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A history of help: 100 years of NRMA Insurance

09 September, 2025
6 min

2025 marks a centenary of helping Australians protect what matters most. We reflect on our history and focus on what’s to come.

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For 100 years, NRMA Insurance has existed to help. From humble beginnings championing the needs of motorists1, to repairing homes and rebuilding lives, NRMA Insurance has a long history of helping Australians protect the things that matter most. As the world changes, we remain focused on making our world a safer place by helping people prepare for and withstand extreme weather by continuing to advocate for safer and more resilient communities, today and for the future.

NRMA Insurance teams provide on-the-ground support to customers impacted by Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred (2025).

The Early Days: Protecting Motorists

1925: On May 25, 1925, the National Roads and Motorists Association (NRMA) begins offering insurance to its members, helping protect Australia's early motorists.1 This marks the start of NRMA Insurance as we know it today.

1926: Home insurance is added to our offering – providing comprehensive coverage to help people protect their homes.

Early NRMA Insurance Product Adverts (1926).

1931: The introduction of instalment payments offers greater flexibility for customers, and at the same time, we encourage the government to do the same for registration and licenses.

1933: We begin offering insurance policies to non NRMA members.  

1943: Third party motor insurance is made compulsory, and with that, first CTP products are made available.

Expansion: Protecting what matters most 

1960s: By the middle of the 20th century, we’d helped half a million Australian motorists with comprehensive car policies.

1970s: We launch ‘Plain English Policies’, to help make policy terms and conditions easier to understand. In 1971 seatbelts are made compulsory which followed years of campaigning by NRMA Insurance in support of the mandatory installation of approved seatbelts.1

NRMA Insurance ‘Plain English Policies’.

1980s: NRMA Insurance becomes the largest non-government home and contents insurer in NSW and the ACT.  

In 1989, We’re the only insurer in Australasia to open our own Research Centre, investing in pioneering studies on vehicle safety, security and repair technologies. Since then, our Research Centre has played a prolific role in improving car safety and minimising vehicle theft, notably creating Australia’s first car security rating system — which led to our founding involvement in a range of national theft reduction and road safety initiatives.

 NRMA Insurance Research Centre.

In December of the same year (1989), Newcastle on the East Coast of New South Wales, experiences a significant earthquake event, resulting in loss of life, widespread damage to homes and infrastructure across the city. The historic event prompts a reassessment of earthquake risk in Australia and as a result, we begin reviewing our approach to reinsurance and catastrophe modelling and supporting advocacy efforts for stricter Building Code reform.

NRMA Insurance teams support customers impacted by the 1989 Newcastle Earthquake.

1990s: The 90s was a decade of growth, with NRMA Insurance launching into Victoria and Queensland. The same decade, also saw a series of major weather events.

This included the 1994 eastern seaboard bushfires, and a devastating hailstorm in Sydney in 1999. The hailstorm not only destroyed property, but resulted in the largest number of claims for a single event in the history of the business.

This was also the decade which saw NRMA Insurance boost its on-the-ground community response, offering immediate cash payments and hotel accommodation for policy holders impacted by natural disasters.  

In 1999, a joint venture is formed between the insurance businesses of NRMA and Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV).

NRMA Insurance teams provide on-the-ground support to customers impacted by the 1994 Eastern Seaboard bushfires.

Beyond Insurance: Helping create safer communities

2000s: The start of the new millennium saw the demutualisation of NRMA, separating the road services and insurance operations. The new NRMA Insurance Group Limited listed on the ASX.

In 2002, NRMA Insurance Group Limited became Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG).

IAG established its in-house Natural Perils team, including expert scientists, hydrologists, statisticians and meteorologists, enabling us to expand an understanding of extreme weather risks for communities.  

2011: NRMA Insurance commenced its support of GIVIT, a national not-for-profit donation platform that matches the needs of people experiencing hardship with donors from across the country. The partnership continues today with NRMA Insurance and RACV GIVIT's National Disaster and Emergency Partners, working together with GIVIT to create safer, stronger and more connected communities in and out of disasters.

