Australian Insurer Nrma Leads Calls For Return Of Services

It's been years since bowser boys filled up Australian cars or shop assistants carried bags.

But Australia's largest general insurer says it's time to return to the good-old-days with some quality customer service.

For a week starting on Wednesday, the NRMA will provide bowser boys and grocery bag carriers at various locations across New South Wales.

"It's been too long since someone has offered to carry our shopping bags back to the car ... what we are doing today is bringing back good-old-fashioned service," NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday.

"Motorists will see, for the first time in decades, bowser boys ... and, at certain shopping centres across the state, you won't have to carry shopping bags to your car either."

Mr Khoury said a recent survey by the insurance giant found 70 per cent of people would pay more for better service.

Of the 1200 people surveyed, all of whom were NRMA members, 51 per cent said they believed society has lost the notion of good-old-fashioned service.

"There's nothing wrong with the type of service we got back in the 50s," Mr Khoury said.

"If you want the upper hand on your competitor maybe it's not so much about how snazzy your marketing campaign is or how low the price of your product is, maybe it's about the type of service you provide."

He said the response from customers at a petrol station in the eastern Sydney suburb of Rose Bay - where the campaign was launched - was extremely positive.

"For the first time in a long time motorists are actually walking up to the counter of a service station with a grin on their face as they are paying for petrol," he said.

"I don't know the last time an Australian motorist was happy about paying for petrol."