The Danish Car Owners Association.
Photograph: FDM FB Page
Text: Mariano Anthony Davies
FDM is the Danish Car Owners Association that was founded in 1909 with its headquarters in Lyngby north of Copenhagen. The association was originally called “Forenede Danske Motorejere” and sprang from the magazine “Motor” (founded 1906), which to this day is the association's member magazine and, with 402,000 readers, is Denmark's largest car magazine.
When the first cars arrived in Denmark, they were greeted with great scepticism. The roads belonged to horses, bicycles and pedestrians. With the Motor Act of 1903, driving by car was almost prohibited. The restrictive legislation was the starting point for a strong countermovement by car enthusiasts. Led by the editor-in-chief of the magazine “Motor”, the enthusiasts could see the many revolutionary possibilities and future perspectives that lie in motorised vehicles. As a culmination of this, FDM was founded in 1909.
From the start, FDM rolled up its sleeves to promote confidence in the motor car. Among other things, FDM set up international warning boards along the roads to increase road safety, donated money for road improvements and worked actively to open more roads for motorists. From the start, FDM has also been a consumer organisation, where agreements were made with oil companies and insurance companies for cash membership benefits, just as technical and legal advice was a core service.
The first two decades
FDM relentlessly continued its work to promote the cause of motorists through the 1910s and 1920s, and even the most foot-dragging politicians gradually realised that the car was the future with the adoption of the Traffic Act of 1923, as the final recognition of the car as an equal vehicle on the roads.
If you travelled by train in the 1920s, it was easy to cross the country. The train ferries made sure of that. It was a completely different story if you wanted to make the same trip by car. You could not count on getting a place at all on any crossing, and even if you did get a place, it was costly. As FDM saw no signs that the situation would improve, the Association took drastic measures. FDM had the car ferry "Heimdal" built at a Danish shipyard with plans to be responsible for ferrying itself across the Great Belt. That initiative made DSB (Danish State Railways) wake up. DSB ended up buying the car ferry from FDM, and from 1930 onwards, a car ferry service across the Great Belt was a reality.
Motorways established
In 1934, what was called "The old Lillebæltsbro" was inaugurated with tracks for cars. The bridge was originally intended exclusively for train traffic, and that it was not only a train bridge was largely due to the influence of FDM, which did a great deal of lobbying to insist that a large public investment, such as a bridge, must also be for the future and for people wiars.
The extra cost to make the bridge for cars came directly from the motorists themselves. Since 1924, car buyers had had to pay tax on their cars - and that revenue, FDM argued, should be spent on road networks and infrastructure that benefitted motorists. Finally, in 1938, Denmark's first motorway was established, cementing the car's role as a private vehicle and as essential for transport in general.
Millenium milestones
In 2005, the Danish State monopoly on car inspections was lifted. This gave FDM a welcome opportunity to not only offer testing of cars, but also to review cars at its many test centres. In the same vein, the services of FDM's test centres were made available to everyone - but of course, with good discounts for its members. In cooperation with recognised partners, FDM began to offer both roadside assistance and even more advantageous insurance to its members.
It has long been clear that, at a global level, they had to think in new directions and other ways to succeed in living up to the climate goals that they needed to achieve to stem the climate changes that have been driven forward due to the use of fossil fuels. Through the 2010s, the electric car entered the scene as the technology that will contribute positively to greener motoring.
For many car buyers, the encounter with this new and significantly different technology has been exciting. For others, it is unsafe and associated with many concerns.
FDM seeks to accommodate both types of drivers and support the green transition by inspiring, advising and guiding. It also works politically to ensure that Danish legislation matches climate goals, while ensuring that the transition takes place at a pace and in a way that Danish motorists can participate in, and which ensures continued positive mobility experiences for the individual.