out of their cars before we even have available working and viable alternative transport options that are able to realisitically cater to people’s day to day and household transportation needs in this city.
With the likes of Auckland Transport playing hard ball over Bus lane infringements and being inflexible even to those who have an otherwise squeaky clean driving record, the state will lose the goodwill of the public. Day to day life is already stressful for families as it is and the state to start ramping up the enforcement, widening the net, and pinging people over an increasing array of infractions while being out to disrupt people’s livelihoods is only going to accelerate the erosion of public goodwill and respect particularly if we continue to find excuses not to run the trains.
While I see we are building seperated cycle ways slowly (which admittedly, I’m generally infavour of should they go where people need to go and can be implemented in a cost effective fashion), however until we begin to see viable transport options able to meet Aucklanders’ day to day transportation needs emerge, I will as an individual ratepayer be vigorously and assertively pushing back at attempts by the more ardent climate activists who unrealistically demand we stop driving our cars immediately.
Admittedly, initially had to actually check whether or not it was in fact April 1st. This afternoon, I learn that whole sections of Auckland’s Rail network is to be closed for lengthy periods during the coming 2023 year. Please read the details about these Line Closures here on AT’s Website.
I feel this ought to be a stark wake up call to New Zealand and the need to look into the way we do things in this country. Needed is an urgent nationwide inquiry into our infrastructure works and why everything gets done so glacially slow in this country and continues to get slower. Is it the project management process? Too many differing (unconnected) sub contractors making scheduling and coordination difficult? Overzealous Health and Safety? Too much needless bureaucracy? Lack of Will? Lack of incentive? Same questions go for our Roadworks as well which seem to take forever.
So just what were KiwiRail doing during all those Rail Closures and shut downs in the preceeding years? Did they only just discover the work needs to be done now? Were AT only informed of this now? It’s as if the rail line closures during the prior years (including during the weekends) weren’t already a sizeable inconvenience, It’s going to be just that more difficult promoting Auckland’s faith in the Public Transport network and enacting an effective modal shift away from dependence on the Private Motor car.
Would we be better off being served by Bus ways rather than any sort of Passenger rail if this sort of rather disruptive and lengthy ongoing maintenance is required of rail? What assurances are KiwiRail and Auckland Transport able to provide to the public that there won’t be yet another round of hugely inconvenient, costly and lengthy disruption to the rail network in the years to come after all this work is supposedly complete? How do other countries manage to do it? Or is Auckland simply too small to pragmatically run a reliable and dependable Passenger Train network due to the lack of redundancy in the system (afforded to bigger rail networks in larger municipalities)?
Rightly or wrongly, I am forming an impression that the people in charge of these organizations aren’t serious enough about doing their job properly nor delivering for the public and hold very little, if any, sense of duty/responsibility or accountability to New Zealand. I will admit this is just my opinion as a lay person / ignorant armchair critic who undoubtably won’t have the full picture, but something almost undeniably and certainly seems amiss and some hard questions need be asked of those in charge.
Update 7th December 2021: NRMA’s master license for Thrifty expired earlier this year and they have now changed their branding over to be SIXT Australia which includes Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd’s network of outlets throughout Suburban Victoria.
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In short, less than upfront (“shady”) behaviour from rental car companies does exist. This is in spite of people, particularly on various online travel forums who are often quick to come to the defence of car hire companies through pointing out that the hirer raising a complaint is the one in the wrong and who simply didn’t read and understand the agreement and/or contracts. From personal experience, this is certainly not always the case.
Ending up deciding to send Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd Originally trading as Thrifty Car and Truck Rental Victoria (since changed over to be SIXT Car Rental Victoria as of 2021) a fairly stern and direct Email over the weekend firmly stating that due to their lack of disclosure, they are not entitled to retain the 3.5% Administration fee that they had applied to my account (over the top of the damage/repair charge from a small roo jumping into the side of the vehicle) back in 2018 and if they did not refund that portion of the administrative fee by the “close of business 5pm AEDT, Friday 19th March 2021”, I would be instituting further recovery proceedings under Victorian State and Australian Consumer Law in order to have the amount in question returned back to me. To recap, in 2018… Continue reading “Hidden (Undisclosed) Fees in Hire car company agreements – Not a myth unfortunately”→
Be aware that NRMA Insurance and NRMA Motoring and services (“The NRMA”) are NOT the same company and have been separate entities since 2000 despite the two companies sharing the same brand. Yes, indeed this is confusing as anything whereby even Australians to this day do not even realise the distinction.
