Sixt car hire - MYNRMA membership

[aaronm]

I rented a car from Sixt in August last year and, not long afterwards, started receiving emails from MYNRMA. I assumed it was simply a marketing mailing list linked to the rental and didn’t give it much thought.

Fast forward to today, and I've received a renewal notice from NRMA asking for $60 to extend my "membership" for another 12 months. After taking a closer look, it appears to be completely legitimate rather than a scam.

Needless to say, I won’t be paying to renew a service I never knowingly signed up for, but I’m genuinely baffled by the whole thing. Who thought automatically enrolling rental customers into a paid membership program that later converts into a renewal request was a good idea?

Has anyone else come across this particular "benefit" of renting from Sixt?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I rented a car from Sixt in August last year and, not long afterwards, started receiving emails from MYNRMA. I assumed it was simply a marketing mailing list linked to the rental and didn’t give it much thought.

Fast forward to today, and I've received a renewal notice from NRMA asking for $60 to extend my "membership" for another 12 months. After taking a closer look, it appears to be completely legitimate rather than a scam.

Needless to say, I won’t be paying to renew a service I never knowingly signed up for, but I’m genuinely baffled by the whole thing. Who thought automatically enrolling rental customers into a paid membership program that later converts into a renewal request was a good idea?

Has anyone else come across this particular "benefit" of renting from Sixt?

Don’t know anything about it, but it’s actually a very good marketing idea!

You enrol your customer, free of charge for however long, then you have their details and offer them an extension.

I guess if you ‘knew’ you were enrolled for free you could have saved on your regular roadside assist, or used the benefits.

As long as it’s not an automatic renewal, sounds like a not too bad freebie?

 

[markis10]

Sixt offered a free mynrma membership for a year:

Thanks again for your recent booking with SIXT, part of the NRMA family. As a reminder, by renting a vehicle, you’ve earned 12 months free access to My NRMA Rewards.

If you haven’t already, download the My NRMA app and start saving. Packed with so many great benefits, don’t miss out on member exclusive perks, find the cheapest fuel across Australia, get cashback when you shop, explore travel inspo and so much more.*

Plus, check out some of the great brands you now have access to with your membership below.

 

[AdMEL]

To provide some further detail, NRMA holds the master franchise for Sixt in Australia - NRMA previously held the master franchise for Thrifty in Australia for many years. It’s why Sixt (and previously Thrifty) offer a large discount to NRMA members (and most other Aussie motoring associations). My understanding is that the Thrifty franchise was not renewed - not sure whether it was NRMA who didn’t renew, or Hertz, as owner of the Thrifty brand - resulting in the switch to Sixt, which previously didn’t have a presence in Australia. It was probably a win-win for NRMA and Sixt. Hertz has since resurrected the Thrifty brand in Australia, as fully company owned locations, that have nothing to do with NRMA or the previous locations.

 

[markis10]

My understanding is that the Thrifty franchise was not renewed - not sure whether it was NRMA who didn’t renew, or Hertz, as owner of the Thrifty brand - resulting in the switch to Sixt, which previously didn’t have a presence in Australia

NRMA exited thrifty (technically Dollar/Thrifty) as part of that brands re-organization during bankruptcy after COVID, it has been an uncomfortable marriage since Hertz acquired Dollar/Thrifty in 2011.