ADAC


ADAC is Europe's largest motoring association. It would be more aptly described today as an individual mobility association since it looks more broadly at all transport options ensuring individual mobility. Its seat is in Munich.
The object of ADAC is “the representation, promotion and advocacy of motoring, motorsport and tourism interests.” Its original and most well-known service is roadside assistance. The club also offers other products and services – directly or through subsidiaries, distributes city maps, road maps and road atlases and operates several driver safety :de:Fahrsicherheitszentrum|centres. It works together closely with its Austrian counterpart :de:Österreichischer Automobil-, Motorrad- und Touring Club|ÖAMTC. Via its charitable subsidiary ADAC :de:ADAC Luftrettung|Luftrettung gGmbH, ADAC operates the largest fleet of ambulance helicopters in Germany. In 2019, the ADAC helicopters started into approx. 54,000 missions.

Overview

Both the ADAC, and its older rival AvD, are members of the FIA and the DMSB. The European Grand Prix, the former ADAC Eifelrennen, the 24 Hours Nürburgring and many other races are hosted by ADAC.
The ADAC also operates a large fleet of mobile mechanics in yellow cars that assist motorists in trouble - the Yellow Angels. The ADAC runs its own modification center whereby ordinary vans are turned into mobile garages in 55 man-hours.
In addition to this, the ADAC provides 55 air ambulance helicoptersfor urgent medical rescues in Germany, strategically placed so that any location can be reached within 15 minutes. Air ambulance jets are used by the ADAC to rescue their members with a "PLUS" membership or customers who own an ADAC international travel insurance from any location worldwide in the case of accident or extreme sickness.
The ADAC also offers its membership to non German residents, having signed contracts with automobile clubs worldwide. In the UK, it is possible to have breakdown recovery through the local AA while having an ADAC membership.
The ADAC is publisher of the magazine with one of the largest distribution in Germany, ADAC Motorwelt. The magazine is distributed four times a year to ADAC members containing features articles of common interest to all participants of public traffic, such as product tests, safe driving tips and also places to visit by car or motorbike.
On June 3, 2008, the ADAC suspended its involvement with the FIA over the scandal surrounding Max Mosley and his subsequent retention as FIA president.

Affiliation

ADAC is affiliated to the following organisations:
Founded on May 24, 1903 at the then Hotel Silber  in Stuttgart, ADAC was originally named Deutsche Motorradfahrer-Vereinigung and re-named Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club  in 1911. The Prussian eagle was selected as the emblem in the club’s badge in appreciation of the Prussian royal family’s support and patronage. Its most senior figure at the time was German Emperor and King of Prussia Wilhelm II.
The ADAC break-down assistance service was launched in Germany in 1927.
After 1933, in the process of Nazification – a.k.a. Gleichschaltung – of German society, the Nazis amalgamated all motoring organisations in Germany in the DDAC, an umbrella association that was allowed to exist in the shadow of the NSKK. A DDAC appeal described the 1934 international Automobile Exhibition as a “show for the people” rather than an “exhibition for the more affluent bourgeois segment” of society. “Motoring for the people”, it proclaimed, was more “in the spirit of the Führer”.
In 1954 Heinz Frölich became the first of 56 ADAC patrolmen, equipped with a motorbike-sidecar combination, on which the side car consisted of a large compartment filled with tools and parts for roadside repairs. These original ADAC "Gelbe Engel" used "NSU :de:NSU Konsul|Konsul" motorbikes.
At the end of 1962 ADAC announced the retirement of their motor-bike-sidecar combinations which would be replaced by 40 appropriately equipped Volkswagen Beetles. Equipment on the new cars included a flashing roof-light, repair tools, a radio-based communication device, compressed air canisters, a spade and broom set, and a basic "doctor-kit" incorporating blood-plasma.
In 1974 the organisation had 3.8 million members at a time when there were 19.0 million passenger cars registered in Germany: by 1990 membership had risen to 10.2 million, with 35.5 million passenger cars registered in the country, so that ADAC membership has grown more than twice as fast as national car ownership. Growth rates during the ensuing twenty years were greatly boosted by German reunification.
May 2012 was when the organization welcomed its 18 millionth member, a further milestone being reached in May 2013 as the ADAC fitted out its 10,000th roadside assistance vehicle, a Volkswagen Touran, kitted out with several hundred different tools and replacement parts.
At the end of 2019 ADAC had 21,2 million members.