I occasionally observe NRMA clients complain about an acrimonious experience on either the insurance or roadside assistance side, mentioned they’ve been members for years or decades, and then state they will now move both their insurance policies and roadside assistance to another provider as retribution.
NRMA Insurance and more recently, NRMA Motorserve (now rebranded simply to “Motorserve”) are actually owned by Insurance Australia Group (IAG).
“The NRMA” (Motoring and Services) have largely evolved in my mind to be more of a travel and tourism company. Their traditional roadside assistance services appear to be increasingly supplied by another, separate company called ClubAssist whose personnel (staff and contractors) are supplied with NRMA branded Vehicles and Uniforms while actually being employed by Club-Assist.
This post is more of a personal point of reference (leading on from an ongoing, personally conducted investigation into a different matter)…
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National Roads and Motorists’ Association (“The NRMA”) to me these days are more of a Travel and Tourism company and would say in my own sole opinion they are perhaps now a different organization from what they were originally before demutualization.
They apparently own several Resorts & Holiday Parks, Travelodge Hotels (as a Joint venture with TOGA / TFE Hotels), Manly Fast Ferries, Thrifty Car rental Australia & NZ along with a couple of Tour companies. To confuse matters, they do not actually own NRMA Insurance (which is currently a brand of Insurance Australia Group since 2000) nor do they own NRMA MotorServe (now also a brand of IAG). Even to this day, appears many of their own clients and members are unaware of the distinction between NRMA Insurance and NRMA Motoring and Services.
Some NRMA roadside assistance personnel (while still being provided with a NRMA branded Van and Uniform) are in fact employed through a separate company called Club Assist who NRMA Motoring and Services have contracted out to for the provisioning of battery replacement sales + assistance, and auto-glass replacement to their members. While it looks like NRMA owns 30% of Club Assist, I’m not sure how many of the other Roadside Assistance personnel are still directly employed by or otherwise contracting directly to NRMA Motoring and Services.
Club-Assist are apparently contracted to do quite a bit of the Battery related call out work by other Motoring clubs in Australasia including Automobile Association Batteries here in NZ and supply batteries bearing the branding of the Motoring club they’re working for. That said, anecdotally, some people within my immediate social circles have claimed they did not find them the best value (Club Assist reps are allegedly incentivised to sell new batteries) and I would say it still pays to shop around if you’re in need of a new battery.
Club-Assist have also been deploying the NRMA branded charging stations over New South Wales along with the RACV branded charging stations across Victoria.
Update 7th December 2021: Much of the original Thrifty Australia operational structure has been rebranded as SIXT Australia. NRMA’s master license for Thrifty expired earlier this year and they have now changed over to be SIXT Australia.
This post refers to when NRMA’s Car rental division, Kingmill Pty Ltd, were trading as Thrifty Car and Truck Rental Australia.
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Dare I say it, I have had largely reasonable experiences with the ‘Thrifty’ car rental brand in Australia. Vehicles provided have predominantly been received in clean, tidy and good condition. Majority of hires have been smooth with one disappointing experience in the middle involving one of their licensees operating in Suburban Melbourne who I felt were dishonest and were also caught posting fake reviews to boot (Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd). Continue reading “NRMA Car rental division (Was Thrifty, now SIXT Australia)”→
Update 9th January 2022:– Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd used to be trading as a Thrifty Car and Truck Rental independent franchise up until late 2021. They have since rebranded to be SIXT Car rental Vic & SA.
It is sincerely hoped under their new banner as SIXT Australia – Vic & SA that Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd will use this opportunity of a clean slate to continue to improve their business practices and move on from some of their former practices observed and experienced as a past customer of theirs.
