Royal Automobile Club of Victoria

The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) is a motoring club and mutual organisation which provides its members with a range of products and services in the areas of motoring and mobility, home, leisure, financial services and general insurance.

Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) Limited
MottoWe're there for you
Formation1903
TypeRoadside assistance, Insurance, Resorts, Leisure, Home Security
HeadquartersBourke Street, Melbourne, Australia Princes Highway, Noble Park, Victoria, Australia
Location
Membership
2.1m members (Club, Service and Relationship members)[1]
President and chairman
Netta Griffin
Key people
Neil Taylor, managing director and CEO
Revenue
A$620 million (2017)
Staff
2,500+
Websitewww.racv.com.au

Members of RACV consist of about 30,000 "ordinary" club members who have access to the lifestyle club properties and 2.1m service members who hold any product offered by RACV.

The RACV runs a lifestyle club known as the RACV Club, with locations in the Melbourne CBD and at Healesville. It operates 5 resorts in regional Victoria, 1 in Tasmania and 2 in Queensland which distinct from the lifestyle club properties do not require a visitor to be a paid up club member or be a guest of a club member. RACV also produces a bi-monthly magazine for all members which covers travel/touring destinations in Victoria, interstate and overseas, motoring and mobility news and reviews, and member benefits news and updates.

History

Automobile Club of Victoria was founded at a meeting held at the Port Phillip Club Hotel on 9 December 1903. Henry James Joseph "Harry" Maddox (1862-1937)[2] was elected as its first President, and H.B. "Harry" James, its first secretary. At that first meeting, the proposal of Henry Sutton, the Australian motoring pioneer, was unanimously adopted:

"that the objects of the club should be the promotion of a social organisation and club, composed mainly of persons owning self-propelled vehicles or motor cycles; to afford a means of recording the experiences of members and others using motor cars and motor cycles; to promote investigation in their development; to co-operate in securing rational legislation and the formation of proper rules and regulations governing the use of motor cars and motor cycles in cities, towns and country districts; to maintain the lawful rights and privileges and protect the interests of owners and users of all forms of self-propelled vehicles whenever and wherever such interests, rights and privileges are menaced; to promote and encourage the improvement, construction and maintenance of roads and highways and the development generally in this State of motoring, and to maintain a club to be devoted to the interests and advancement of automobilism."[3]

It held its first car rally at Aspendale Park Racecourse in 1904.[4][5] In 1916, the club received the approval of King George V to prefix the title "Royal" to its name.[6][7]

RACV is a member of the Australian Automobile Association which has member organisations in each state and territory of Australia.

RACV was a founder of insurance brand AAMI (previously known as Club Motor Insurance and now owned by Suncorp-Metway),[8] and both companies are now major competitors in the insurance market in Victoria with RACV's business venture with partner Insurance Australia Group.

Services

Motoring and Mobility Services

RACV provides a tiered roadside assistance service across Victoria to the approximately 2.1 million Victorian members and a reciprocal service to its interstate and international affiliates. It also has a Drive School, a suite of motor products such as Batteries, Auto Glass, Parts and tyres. Mobility services extend beyond that of personal car ownership with a further suite of products including Bike Assist, Car Share and operating Melbourne's Bike Share Scheme on behalf of the Victorian Government

Home Services

RACV offers home security systems as well as home security system monitoring. It also offers the emergency home assist product and a home solar installation service.

Insurance

RACV offers a range of insurance products to its members including home, vehicle, motorcycle, boat, caravan, travel, farm and business insurance.

Financial Services

Through its finance company RACV offers its members a range of car, boat, business and personal loans as well as investments.

Retail

RACV retail outlets provide tourism and travel advice, venue ticketing, travel guides, international driver's licences as well as offering advice on all other RACV products and merchandise.

Member Advocacy

RACV conducts advocacy activities, campaigning on behalf its members and the general public on issues such as roads, public transport, vehicle standards and safety, road users, travel and the home.