2013: A partnership is established with Australian Red Cross to support and help Australians prepare for respond to and recover from disasters and emergencies.  

September 2019: Australia experiences ‘Black Summer’ - its most devastating bushfire season on record. Lasting until January of the following year, the event saw intense and widespread fires across multiple states, causing significant damage and loss of life. We were one of the largest insurers involved, with teams on the ground supporting customers for seven consecutive weeks and more than 8200 claims processed. Our NRMA Insurance helicopter flew 410 hours in just over three months, providing another line of defence to protect people, properties and communities.  

2020s: As our nation faced more frequent and severe extreme weather events, including the Black Summer bushfires and devastating floods, we continued to bolster our major event response capabilities via several key initiatives, including:

  • Opening a state-of-the-art major event command centre to centralise our response teams and on-ground disaster support efforts.

  • Providing our NRMA Insurance helicopter as a support to help and protect communities.

  • Offering immediate mobile claims assistance and on-ground face-to-face support via our Help Emergency Response Vehicles.

NRMA Insurance’s Major Event Response team in action.

2021: NRMA Insurance officially launched in Western Australia and South Australia. And following long-term advocacy by IAG and NRMA Insurance for increased investment in disaster mitigation funding, the Australian Federal Government introduced the Disaster Ready Fund - allocating $200 million per year to projects that address the physical and social impacts of disasters on communities.

2023: Help Nation is launched, an initiative that unites people, communities and organisations to help Australians better know their local risks and how to prepare for extreme weather. The launch is in collaboration with our partners including Australian Red Cross, Lifeline Australia, NSW Rural Fire Service and the South Australian State Emergency Service.  

Help Nation includes Australian Red Cross EmergencyRedi™ workshops and the Get Prepared App aimed at helping Australian communities better understand their local weather risks and get prepared.

Australian Red Cross EmergencyRedi™ workshop.

In 2024, NRMA Insurance cemented its bold ambition for the next century by establishing ‘A Help Company' reinforcing a commitment to helping even more Australians, and a continued effort to support customers navigate a changing world, providing a safer future through insurance and helping advocate for communities to become more resilient.

The Road Ahead: A Help Company of the future

Today, tomorrow and beyond: As we reflect on a centenary of help, we look toward to the next 100, and our continued commitment to helping communities protect what matters most.

Since mid-20242 our people have answered more than 1.6 million calls for help, our helicopter has undertaken 43 missions to support communities in need, and we’ve supported the delivery of hundreds of free Australian Red Cross EmergencyRediTM Workshops to help prepare the country for extreme weather.

We’re actively rewarding3 customers who take resilience action through the Bushfire Resilience Rating Home Self-Assessment app, encouraging safe driving behaviour with the use of telematics, using new technology to enhance the customer experience and continuing to take action to educate and advocate for our customers at scale on climate action and disaster resilience.

There’s so much more to do. But we’re ready. Because that’s what A Help Company would do.

  1. National Roads and Motorists’ Association Limited ABN 77 000 010 506 trading as NRMA is a separate and independent company from Insurance Australia Limited ABN 11 000 016 722 trading as NRMA Insurance. NRMA and NRMA Insurance share a combined history up until demutualisation in 2000.

  2. Data Period = May 1, 2024 – April 30, 2025

  3. Eligible customers must have a Home Buildings policy with NRMA Insurance. Eligible premium benefits require an RBC Bushfire Resilience Rating Certification of 3 stars or above. Certification by the RBC is valid for a period of three years from the date of certification and has an associated cost. For information on the certification visit rbcouncil.org/certify-my-rating. The extent of the premium benefits applied is subject to factors including the risk exposure and the certification rating and may not exceed the cost of the certification. No premium benefit is available where NRMA Insurance has assessed that there is no bushfire risk associated with the property.
     

All content on the NRMA Insurance Blog is intended to be general in nature and does not constitute and is not intended to be professional advice.

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