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Known SIXT Locations in Victoria, Australia which are operated by Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd
SIXT – Avalon Airport, VIC
SIXT – Bayswater, VIC
SIXT – Blackburn, VIC
SIXT – Clayton, VIC
SIXT – Coburg, VIC
SIXT – Campbellfield, VIC
SIXT – Dandenong, VIC
SIXT – Footscray, VIC
SIXT – Frankston, VIC
SIXT – Geelong, VIC
SIXT – Hoppers Crossing, VIC
SIXT – Moorabbin, VIC
SIXT – Pakenham, VIC
SIXT – Preston, VIC
SIXT – Richmond, VIC
SIXT – Tullamarine, VIC (Not the Airport one)
Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd also operate…
SIXT – Mount Gambier Airport, SA (South Australia)
SIXT – Repairhub (Derrimut, VIC)
Direct Vehicle Warehouse (formerly Thrifty Vehicle Sales)(Dandenong, VIC)
SIXT Car and Truck rental locations in Victoria not operated by Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd…
SIXT – Melbourne City (operated by Kingmill Pty Ltd – Master Franchise / NRMA Motoring and Services)
SIXT – Melbourne Airport (operated by Kingmill Pty Ltd – Master Franchise / NRMA Motoring and Services)
SIXT – South Yarra (operated by Christer Aust Pty Ltd)
SIXT – South Melbourne (operated by Christer Aust Pty Ltd)
SIXT – Brighton (operated by Christer Aust Pty Ltd)
The information has been compiled from what I know as a past customer to NRMA Motoring and Services car hire division (Originally trading as Thrifty, now trading as SIXT) and will likely be incomplete. I’m not employed in anyway within the car hire industry. The information was originally compiled upon request from other fellow Thrifty Car rental customers (back in 2018) enquiring as to which Thrifty car rental branches were operated by Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd and which of those that were not.
Update 7 December 2021: Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd (formerly Thrifty Car and Truck Rental Victoria now trading as SIXT Car Rental Vic & SA) have since kindly refunded me the admin fees earlier this year that were originally charged outside of the written agreement and which originally triggered off my indignation. Many of the fake reviews posted while they were trading as Thrifty have since been promptly deleted upon separately advising the matter had been turned over to the ACCC and Consumer Affairs Victoria for comment.
Had also fielded the occasional E-mail from those identifying themselves as past employees of Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd, describing Working Conditions, Pay and Internal Culture issues, etc. though these have since tailed off as Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd followed their franchisor to rebrand as SIXT Car Rental Australia.
It is however sincerely hoped that under their new banner as SIXT Australia, Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd will take this clean slate as an opportunity to continue to substantially improve on their business conduct and practices going forward.
Will leave this post up as is, as purely a historical snapshot / record of perhaps my single most unusual consumer experience I’ve ever had either side of the Tasman and the first and so far only time I’ve ever had to initiate formal action under any given country’s Consumer Protection Framework anywhere in the world. It should however be understood much of this post may no longer be current particularly the bit about planning to take them to VCAT upon my return visit to Australia.
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Topping off personally my single most disappointing consumer experience to date either side of the Tasman that I can recall… upon looking to place a review regarding my last hire experience with Thrifty Car Rental out of Mickelham Road, (Melbourne), discovered that the franchise owner along with certain senior staff of franchise operation Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd, had posted several of their own reviews whilst failing to disclose their commercial and/or employment connection to the business…
Lawrence (Vic.) Pty Ltd. T/A Thrifty Vic Car and Truck rental – Managing Director… “Personally I think that these guys are the best rental company in Victoria. They always have great service a delivery on time with a smile. I would recommend them to anybody.“
– Source: Google Maps (This has since been removed upon advising I had referred the matter to the ACCC and CAV)
Thrifty Franchise owner Lawrence (Vic.) Pty Ltd for Dandenong, posting a 5 star review of his own business. This has since been removed.
…Being the owner, of course he would think and say that about his own business. Some disclosure in his review would have been nice.
Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd’s Chief Financial Officer, was also discovered to have placed multiple 5 star ratings of a number of Thrifty Car and Truck rental locations…
Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd’s Chief Financial Officer posting 5 star ratings for the branches owned by his employer in breach of ACCC Guidelines. (They were formerly operating as Thrifty, now operating as SIXT Car and Truck Rental Australia.)
Some more ratings placed by the same individual. He has placed 5 star ratings on at least 8 (possibly more) locations owned by Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd along with 5 star ratings for a handful of other Thrifty Locations owned by other business units.
Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd’s Chief Financial Officer posting 5 star ratings for the branches owned by his employer in breach of ACCC Guidelines. (They were formerly operating as Thrifty, now operating as SIXT Car and Truck Rental Australia.)
Also came across this… Known employees (confirmed upon glancing at their profiles) including the owner of Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd are seen posting fake ratings and reviews for Thrifty Vehicle Sales location (Since renamed simply to “Direct Vehicle Warehouse” as of December 2021) that they operate in Dandenong. (These have since been removed in haste upon advising I have turned the matter over to the ACCC and Consumer Affairs Victoria)
Fake Reviews posted to the Thrifty Vehicle Sales page in Dandenong (Since renamed “Direct Vehicle Warehouse” as of 2021) by those in the employ of the reviewed business (Lawrence Vic Pty ltd). These have now been removed after advising I had referred the matter to the ACCC and CAV
Furthermore, if you glance at the rest of the profiles from where the ratings and reviews have come from, quite a few of them I feel appeared (at least to me) to be from direct friends to one of the Staff in question (Profiles liking and commenting on posts from the staffer’s profile and vice versa or more apparent, the staffer appearing on the friends widget of those profiles).
While friends of staff are well within their right to place a review if they are genuine customers, a potential conflict of interestis present and this should really be disclosed within any review they post as per the ACCC Guidelines in respect to asking friends to leave a review.
More Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd staff posting positive reviews, this time for Thrifty Weipa. (While this may be a different business unit to Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd, they are still part of the Australian Thrifty Car Rental network and any such review should disclose this)
Thrifty Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd employees posting reviews for Thrifty Weipa. While a different Franchise, they are still part of the same network and should be disclosed.
An older review from 3 years ago posted by another employee of Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd…
Another Google self review from a Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd staffer for Thrifty Car and Truck Rental Campbellfield.
Here’s a more recent glowing review for Thrifty Car and Truck Rental for Footscray…
(the statement “…team that works together to achieve their goals” caught my eye as it’s not normally something posted by a genuine customer)
(The review below was quickly removed after I posted a temporary review publicly challenging it)
Glowing review of Footscray Thrifty Car and Truck Rental posted by a staff member of Thrifty Footscray. This was quickly removed after posting my own review to challenge it.
From then I looked at the reviewer’s other review for Coles Express, a service station very close by Thrifty Car and Truck Rental Footscray where he mentions “…as part of my job for a rental car company…”
Same employee mentioning he worked for a car rental firm. No surprises which one.
…All the above fake reviews were the ones that were known about and could be directly linked to Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd personnel.
The last fake testimonial above was only caught by virtue that the staff member in question had posted in another review mentioning he worked for a rental car company.
In my mind, it certainly raises the question… How many of the other customer testimonials could also be fake or otherwise have been posted by Thrifty Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd personnel?
Wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd management possibly encouraged their employees to engage in the practice particularly since the owner himself was seen placing at least a couple of his own fake reviews.
Reviews posted to Lawrence Vic Pty ltd. New location: Thrifty Coburg in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. While an individual review from a profile where this is their only review is not sufficient by itself to raise a red flag, the ratio of such reviews do raise a red flag with me.
Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd’s newer location, Thrifty Coburg, Melbourne, Victoria. 4 out of 6 reviews revealed anomalies. 3 out of 6 reviews were posted by people with only 1 review with a 4th review from below…
The reason why this looks fishy…
The ratio. Out of 6 total reviews, 3 were made by reviewers with only 1 review,
One of them being especially and suspiciously hyperbolic. “Wow, what an experience” is a sizable red flag to me as such reviews have in the past often been found to be fake upon my own investigation. How often would one be so over the moon renting from a car hire place?
A 4th review was made by a reviewer who has a total of 5 Google reviews to her name. However, out of those 5 reviews, 4 of them are for Thrifty locations all operated by Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd, another red flag…
This reviewer has a total of 5 Google reviews to their name. 4 of them for Thrifty locations, all operated by Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd. I suspect this is more than a coincidence.
There are a few further individuals who if you Google their name present results to their LinkedIn profiles indicating they work for Thrifty. Whether they are the same people who posted these (in my view) rather anomalous, “written like an advert” review for Thrifty Vehicle Sales Dandenong is not able to be definitively confirmed as there are a ton of People in the Melbourne Area with the same (first and last) names, Never the less, the prose is very unlike a customer would normally write and combined with a match to Linkedin, these reviews I feel should be viewed with a high degree of skepticism.