Lifestyle Club

The RACV Club is the RACV's lifestyle club offering social, recreational and business facilities to Club members. It has locations in the Melbourne CBD and Healesville. The City Club was redeveloped in 2005. The Healesville Country Club was redeveloped in 2009, with facilities matching those of the prestigious City Club.[1]

RACV Resorts

All RACV members (both Club and Roadside Service Members) are provided with access to RACV Resorts, offering facilities in various locations throughout Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania. These Include: Cape Schanck Resort on the Mornington Peninsula, Cobram Resort in the Murray River region, Inverloch Resort located on South Gippsland’s Bass Coast, Torquay Golf Club on the Victorian Surf Coast, Goldfields Resort in the Central Goldfields Region, RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast, Noosa Resort on the Sunshine Coast and Hobart Hotel in Tasmania. Most RACV resorts including Royal Pines, Goldfields, Torquay and Cape Schanck as well as the Healesville Club have 18-hole golf courses where both members and non-members (except Healesville) can play rounds of golf. Royal Pines is the current home of the Australian PGA competition on the Gold Coast.

RoyalAuto magazine

RACV produces a magazine for its members, called RoyalAuto. It is published and distributed 11 times a year – monthly from February to November, and a combined December/January edition. The magazine's content is based on the three major topics that are of major interest to its readers as RACV members: travel/touring and associated leisure content, motoring/mobility – mainly new and used car reviews and news, and news and programs which touch on broader mobility issues including road safety, public transport and the environment – and member benefits/news. RoyalAuto has an audited circulation of 1,502,079, making it the largest-circulating publication in Victoria.[9] It is the state's most-read monthly magazine.[10]

RACV member magazine has been produced for more than 90 years. It began in 1922 as a monthly supplement in The Australian Motorist. By the mid-1920s, it was launched as a stand-alone publication called The Royal Auto Journal. In 1936, this changed to The Radiator, a newspaper-style journal. In 1953, the magazine became a colour publication called Royalauto, and now it is formally presented as RoyalAuto. In September 2012 a digital version, for iPad, was produced for the first time, and each digital edition is produced concurrently with the print magazine. In August 2013, it was rated among the top 1% of magazine apps worldwide by app rating agency iMonitor. In November 2013, RoyalAuto was named Association or Member Organisation Magazine of the Year by Publishers Australia in its Excellence Awards 2013.[11]

Corporate
RACV Headquarters on Bourke Street, Melbourne

The registered office is located in the CBD of Melbourne.

RACV is an unlisted public company limited by guarantee headed by a board of directors. The Board comprises 11 independent non-executive directors and 1 managing director and CEO.[12] The non-executive directors are elected to three-year terms by two different classes of members: Ordinary ('Club') members (totalling approximately 30k) who can vote for all 11 of the non-executive directors, and service members who have purchased an RACV product and number approximately 2.1 million but can only vote for 5 specific non-executive directors and consequently have less representation at board level.

Subsidiaries and investments[13]
  • R.A.C.V. Finance – 100%
  • Intelematics Australia – 100%
  • Gippsland Solar - 100%
  • Insurance Manufacturers of Australia (IMA) – 30% (joint venture with Insurance Australia Group owning other 70%)
  • Club Assist – 30%
  • Australian Motoring Services (AMS)- 24% (joint venture with Australian automobile clubs)
  • Collaborate Corp (Drive My Car) – 6.77% (P2P car sharing company)
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References
  1. Unattributed (October 2010). "RACV annual report". RoyalAuto. 78 (9): 13–16.
  2. Major H.J.J. Maddox, The Argus, (Monday, 4 October 1937), p.3.
  3. Motoring: An Automobile Club, The (Melbourne) Herald, (Thursday, 10 December 1903), p.4.
  4. Motor Notes, Punch, (Thursday, 18 February 1904), p.30; Automobile Club: The Inaugural Run, The Age, (Monday, 22 February 1904), p.6; Motor Notes, Punch, (Thursday, 25 February 1904), p.30.
  5. Land and Environment: Aspendale Park Racecourse
  6. RACV Annual Report 1916-17
  7. Priestley, Susan (1983). The crown of the road: the story of the RACV. Melbourne: Macmillan. p. 170. ISBN 0-333-35629-2.
  8. Smith, Simon (2002). From club to corporation: motor insurance and the rise of AAMI 1933–1999. Melbourne: AAMI. p. 271. ISBN 0-9581646-1-4.
  9. Circulations Audit Board March 2013
  10. Roy Morgan Research March 2012
  11. http://publishersaustralia.com.au
  12. RACV Annual Report 2016
  13. See Notes 28 and 30 to the Financial Statements, RACV Annual Report 2010
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