 | |
| Formation | 1905 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Eight Mile Plains,Queensland, Australia |
| Membership | 1.7 million (2026) |
| Leona Murphy | |
| David Carter | |
| Revenue | $1.8 billion (2025) |
| Website | www.racq.com.au |
Formerly called | Automobile Club of Queensland |
TheRoyal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ) is amutual organisation andQueensland's largest club (by membership), providing services including roadside assistance, insurance, banking and travel to its approximately 1.7 million members (as at January 2026).[1]
Eighteen motorists formed the Automobile Club of Queensland in 1905 at a meeting of almost all the motorists inBrisbane which was held at the School of Arts, inAnn Street. The club was formed as an advocacy group, styled after the successfulRoyal Automobile Club of England. Of the eighteen founding members, ten weremedical practitioners. Their belief that automobiles could be a reliable means for visiting patients was used to leverage a more positive image of cars in the public consciousness. At the time of formation there were only 16 registered privately owned motor cars inQueensland.[2]
In 1921, in recognition of the club's patriotic efforts duringWorld War I, it was givenRoyal Patronage. In 1925, RACQ Roadside Assistance was born when the Club commissioned two mechanics, George Clark and Eddie Henderson, to patrol the roads in search of disabled vehicles. In the 1970s the club began to expand its services including the formation of RACQ Insurance.[2]
In 2011, followingCyclone Yasi inNorthern Queensland andflooding in central and southern Queensland, RACQ Foundation was launched to assist community groups devastated by natural disasters.[3][4]
RACQ was inducted into theQueensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame in 2014.[5][6]
In November 2016, RACQ merged with QT Mutual Bank forming RACQ Bank.[7][8] In December 2025 terms were agreed, subject to regulatory approval, to sell RACQ Bank toBendigo Bank.[9]
In late 2019, trials of Australia's firstdriverless bus were conducted onKarragarra Island with a view to introducing the service to the islands' communities. The trial was conducted by theRedland City Council and the RACQ.[10][11]
From 1926 until 1934,Queensland Motorist was the RACQ'sin-house magazine.[12] It was succeeded byThe Road Ahead.[13]
RACQ has also previously sponsored a broad range of events which sought to improve driver skills and promote road safety initiatives including:
Free2go was a youth program initiative by RACQ designed to help learner drivers to get their licence and included roadside assistance.[20] Utilising the online learner logbook, Queensland learner drivers could record their required 100 hours of supervised on-road driving electronically.[21]
In 2011, RACQ launched RACQ Foundation to assist community groups to recover from natural disasters and drought. In 2020 the Foundation expanded its remit for a short period to include groups hit by theCOVID-19 pandemic. Since 2011, the Foundation has awarded more than $9.24 million in grants.[22]
The RACQ head offices are inBrisbane atEight Mile Plains and 60Edward Street, Brisbane in theCBD. The club has numerous offices throughout Queensland.[23]
In 2013, RACQ released its Mobile Member Centre (MMC) a “branch on wheels”, the MMC is used for exhibitions and trade shows, when not needed to assist members following large-scale disasters.[24]
In 2019, RACQ launched the RACQ Mobility Centre of Excellence, the site was previously home to the Mount Cotton Training Centre and has since been utilised as a facility for driver training as well as a research hub for new and emerging vehicle technology.[25] The 45-hectare site features a range of facilities including a road circuit, skid pan, 4WD track and conference spaces and is available for hire by third parties for events and driver training sessions.[26]
In July 2015, the RACQ was the subject of a report onA Current Affair.[27]A Current Affair reported how the RACQ dismissed tow truck driver Murray French for breaking a road rule when he towed a wheelchair-using handicapped person's car on a tilt-tray tow truck while the person was still seated in the car. The event was earlier reported by the Logan Reporter[28] and BigRigs.com.au.[29] Thousands of RACQ members and the general public signed a petition calling for the RACQ to reinstate French. On 9 July, there was a protest at the RACQ office asking for French's reinstatement.[30] The RACQ issued a response on their Web site disputing the information in theA Current Affair report and defending the decision to dismiss the driver.[31]
In February 2023, theAustralian Securities & Investments Commission commended civil penalty proceedings against RACQ in the Federal Court, alleging that product disclosure statements for several RACQ insurance policies were misleading as they included statements that certain discounts would be applied to customers’ insurance premiums, it was found that the discounts were only applied by RACQ to the base insurance premium, and not to additional premiums paid for certain optional extras.[32] The proceedings, which concluded later in 2023, found that RACQ had sent the misleading product disclosure statements on at least five million occasions between March 2017 and March 2022, resulting in over 450,000 customers missing out on an estimated $86.5 million in discounts.[33]
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