While I acknowledge that Lawrence Vic Pty ltd isn’t alone in such antics (Far from it), Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd is the first business (that isn’t an outright cold calling boiler room “wire” scam operation) who I have both personally had any sort of interaction with and seen engaging in the posting of falsified testimonials.
Overall my hire experience with Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd was far removed from my usually smooth hire experience under the Thrifty brand in Australia. I will admit to letting my guard down in this instance due to trust built up from multiple positive hiring experiences before hand under the Thrifty brand. Issues with the Lawrence Franchise include…
Failure to disclose upfront the full fee structure in their written legal documentation in respect to minor damage caused by a small Roo jumping into the side of the vehicle. An undisclosed and non-specific 3.5% Administrative fee was levied on top of other Administrative fees and was not disclosed to me verbally nor in writing. (I understand as of September 2020, Thrifty Australia have now rewritten their Terms and Conditions to better disclose this to cover their network of outlets and franchises, however, was not disclosed as per their terms and conditions as of 2018 at the time of the hire) Note March 2021: Have since had a large portion of that refunded back to me.
Upon contacting the Licensee’s HQ at Dandenong thinking that these matters would be easy to clarify, I was instead met with a defensive attitude from one of their accountants (who I now learn has since left the organization) with the chain of communication abruptly closing at “Thanks for your feedback on our disclosure” with no further attempt by Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd to explain or otherwise point out where in the written agreement these charges applied.
Failure to provide a copy of the agreement at initiation of the hire requiring several follow ups. (This doesn’t appear to be an isolated incident with Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd.)
Upon eventual receipt of the above, discovered a break down add on I never requested and which I strongly believe was snuck on by the RSO under IMO obvious pressure by his bosses to meet his monthly sales target. The RSO agent I strongly believe drew my attention away from it during the walk through of the said agreement. I will take this on the chin this time, but this is something that prospective hirer’s must watch out for. Don’t be too trusting in “the brand”. Renting from one Thrifty branch (in my case, several different Thrifty branches) does not mean they do things the same way as any other Thrifty branch.
The vehicle, A Hyundai Accent hatch ran rather poorly compared to the same Make/model I rented several times from other Thrifty branches in Australia and New Zealand. The service sticker also indicated the vehicle was 2 months over due for it’s service. Anecdotes from Employees and Fellow customers a like indicate that they regularly cut corners on servicing.
On presenting a New Zealand Driver’s license, Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd demanded 2 x Australian Phone numbers and an Australian Address. No where was this stated anywhere on booking nor the unified thrifty.com.au Website. This is different from Thrifty Melbourne Airport and Thrifty Melbourne city (Spencer st) where no such requirement exists.
Their employment ads suggest a rather Sales driven culture I feel (“…totally focused on achieving targets and budgets”) and this has been emphasized in Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd’s ads far more than for Front line roles advertised by other Vehicle Rental agencies (operating under the Thrifty banner or otherwise) I feel.
I have also since dropped a note to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) to let them know of Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd’s conduct.
If would be fair to say that I hold the management of Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd personally responsible for the matters arising out of my hire with them. Nor have I ruled out possibly taking out a case against Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) when I’m next back over the ditch on business.
To date, this remains by far and away my single most acrimonious experience as a customer to any business either side of the Tasman. I would expect to see these sorts of business antics 20 years ago in Mainland China (when things there were less developed) and not in a country such as Australia.
While I have since continued to rent through other ‘Thrifty’ branded business units in Australia without experiencing anywhere near the same sorts of issues, my continued custom with Thrifty as a brand is now under review (particularly so now that NZ AA and Thrifty Australia between them seems to have ended the hire car deals for us NZ AA Members).
In a nutshell… I consider trust extremely important in any transaction I undertake and Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd through their conduct I feel have completely failed to demonstrate this.
Short of a population contraction. Auckland transport crisis I feel is NOT going to be measurably alleviated in the next two decades for the average resident.
Auckland as a city is already on the back foot due to decades of laissez faire planning and the damage has unfortunately been done decades ago… it’s going to be difficult to reverse the effects of this through conventional means.
