Royal Automobile Club of Queensland

The Royal Automobile Club of Queensland Limited
Motto Makes your day
Formation 1905
Type Roadside assistance, Vehicle inspection, Travel advisory
Headquarters Eight Mile Plains, Brisbane.
Location
President
 Geoffrey Leddy
Key people
 Nigel Alexander, Deputy President
Ian Gillespie, Chief Executive Officer and Secretary
Website www.racq.com.au

The Royal Automobile Club of Queensland Limited (RACQ) is a motoring club and mutual organisation, providing roadside assistance, insurance, travel, finance and other services to its Queensland members. It is a member of the Australian Automobile Association.

RACQ Insurance, its insurance arm, is one of the largest[1] providers in Queensland.

History

Twelve motorists formed the Automobile Club of Queensland in 1905 at a meeting of “almost all the motorists in Brisbane” which was held at the School of Arts, in Ann Street. The club received its Royal Charter in 1921.[2] The club was formed as an advocacy group, styled after the successful Royal Automobile Club of the United Kingdom. At the time of formation there were only 16 registered privately owned motor cars in the whole of Queensland.[3]

Eighteen local motorists eventually agreed to be foundation members. Half were doctors; their belief that "autos" could be a reliable means for visiting patients. Dr. George Hopkins was voted president, and Dr. Charles Marks was the first vice-president. One of the foundation members was a woman, Dr Lilian Violet Cooper, noting that the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria did not permit women to be members at that time. [4]

Sponsorship

The RACQ sponsors the Litter Prevention Award in the Ergon Energy Tidy Towns competition.[5]

In addition, the RACQ sponsors the RACQ Community Helicopter Rescue Network[6]through its charitable trust fund.

Free2go[7]is a youth program designed to help learner drivers to get their licence and includes roadside assistance. Together with the online learner logbook.[8] Queensland learner drivers can record their required 100 hours of supervised on-road driving electronically.

Locations

The RACQ headquarters are in Eight Mile Plains, on the southside of Brisbane, with hubs at Tingalpa, Fortitude Valley, Virginia, Murarrie and Southport. Its branches are mostly owned outright, however some are franchised or contracted out, particularly in the road service division with the use of contractors outside of Brisbane.

In 2006, RACQ launched a new mobile branch that functions as an ordinary branch, and be used for exhibitions and trade shows, and to assist in large-scale disasters in helping communities.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.racq.com.au/insurance/car_insurance/ car insurance
  2. ↑ "Question: What does RACQ stand for?". FAQs. The Royal Automobile Club of Queensland Limited. Archived from the original (HTML) on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-06-29.
  3. ↑ "GovernorRACQ speech". Retrieved 2008-04-15.
  4. ↑ "Our history". RACQ. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  5. ↑ "RACQ Sponsorship". Retrieved 2008-04-15.
  6. ↑ http://www.racq.com.au/my_racq/helicopter_rescue_donations
  7. ↑ http://www.free2go.com.au/
  8. ↑ http://www.learn2go.com.au

External links

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