History
See also: Royal Automobile ClubThe Royal Automobile Club was formed in 1897 which set up an "associate section" to assist members with roadside assistance and to provide 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".
In 1991, it established the RAC 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 later sold.
British School of Motoring (BSM) was purchased by R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. in 1998. In September 1999, R.A.C. Motoring Services was itself purchased by Lex Service Plc from members of the Royal Automobile Club and renamed themselves as RAC Plc in 2002. In 2000, RAC purchased I/CAD from Intergraph to provide advanced graphical command-and-control capabilities. In March 2005, Aviva Plc acquired RAC Plc for around £1.1 billion. Aviva then went onto raise around £500m from selling some parts of the business, such as RAC Auto Windscreens in 2008 and BSM to a German company in January 2009. BSM has since been sold to Acromas Holdings which owns the AA.
Aviva Plc ceased providing loans under the RAC brand name in January 2008 and dissolved its partnership with the Co-operative Bank Plc. Aviva sold the RAC to Carlyle Group in June 2011.
Read more about this topic: RAC Limited
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