We have key zones scattered all over the place with reckless abandon, with absolutely no forethought for the longer term. We are continuing to build swathes of urban sprawl without any adequate transport infrastructure to go with it, continuing to repeat the same mistakes in the short term with long term consequences.
Bring up a map of Auckland and compare it with say Perth, Melbourne or Adelaide and in contrast to the semi grid type layout of the aforementioned, Auckland’s roading layout frankly more closely resembles a city in a developing nation (Bali, Indonesia; Port Vila, Vanuatu). Roads placed seemingly at random with no planning what so ever. Any buses that we introduce are made to zig zag all over the place in a vain attempt to capture the key zones. No regard for putting in proper rail corridors to new greenfield development sites.
This 28 Billion that the Labour government is planning to pour in, should they suggest conventional public transport measures again, I fear will tragically could end up being a gratuitous waste. I strongly feel Auckland requires a more tailored approach in order to have any hope of mitigating the transportation frustrations facing residents in this city.
If you are planning to drive in the state of Victoria, during your trip to Australia, please note…
Self Drive Tourism Warning
While I never received a fine during my Road trip in Victoria, Australia, many other foreigners including tourists and those newly emigrated to Australia haven’t been so lucky (much to their horror at how comparatively strict and expensive the penalties were). If you’re used to driving at the speed limit, there is less wiggle room for even a momentary lapse in concentration should you be in the vicinity of an enforcement camera.
In Australia, the ethos of the “Speed limit not being a target, but the absolute maximum speed you are allowed to drive at” is perhaps instilled a bit more vigorously than say in New Zealand or North America for that matter.
The State of Victoria for example may set higher speed limits, but enforce them a lot more strictly (with a 3 km/h effective tolerance, by way of deducting 3km/h of the detected speed to form the alleged speed, along with heavy fines for even low level speeding).
In New Zealand, the speed limits may be set lower for the equivalent roading environment, but enforced more loosely (Higher general speed tolerance enforcement of 5km/h during holiday periods along with much lighter fines for low level speeding)
Victoria, Australia has some of the heaviest monetary penalties for speeding with fines that I’ve heard of, starting from 200 AUD for even just a few km/h over the speed limit along with 400 AUD fines for running red lights.
There are concealed (Not easy to spot) traffic enforcement cameras all over the state of Victoria. Melbourne in particular is swarming with Fixed Traffic Enforcement Cameras dotted all over the place, particularly on their Highways / Freeways, particularly under the over bridges cross over the motorways.
In Australia (and New Zealand), You can not make a free left (kerb side) turn on a red traffic signal as you can in many places in North America.
Road works zones are ENFORCED at the temporary speed limit, The State of Victoria’s fixed cameras can be adjusted to accommodate on the fly. There have been countless reports of even locals losing their licenses while traveling on the Freeways at 100km/h having missed the temporary 50km/h speed limit in place.
If you are driving a rental car at the time of the infringement, your Rental Car provider will most likely also slap an additional Administration Fee on top of any fines of around 66 AUD (if it’s a mailed speed camera fine). Unfortunately, it appears many Car rental companies do not make the hirer aware of how comparatively heavily and strictly enforced speeding is in the State of Victoria upon the hirer picking up the car from Melbourne Tullamarine international Airport.
The parking signs to those unfamiliar can be extremely confusing. Again heavy fines from around 80 AUD upwards applies for parking infringements.
While as a foreigner you may be able to get away with not paying any infringements, issues may arise at the border should you wish to enter Australia again.
The reason I’ve heard for such seemingly heavy enforcement for low level speeding is that it’s “aimed at bringing about cultural change in the driving public”. Another words, an attempt at “Nipping it in the bud”. That said, Victoria still has their fair share of speeders (The occasional hooner that is clearly 30 km/h above the speed limit) and the usual tailgaters following other vehicles closely as anywhere else in the world.
Occasionally I will take advantage of Rental Relocation deals to usually to do a road trip after a key event concludes (be it, after a hike or after a work trip) to explore an area that is new to me.