ADAC road patrol

Breakdown assistance is ADAC's core service. The ADAC road patrol dates back to 1928 when the ADAC-Straßen-Hilfsdienst was founded. Back then, the patrols used sidecar motorcycles. After World War Two, during which ADAC was forced to stop operations, the provision of breakdown assistance services was resumed by founding the ADAC-Straßenwacht in 1954. In 1990, the road patrol started covering the New Länder. In 1951, ADAC started to organise assistance also outside Germany.
ADAC operates a fleet of more than 1,700 yellow road patrol vehicles. In the 1960s and 1970s, the yellow Beetles were a fixture on German roads. Today, ADAC deploys MPVs, each carrying up to 290kg of equipment ranging from the always right tools to a digital diagnostic tool to spare parts and replacement batteries. In the case of a car breakdown, the member can request assistance over the phone or emergency roadside telephone, over the Internet or via smartphone app: a dispatcher at one of the five breakdown assistance centres will take down the necessary data and forward them to the nearest available road patrol who will call the member several minutes before their arrival.
ADAC also provides Europe-wide breakdown assistance for HGVs. In Germany, ADAC uses special breakdown assistance vehicles for HGVs. In other European countries, ADAC partners provide assistance.
In 2019, the ADAC road patrols and mobility partners attended to 3.7m callouts, i.e. almost 10,300 per day. In keeping with the previous years, the breakdowns were usually due to problems with the automotive battery at nearly 42%.

Lobbying and public relations

ADAC is among Germany's most influential associations and one of the biggest lobbying associations worldwide. Public relations activities focus on topics such as maintaining motorised mobility, preventing speed limits, traffic law and fines, the safety of tunnels and car ferries as well as road safety education.
In recent years, ADAC has developed a growing interest for other transport operators and modes, for instance, by conducting tests on local public transport and urban cycling. ADAC regularly issues press releases and publishes the ADAC Motorwelt club magazine to inform its approx. 21.2m members.
In 2020, the ADAC Motorwelt has become a quarterly publication. In the first quarter of 2020, the Burda affiliate BCN started to handle everything from production and printing to editorial services to marketing to distribution of the ADAC Motorwelt; the mobility club continues to be its publisher, and editor-in-chief Martin Kunz continues to oversee the content. At the same time, ADAC enhances and expands its digital communication channels.
Starting in 2020, the new ADAC Motorwelt is available at the ADAC local offices, travel agencies and driver safety locations as well as the EDEKA and Netto supermarkets. All members need to do to get a copy of the magazine is show their membership card.

Research

ADAC is an active member for the European Road Assessment Program in Germany. ADAC regularly publishes maps showing safety characteristics of German roads.
These maps based on EuroRAP's Road Protection Score Protocol is a measure of how well a road protects road users in the event of an accident. Data on road characteristics is gathered by driving through road inspections using a specially equipped RPS inspection vehicle. Trained assessors then rate the safety features and hazards on the inspected road and use standardised formula to produce a safety star rating, which is comparable across Europe.
ADAC also undertakes road inspections on behalf of other EuroRAP members, including the Road Safety Foundation in the UK.

Campaigning for Safe Road Design

The European Campaign for Safe Road Design is a partnership between 28 major European road safety stakeholders that is calling for the EC to invest in safe road infrastructure initiatives which could cut deaths on European roads by 33% in less than a decade. ADAC is the campaign's partner in Germany.