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| Company type | Private limited company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Automotive services |
| Founded | 1897 |
| Founder | Frederick Simms |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland |
Key people | Rob Templeman (Chairman) Dave Hobday (CEO) |
| Services | Roadside assistance and insurance |
| Revenue | £501 million (2015)[1] |
| £95 million (2011)[2] | |
| Owner | CVC Capital Partners (50%) GIC Private Limited (50%) |
Number of employees | 3,700 (2011 average)[2] |
| Subsidiaries | RAC Motoring Services Limited RAC Financial Services Limited RAC Insurance limited |
| Website | www.rac.co.uk |
RAC Limited, calledThe RAC, is a British automotive servicescompany headquartered inWalsall,West Midlands. Its principal services areroadside assistance and general insurance, and its subsidiaries include RAC Motoring Services Ltd, RAC Financial Services Ltd and RAC Insurance Limited. It was a private club owned by its members until sold in 1999, eventually acquired in 2014 and 2015 byGIC Private Limited andCVC Capital Partners. In 2022 Silver Lake acquired a stake in the group while leaving GIC and CVC as major stakeholders.
The RAC's main competitors areThe AA andGreen Flag.[citation needed]
TheRoyal Automobile Club was formed in 1897 byFrederick Richard Simms, which set up an "associate section" to provide membersroadside assistance and motoring services. The club incorporated the associate section as R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. in 1978. In 1987, the organisation introduced an "Advanced Computer Aided Rescue System".[3]
In 1991, it established theRAC Foundation as its research arm. The RAC Foundation was later turned into a charity, and received a legacy from Royal Automobile Club members when R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. was sold in 1999.[3]British School of Motoring (BSM) was purchased by R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. in December 1998.[4]
The RAC moved into theRAC Regional Control Centre adjacent to theAlmondsbury Interchange in 1994, designed byGrimshaw Architects.[5]
In 1999, R.A.C. Motoring Services was sold by the members of the Royal Automobile Club to Lex Service for £437m, with each of the 12,000 members receiving £34,000, and each of the 4,000 RAC Motoring Services staff receiving £1,000.[6]
Lex Service renamed themselves RAC plc in 2002. In October 2000, RAC purchasedIntergraph's Computer Aided Dispatch System (I/CAD), a Command and Control system.[7] The National Customer Service Awards' recognized the system with the 'Best Use of Technology in Customer Service' award in October 2004.[8]
Aviva acquired RAC plc for around £1.1 billion in March 2005.[9] They sold some parts of the business for £500m,[9] including RACAuto Windscreens in December 2008, andBSM to a German company in January 2009.[10][11] BSM was later sold to Acromas Holdings, which ownsThe Automobile Association.
Aviva ceased providing loans under the RAC brand name in January 2008, and dissolved its partnership withThe Co-operative Bank. Aviva sold the RAC toThe Carlyle Group in June 2011.[12] Although Carlyle had planned a stock market flotation for the RAC,[13] in September 2014 Carlyle agreed to sell almost half its stake to Singapore's sovereign wealth fundGIC Private Limited.[14] In December 2015, Carlyle agreed to sell its remaining stake toCVC Capital Partners, in a transaction valuing the RAC at £1.4 billion.[15]
In 2022[16] Silver Lake acquired a holding in RAC Group[17] but specific values were not publicly disclosed.
The RAC has around 2,000 patrols that attend 2.8 million breakdowns each year, this includes overseas breakdowns with RAC Europe. The RAC covers eight million roadside assistance customers, with 2.2 million individual members and 4.5 million corporate customers. Their breakdown assistance centres operate24/7, and deal with approximately four millions calls a year.
They have introduced, for trial, twohybrid vehicles, to cut fuel consumption and carbon emissions.[18] In May 2009, a survey byJ.D. Power ranked the RAC highest in "satisfying roadside assistance customers" for the fourth consecutive year.[19] RAC Europe is breakdown cover for customers from the United Kingdom that travel to Europe.
RAC Europe covers forty seven European countries, and provides English speaking Incident Managers, available twenty four hours a day to assist. The office is based near Lyon, in Villeurbanne, France.
RAC Vehicle Checks and Examinations conduct vehicle checks that show if a car has been stolen, written off, has outstanding finance or previous plates, is at risk of being sold illegally, and that its number plate and chassis number correspond.
RAC Vehicle Checks are conducted by Experian, while RAC Examinations Inspectors make physical checks on the car to make sure it is mechanically and structurally sound. The RAC also provides travel and traffic services including online route planners, in car navigation and help with travel documents.[20]
In2006, RAC teamed up withWSR (West Surrey Racing) to formTeam RAC and to race in theBritish Touring Car Championship (BTCC) with twoMG ZS cars and from2007 onwards, two (and sometimes three)BMW E90 320si cars. The racing cars were liveried in RAC's corporate orange and have achieved a number of wins, including winning theBTCC Independent Drivers Championship withColin Turkington in2007,2008 and2009.
Turkington was also able to clinch the outright win in the2009 BTCC Drivers Championship for Team RAC. For2010, RAC reduced their level of sponsorship with the team.