Kapiti Island from State Highway 1
After attending the Outdoor Training NZ AGM in Wellington in the weekend just past, A JUCY Condo Camper van was lined up in order to go back to Auckland, where we took turns driving it back to Auckland. It was perhaps my first time experiencing driving a Van and a Camper.
About the “JUCY” Campervan itself. Main points…
A pleasant and friendly lady at the Wellington JUCY branch showed us around the vehicle, how to operate the various functions and provided instructions for return.
The JUCY “Condo” camper we got was in a good state of repair, very clean and tidy
A Freshly cleaned set of Blankets and duvet supplied as well as towels for 4 occupants.
All Cutterly, Bowls, Plates and Cups have been supplied
The Vehicle included two LPG hobs including Pots, Pans and a kettle.
A Chemical toilet was included.
I did find the Vehicle to be quite thirsty, drinking about 12-13 litres of petrol every 100km at Highway speeds.
The Vehicle only had a 2.0 litre naturally aspirated petrol motor and given the size envelope and weight of the vehicle, it naturally struggled with hills, while noticeably labouring at 100km/h on the flat. Be prepared to pull over frequently to allow other traffic to pass on hilly sections.
Noticed the Camper was perhaps a little more tiring to drive than a regular rental car. (e.g. in comparison with a Toyota Corolla Hatch)
General observations about renting a car (not necessarily confined to Relocation deals)…
It is in my feeling that you really need at least 48 hours to make the Car rental relocation journey a worthwhile undertaking, otherwise it could all just driving point to point with little time to actually stop off on the way to look at things.
Many Excess reduction insurance options offered by many rental car companies excludes the likes…
Under Body and Overhead damage.
Hail damage
Tires / Punctures.
Windscreens
You may still be levied with a claim fee of about $75 even if you took up the $0 excess option.
Most standard Holidays parks charge per person in terms of Camping, not per site, bear that in mind when looking around for places to stay. Cabins and motel units at the same Holiday parks are usually advertised at the Twin rate.
If you have a self contained Camper van, it may be prudent financially to take advantage of that and Freedom Camp where ever possible and as long as it is legal to do so.
For about a year, noticed that the pricing many Caltex service stations set between their 91 octane and 95 octane products has somehow diverged percentage wise from about 5% to about 15%. I did inquire with Caltex New Zealand as to the reason why the gap has widened to the extent that is has, though it appears they’ve palmed off the responsibility to individual service stations, while the said stations have pushed it back on to Head Office.
Anyway, in the interim, I shall exercise my responsibility as a consumer (as I did to Two Degrees Mobile) and go to their sister brand, Z Energy or to Mobil where both brands often have their 95 RON petrol priced about 15-21c cheaper than Caltex.
It also does bring in to question how often Caltex turns over their 95 product as well as I have noticed my engine recently appears to behave rather differently between different tank fulls of the same Caltex product. For example, one tank full of Caltex 95 RON gasoline may feel quite perky, while with another tank full from the next Caltex station, my engine may instead feel surprisingly sluggish with me needing to noticeably mash the accelerator a bit harder to get up hills.
So far with Z Energy, all my tank fulls have felt a bit more consistent and dare I say it, smoother running with a small increase in fuel economy (according to my written logs) overall. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn it’s because Z Energy turn their 95 RON fuel over more frequently.
After landing back in Auckland, Embarked on the Waterview, Tunnel Walk, kindly hosted by the NZTA. Could walk about 900m in via the Northnound tunnel then crossing over to the southbound tunnel to walk back. (Though have to admit, was thinking we could walk straight through to the other end)
Waterview Tunnel Southern entrance
Beware, Fixed Speed cameras at each end and variable speed limit up to a Maximum of 80km/h.
Updated: 25 July 2020 – Still no issues with the motor. Also fixed up some errors and typos in this post.
From the “Individual experience not matching conventional wisdom” files…
The NZ AA have expressed concerns surrounding the “D4” (including the 1AZ-FSE) or GDI (Gasoline Direct Injection) motors on their publications due to issues of Potential carbon build up on the intake valves, potentially restricting the airflow to the engine as a result of the petrol being injected directly into the combustion chamber as opposed to washing over the intake valves as per normal port injected engines. They also recommend running Toyota D4 motors on the “Highest Octane possible”. Continue reading “98 RON Petrol in a Toyota D4 Motor”→
